A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Riall, William Henry

1900285A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Riall, William HenryWilliam Richard O'Byrne

RIALL. (Lieutenant, 1827. f-p., 11; h-p., 16.)

William Henry Riall was born in 1805.

This officer entered the Navy, in 1820, on board the Cambrian 48, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, where he took part as Midshipman in a variety of particular services and was otherwise actively employed. On 31 Jan. 1825 he assisted in the boats of the Cambrian and Seringapatam under the orders of Lieut. Henry Shovell Marsham, in boarding and carrying in the Negropont Channel, notwithstanding a desperate resistance, two piratical vessels of 1 gun and about 30 men each. He contributed to the success of many affairs of a similar character; and, on 24 Oct. 1827, as a reward for his conduct at the battle of Navarin, was created a Lieutenant of the Cambrian. That ship being wrecked during an attack on a nest of pirates at Carabusa 31 Jan. 1828, he was next, 6 Nov. 1829, appointed to the Druid 46, also commanded by Capt. Hamilton, with whom he served in South America until the close of 1832. He has since been on half-pay. In 1825 he was lent from the Cambrian to the Hind 20, Capts. Hon. Henry John Rous and Lord Henry John Spencer Churchill.

Lieut. Riall, who is J.P. for co. Tipperary, was appointed Mayor of Clonmel in 1836, but was displaced by the New Corporation Act in 1842. He married, 29 Dec. 1831, Elizabeth Frances, eldest daughter of John Parkinson, Esq., British Consul at Bahia.