A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Tripp, John Upton
TRIPP. (Retired Commander, 1847. f-p., 14; h-p., 31.)
John Upton Tripp is fourth and youngest son of the late Rev. John Tripp, Rector of Spofforth and of Catton, co. York, LL.D. of Christchurch, Oxford. His eldest brother, George, a Captain in the 25th Regt. of Foot, served under Sir Ralph Abercromby in Egypt in 1801, and died two years afterwards of consumption, occasioned by sleeping on the sands; his next, Charles, D.D., the present representative of the family, is Rector of Silverton, co. Devon, and a Magistrate for the counties of Somerset and Devon; and his third, Peter, is a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 98th Regt. of Foot.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 Oct. 1802, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Magicienne frigate, Capt. Henry Vansittart; with whom he removed, in the following Feb., to the Fortunée 36. In that ship, after blockading the rivers Elbe and Weser and cruizing off Boulogne, he sailed, in Feb. 1804, for the West Indies. When on her passage home in the summer of 1806, in company with the Hercule 74, Surveillante frigate, an armed schooner, and a large fleet of merchantmen, the Fortunée fell in with a number of Spanish vessels, under the protection of a 74-gun ship and two gun-boats. She was immediately detached in pursuit, and, assisted by the schooner and the boats of the Surveillante, succeeded in capturing and destroying the gunboats and 20 sail deeply laden with sugar, &c. Independently of this Mr. Tripp assisted, during his sojourn in the West Indies, at the capture of Le Cazar and Le Vautour French privateers, a Spanish brig laden with cocoa, Le Grand Juge Bertolio French schooner of 7 guns and 51 men, and two Spanish feluccas laden with beef and flour. The latter vessels were destroyed. While cruizing in 1807 in the Channel the Fortunée took Le Magicien privateer of 2 guns and 44 men. In Dec. 1808 Mr. Tripp, who had been rated Midshipman and Master’s Mate of the Fortunée in April, 1805, and June, 1807, joined, in the latter capacity, the Ganges 74, Capt. Peter Halkett, on the Lisbon station; where he was made Lieutenant, 7 June, 1809, into the Triumph 74, Capt. Sam. Hood Linzee. He was afterwards employed, from Sept. 1809 until Aug. 1812, in the Barfleur 98, flag-ship of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley in the Tagus; and from Oct. in the latter year until March, 1816, in the Ramillies 74, Capts. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy and Thos. Boys. Under Sir T. M. Hardy (who also commanded the Barfleur) we find him present in the Ramillies in a variety of operations on the coast of North America, particularly at the blockade of New London, the occupation of the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, and the bombardment of Stonington. He accepted the rank he now holds 5 Oct. 1847.
Commander Tripp married his cousin Sarah, daughter of Jas. Upton Tripp, Esq., by whom he has issue six children. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.