Warren, now on the North America and West India station. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
SELBIE. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 30.)
John Selbie died 29 July, 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 April, 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Monarch 74, Capts. John Clarke Searle and Rich. Lee; under the latter of whom (besides assisting, 25 Sept. 1806, at Sir Sam. Hood’s capture, off Rochefort, of four heavy French frigates, on which occasion the Monarch acted a very prominent part, compelled La Minerve, of 44 guns and 650 men, including troops, to surrender, and sustained a loss of 4 men killed and 25 wounded) he was employed as Master’s Mate in blockading the Tagus, in escorting, towards the close of 1807, the Royal Family of Portugal to the Brazils, and in the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren. From 24 Nov. 1810 until 4 Dec. 1815, he acted as Master of the Prospero sloop, on the North Sea, Mediterranean, and Newfoundland stations. He then took up a commission bearing date 15 March, 1815; and was not afterwards employed.
SELBY. (Lieut., 1811. f-p., 12; h-p., 31.)
George Selby was born 5 Nov. 1789.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Jan. 1804, as Third-cl. Yol., on board the Cerberus 32, Capt. Wm. Selby. In the following March he attained the rating of Midshipman; and after serving for some time on the Guernsey station under the flag of Sir Jas. Saumarez, he sailed for the West Indies; where, on the night of 2 Jan. 1807, we find him assisting in the boats and extolled for his unsurpassed bravery at the cutting-out of two of the enemy’s vessels, under a most tremendous fire from the batteries, near Pearl Rock, Martinique, which killed 2 men and wounded 10, including the conducting-officer, Lieut. Wm. Coote, whose gallantry procured him a Commander’s commission.[1] Subsequently to the surrender of the islands of Marie-Galante and Deseada, Mr. Selby, in July, 1808, removed to the Leviathan 74, Capt. John Harvey; under whom, on proceeding to the Mediterranean, he aided, in Oct. 1809, in causing the self-destruction, off Cape Cette, of the French ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion. On 20 May, 1811, having passed his examination 29 March, 1810, he was confirmed a Lieutenant, four months after he had been ordered to act as such, in the Circe 32, Capt. Edw. Woolcombe, also in the Mediterranean, whence, in March, 1812, he returned, on leave of absence, to England. His last appointments were – 26 Feb. and 8 March, 1813, to the Ville de Paris 110, and Boyne 98, both commanded, in the Channel and Mediterranean, by Capt. Geo. Burlton – 22 Sept. 1814, to the Urgent 14, Capt. Gamaliel Fitzmaurice, again in the Channel – 22 Nov. 1814, to the Cornwallis 74, flag-ship in the East Indies of his former Captain, then Rear-Admiral Burlton – and in Oct. 1815, as First, to the Wellesley 74, Capt. John Bayley. In the Boyne he shared, 13 Feb. 1814, in Sir Edw. Pellew’s rencontre with the French Toulon fleet; on which occasion that ship bore the brunt of the engagement, was for half-an-hour in action, close in-shore, and under the enemy’s batteries, with the Romulus 74, and sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 40 wounded, besides being much damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging. Mr. Selby returned home from the East Indies in the Wellesley in June, 1816, and has since been on half-pay.
The Lieutenant is a Justice of the Peace for co. Northumberland. He married, 21 Oct. 1840, Mary Anne, daughter of the late Rev. Chas. Thomson, Curate of Howick.
SELBY. (Lieutenant, 1847.)
Henry Donaldson Selby, born 24 Nov. 1825, is second son (by Mary Dorothy, eldest daughter of Robt. Grey, Esq., of Shareston, co. Northumberland) of John Strangeways Donaldson Selby, Esq., of Cheswick House and Lindisfarne Priory, co. Northumberland, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for cos. Durham and Northumberland, and for the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Deputy Vice-Admiral of the Coast of Northumberland from Bamburgh Castle to Berwick-upon-Tweed. This officer passed his examination 11 Jan. 1845; was appointed 2 April following, and 22 Oct. 1846, Mate of the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Henry Ducie Chads, and Thetis 36, Capt. Henry John Codrington, attached to the Channel squadron; obtained his commission 17 April, 1847; and has been serving, since 28 Aug. in that year, at the Cape of Good Hope and in the East Indies in the Arab 12, Capt. Wm. Morris.
SELBY. (Lieut., 1815. f-p. 10; h-p., 32.)
Samuel Selby was born 19 June, 1787.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 Feb. 1805, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Tremendous 74, Capt. Sam. Osborne, on the East India station; served from 1 Sept. 1806 until 20 Dec. 1810, as Master’s Mate and Midshipman, in the Atlas 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral John Child Purvis, off Cadiz; and then joined (in the former capacity[2]) the Southampton 32, Capt. Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo, in the West Indies; whence, in Dec. 1811, he invalided. From 5 March until 19 May, 1812, he acted as Lieutenant, again on the West India station, in the Prometheus 18, Capt. Hercules Robinson; and from 18 Aug. in the latter year until 10 Aug. 1815, he was employed in the Mediterranean as Midshipman in the Pompée 74, Capt. Sir Jas. Athol Wood. He then took up a commission bearing date 27 Feb. 1815; and has since been on half-pay.
He married, 23 Aug. 1818, Miss Susannah Schofield.
SELLON, formerly SMITH. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 15; h-p., 31.)
William Richard Baker Sellon is eldest surviving son of the late Thos. Smith, Esq., of the Chapter House of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, Receiver-General to the Dean and Chapter, by Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Wm. Sellon, some time Rector of St. James, Clerkenwell. He assumed, in Jan. 1847, the surname and arms of Sellon on inheriting the property of his maternal aunt, Sophia Sellon.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Centaur 74, commanded by his relative Capt. Bendall Robt. Littlehales, at first in the Channel and next in the West Indies; whence, after having assisted, in the capacity of Midshipman, at the reduction of Ste. Lucie (where he served in the boats at the landing of the troops under a fire from the enemy’s batteries), he returned in 1803 to England in the Morne Fortunée brig, with Capt. Littlehales, who had been charged with the despatches announcing the conquest. On 11 July, 1805, at which period he had been for two-and-twenty months employed in the Downs and North Sea in the Orestes 14, Capt. Thos. Brown, and had been in action with the Boulogne flotilla, he was wrecked, under a heavy fire from the enemy, on the Splinter Sand, in Dunkerque Road. He then joined La Virginie 38, Capt. Edw. Brace, on the Irish station; and on 22 Dec. 1807, having during the last six months there acted as Lieutenant in the Helena 18, Capt. Jas. Andrew Worth, he was confirmed in that rank. His succeeding appointments were – 25 Feb. 1808, to the Alexandria 32, Capt. Nathaniel Day Cochrane, in the North Sea – 28 Dec. following and 12 June, 1809, to the Castor 32, Capt. Wm. Roberts, and Intrepid 64, Capts. Christ. John Williams Nesham and Geo. Andrews, both in the West Indies – 28 Oct. 1809, to the Horatio 38, Capt. Geo. Scott, employed among the Western Islands – and 27 July, 1811, 10 months after ill health had obliged him to leave the Horatio, to the Swiftsure 74, Capts. Hardy, Jeremiah Coghlan, Wm. Stewart, Edw. Stirling Dickson, and Arden
