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SHERIDAN—SHERINGHAM—SHERWIN.
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with a Commander’s commission dated 30 Dec. 1829. He was afterwards, from 22 Feb. 1831 until April, 1837, employed in the Coast Guard; and, from 14 Feb. 1838 until paid off in May, 1841, in command of the Dee steamer, on the North American and West India station. “From a conviction,” writes Sir Jas. Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty, in a letter communicating to him the above appointment to the Coast Guard, “of your most gallant and meritorious services, and from a desire on all possible occasions to mark my sense of such conduct as yours, I -have been induced to appoint you this morning an Inspecting-Commander of the Coast Guard.” Capt. Sherer was nominated a K.H. 25 Jan. 1836; and advanced to Post-rank 23 Nov. 1841. Agents – Burnett and Holmes.



SHERIDAN. (Captain, 1815.)

John Sheridan entered the Navy, in 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board La Juste 80, Capts. Hon. Thos. Pakenham and John Lawford, employed in the Channel, off Cadiz, and among the Western Islands. He served subsequently, on the Home station, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Royal Sovereign 100, flag-ship of Sir Alan Gardner and Sir Henry Harvey, and Dryad frigate, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield; and on 21 Dec. 1801 he was made Lieutenant into the Woolwich 44, Capts. Bridges and Jennings, in which ship he made a voyage to the West Indies. His succeeding appointments were, to the Merlin sloop, Capt. Edw. Pelham Brenton, Thunderer 74, Capt. Wm. Bedford, Hibernia 110, flag-ship of Lord Gardner, Prince of Wales 98, Capt. Bedford, and Ville de Paris 110, Bellerophon 74, and Victory 100, bearing the flags of Lord Gardner, Hon. Alan Hyde Gardner, and Sir Jas. Saumarez. In those ships he was chiefly employed on the Home and Baltic stations. While attached, between Aug. 1803 and Jan. 1804, to the Merlin, he shared, as Senior Lieutenant, in several skirmishes with the enemy’s flotilla and land-batteries near Havre; and on one occasion he put off in the boats and set fire to the Shannon frigate, which had run on shore under the strong batteries of Tatihou island, near La Hogue. On 19 June, 1809, being then in the Bellerophon, commanded as a private ship by Capt. Sam. Warren, he served in her boats under the orders of Lieut. Robt. Pilch, and was mentioned for the very able assistance he afforded at the capture, on the coast of Finland, of three vessels and of one of four batteries by which they had been covered, mounting 4 24-pounders and garrisoned by 103 men – an exploit that elicited the acknowledgments of the Admiralty.[1] He equally distinguished himself, 7 July following, at the brilliant capture, off Percola Point, of the six Russian gunboats mentioned in our history of the services of Capt. Chas. Allen. On the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Commander, 27 Nov. 1810, he was appointed for a few weeks to the Raleigh sloop. His next appointment was, 4 Oct. 1813, to the Terror bomb, in which vessel we find him engaged with the American batteries near Baltimore during the advance of the British army under Colonel Brook, 13 Aug. 1814, and assisting at the capture of St. Mary’s, the frontier town of the state of Georgia, 14 Jan. 1815. On 13 June in the latter year, at which time he had been acting for rather more than two months as Captain of the Levant 20, he was confirmed to Post-rank. He continued in the Levant, in the West Indies and on the Irish station, until 27 Nov. 1815; and on 1 Oct. 1846 he accepted the Retirement. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



SHERINGHAM. (Captain, 1847. f-p., 23; h-p., 16.)

William Louis Sheringham entered the Navy, 13 June, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Saturn 74, Capt., afterwards Rear-Admiral, Lord Amelius Beauclerk, under whom he continued, chiefly employed on the Home and North American stations, in the Royal Oak and Hannibal 74’s, and again in the Royal Oak, until Jan. 1815. While on the books of that ship he was present, as Midshipman, in the attack upon Flushing, and was for some time lent to the Aetna bomb, Capt. Jas. Baynton Gardner. After serving for about two months with Sir Alex. Cochrane in the Tonnant 80, he was nominated, 28 March, 1815, Acting-Lieutenant of the Ardent prison-ship at Bermuda, Capt. Sir Wm. Crisp Hood Burnaby. From May to July, 1816, he was borne as a Supernumerary Acting-Lieutenant (while proceeding from the latter place to Halifax, and thence to England) on the books of the Akbar 50, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Edw. Griffith, and Buffalo store-ship. He next, in Aug. 1819 and Sept. 1822, joined, in the capacity of Midshipman, the Superb 74 and Créole 42, bearing each the broad pendant of Commodore Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy on the coast of South America, where, from 29 April until 18 Oct. 1823, he served as Acting- Lieutenant and Lieutenant (commission dated 29 July) in the Beaver 10, Capts. Thos. Bourchier and Wm. Townshend Dance. He was subsequently, from 6 Aug. 1830 until 1836, borne as a Supernumerary on the books of the Royal George 120, Ocean 80, and Howe 120, flag-ships of Sir John Poo Beresford and Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming at the Nore; and on 28 Aug. 1841 he was promoted to the rank of Commander. His appointments have since been – 24 March and 19 Aug. 1842, 1 Jan. 1843, and 1 Aug. 1845, to the Sylvia, Rocket, Fearless, and Dasher surveying-vessels, on the Home station – and, 1 Dec. 1847, as Additional- Captain, for surveying-service, to the Victory 100, flag-ship at Portsmouth. His Post-commission bears date 9 Oct. 1847.



SHERWIN. (Commander, 1825.)

Thomas Cowper Sherwin entered the Navy, in 1788, as Fst.-cl. Vol., ,on board the Myrmidon, in which vessel and in the Hyaena 24, the latter commanded by Capt. Wm. Aylmer, he served for about three years in the Channel. Joining next, in 1793, the Alligator, Capt. Wm, Appleby, he sailed in that ship for the West Indies, where, from 1794 until 1798, he served on board the Europa 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Ford, Sampson 64, Capt. Thos. Louis, Majestic and Swiftsure 74’s, flag-ships of Sir John Laforey and Sir Hugh Clobery Christian, Abergavenny 64, Capts. Smith and John Cochet, and Rattler sloop, Capt. Hall. In the Europa he assisted at the reduction of the French islands; he was made Lieutenant into the Abergavenny 22 July, 1796; and he acted as Commander of the Rattler in an attack made upon a fort at St. Domingo. Between May, 1799, and 1805, he served on the Home station in the America 64, Capt. John Smith (part of the force employed in the expedition to Holland), Warrior 74, Capt. Chas. Tyler, Princess of Orange 74, Capt. Chas. Cobb, Pylades sloop, Capt. Jas. Boorder, Swiftsure 74, Capt. Ferris, and Atlas 74, Capts. Wm. Hope and Sam. Pym. His next appointments were, to the command – 28 Oct. 1808 and (after 12 months of half-pay caused by ill health) 28 Aug. 1810, of the Flamer and Active, both in the Downs – 22 Oct. in the latter year, to the Nonpareil, in the Channel, where he served until 1812 – and, 26 March, 1814, and 4 June, 1817, for periods of 14 and 17 months, to the Sprightly and Starling, on the same station. In 1819 he was nominated an Inspecting-Commander of the Irish Coast Guard; and, on 27 May, 1825, as a reward for long and active services, he was promoted to his present rank.

In 1834 Commander Sherwin was appointed a Stipendiary Magistrate at the Cape of Good Hope; and, since 20 Nov. 1843, he has filled the post of Emigration Agent General for British Guiana. He is married and has issue. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.


  1. Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1101.