Geographical Society, an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy, one of the Board of Greenwich Visitors, and a corresponding member of the Institute of France, the Scientific Academy of Naples, the National Institute of Washington, the Academy of Sciences at Boston, and the Naval Lyceum of New York. Of the Royal and Astronomical Societies he is now Vice-President and President; and of the Antiquarian Society he is Director. From Jan. 1828 until Oct. 1839, and from that period until June, 1842, a meteorological register (published monthly in the ‘United Service Journal’) was kept by Capt. Smyth in an observatory erected by him first at Bedford and then at Cardiff. The instruments belonging to the late Colonel Mark Beaufoy were handsomely lent to him for that purpose by the Council of the Astronomical Society, until his own, far more powerful, were made. Independently of the work alluded to in a former part of this narrative, Capt. Smyth (to whom the public is indebted for the formation of the United Service Museum) published, in 1828, ‘A Sketch of the present State of Sardinia;’ in 1829, ‘The Life and Services of Capt. Philip Beaver, R.N.;’ in 1830, ‘An Account of a Private Observatory recently erected at Bedford,’ and ‘An Account of an Ancient Bath in the Island of Lipari;’ in 1834, ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of a Cabinet of Roman Imperial large Brass Medals;’ in 1836, ‘Observations on Halley’s Comet;’ in 1840, ‘Nautical Observations on the Port and Maritime Vicinity of Cardiff;’ in 1844, ‘A Cycle of Celestial Objects,’ in 2 vols., containing the results of all his astronomical observations – a production which procured him the gold Newtonian medal of the Astronomical Society; and, in 1848, the ‘Description ofan Astrological Clock belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.’ He married, at Messina, 7 Oct. 1815, Annarella, only daughter of T. Warington, Esq., of Naples, and half-sister of Capt. Chas. Peirson, who, when a Lieutenant of the 69th Regt., distinguished himself by the gallant manner in which he supported the immortal Nelson in boarding the San Josef in the action off Cape St. Vincent 14 Feb. 1797. By that lady he has a numerous family. His eldest son, Warington Wilkinson, is Mining Geologist to the Ordnance Survey; his second, Charles Piazzi, is Astronomer Royal for Scotland; and his youngest, Henry Augustus, is a First-Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.
SMYTHE. (Commander, 1847.)
George Smythe, born 26 Sept. 1811, is second surviving son of the late John Groome Smythe, Esq., of Hilton, co. Salop, Major of the Local Militia, and Deputy-Lieutenant of the co., by Anne, youngest daughter of Thos. Parke, Esq., of Highfield House, co. Lancaster, and sister of the Right Hon. Baron Parke, of the Court of Exchequer. He is brother of the present Thos. Smythe, Esq., of Hilton, Captain in the Madras Engineers, and of John Groome Smythe, Esq., Lieutenant Hon.E.I.Co.’s service, who died 25 July, 1839; and brother-in-law of Lieut.-General Henry Monckton.
This officer entered the Navy 13 Aug. 1825; passed his examination in 1831; obtained his first commission 14 Feb. 1834; served in the Mediterranean from 1 May, 1834, until the spring of 1838, in the Portland 52, Capt. David Price, and from 1841 until 1844, as First-Lieutenant, in the Scout 18, Capt. Hon. Jas. Robt. Drummond; and from 5 June in the latter year until advanced to his present rank 9 July, 1847, was employed as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Hugh Pigot, Commander-in-Chief at Cork. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
SNELL. (Commander, 1843.)
George Snell is brother of the present Lieut. William Snell, R.N. and of Lieut. John Coxetter Snell, R.N. (1808), who served at Trafalgar, and died in 1838.
This officer entered the Navy, 14 Sept. 1812, as Midshipman, on board the Fervent 12, Capt. Chas. Hope Reid; in which vessel he was employed, at the siege of Danzig and in affording protection to the trade in the Baltic. He served afterwards on the Home station, from March, 1814, until Sept. 1818, in the Sybille 44, Capt. Thos. Forrest, Ringdove sloop, Capt. Jas. Creighton, and Queen Charlotte 100 and Ramillies 74, flag-ships of Sir Edw. Thornbrough and Sir Wm. Johnstone Hope. During the next six years he was employed, again with Capt. Reid, in the Driver 18, and with Capts. Thos. Herbert, Chas. Crole, and John Geo. Graham, in the Icarus 10, on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland and in the West Indies; where he became, in Nov. 1824 (he had passed his examination in 1818), Acting-Lieutenant of the Carnation 18, Capt. Rawdon Maclean. In the Icarus he was active in the suppression of piracy. In a boat affair in which the conducting officer, Lieut. Layton, and some of the crew were captured and put to death, he succeeded to the command and brought off the remainder of the party from the scene of action. He landed, too, on the Isle of Pines with the crew of the Hussar frigate in search of pirates; and commanded for some time a captured schooner fitted out for the purpose of cruizing with the Union schooner against the marauders on the coast of Cuba. He was confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant 14 Feb. 1825; and was subsequently appointed – in Aug. and Oct. 1826, to the Pelican 18 and Melville 74, Capts. Hon. Leonard Chas. Irby and Henry Hill, both lying at Portsmouth – 27 Sept. 1828, to the Gloucester 74, Capt. Henry Stuart, whom he accompanied to the Mediterranean – in 1830, for a short time, to the Revenge 78, Capt. Hon. Chas. Orlando Bridgeman, on the latter station – 5 Nov. 1833, to the Coast Guard, in which service he continued until 3 May, 1834 – 1 April, 1839, 13 Oct. 1841, and 24 May, 1842, to the command of the Kite steamer, Hope brig, and Lightning steamer, on the West India and Home stations – and 5 Oct. 1842 and 1 July, 1843, to the Royal George and Victoria and Albert yachts, Capt. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence. At a public dinner given in 1834 at the City of London Tavern, Mr. Snell had the honour of receiving at the hands of Sir Jas. Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty, a Gold Medal presented by the Royal National Shipwreck Institution for the intrepidity he had manifested in putting off in a lifeboat to the assistance of a vessel driving on shore off Dungeness Lighthouse, and afterwards totally wrecked. He was also voted the thanks of the Shipping Club at North Yarmouth. While in command of the Lightning he conveyed from Woolwich to Ostend the Duke of Saxe Cobourg and Gotba, father of H.R.H. Prince Albert; was the bearer of Lord Wilton when that nobleman was sent to invest the King of Saxony with the Order of the Garter; and accompanied Her Majesty on the occasion of her first visit to Scotland. He fitted out the Victoria and Albert when first commissioned; and was Senior Lieutenant of that vessel when the Queen visited the King of the French and the King of the Belgians. Since his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 25 Sept. 1843, he has been on half-pay.
He is married and has issue. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
SNELL. (Lieutenant, 1841.)
John Cooke Snell entered the Navy 23 Jan. 1827; passed his examination 6 Dec. 1834; and was promoted (while serving at Portsmouth as Mate of the Queen 110, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Codrington) to the rank of Lieutenant 23 Nov. 1841. On 5 March, 1842, he was appointed Additional of the same ship, then bearing the flag of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean; where he removed, 19 April following, to the Cambridge 78, Capt. Edw. Barnard. He returned to England and was paid off in Jan. 1843; and has not been since afloat.
SNELL. (Lieut., 1806. f-p., 16; h-p., 34.)
Robert Snell (a) entered the Navy, in Dec. 1797, as Midshipman, on board the El Corso 18, Capt. Bartholomew James, attached to the fleet in
