8 Oct. 1844; served as Mate, on the Mediterranean and Home stations, in the Amazon 26, Capt. Jas. John Stopford, Warspite 50, Capt. Provo Wm. Parry Wallis, and St. Vincent 120, Commodore Sir Fras. Aug. Collier; and on 9 Nov. 1846 was presented with a Lieutenant’s commission, the date of which was afterwards altered to 2 Dec. 1848. Since 14 Feb. 1847 he has been employed in the Wanderer 12, Capt. Fred. Byng Montresor, on the coast of Africa.
SWINBURNE. (Captain, 1835. f-p., 16; h-p., 21.)
Charles Henry Swinburne, born 2 April, 1797, is second son of Sir John Swinburne, Bart., of Capheaton, co. Northumberland, F.R.S., and F.R.A.S., by Emma, daughter of Rich. Henry Alex. Bennet, Esq., of Beckenham, co. Kent, and niece of the late Duchess of Northumberland. He is brother-in-law of Henry Geo. Ward, Esq., M.P., First-Secretary of the Admiralty; and nephew of Robt. Swinburne, Esq., a General in the Austrian service, and Governor of Milan.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College 18 Sept. 1810; and embarked, 16 Dec. 1812, as a Volunteer, on board the Revenge 74, Capts. Sir John Gore, Wm. Fairbrother Carroll, and Henry Hart, attached to the fleet in the Mediterranean; where he soon attained the rating of Midshipman, and removed, in July, 1813, to the Alcmène 38, Capt. Jeremiah Coghlan. From Dec. 1815 until May, 1818, he was employed at Newfoundland and in the Channel as Admiralty-Midshipman in the Tiber 38, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres; and on 14 July in the latter year, at which period he was serving at the Cape of Good Hope in the Tees 24, Capt. Geo. Rennie, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He continued in the Tees until the following Sept.; he then joined the Eurydice 24, Capt. Robt. Wauchope, also on the Cape station, whence he returned in Dec. 1819; and while attached, from 26 March, 1821, until 1824, to the Glasgow 50, Capt. Bentinck Cavendish Doyle, he was engaged in conveying the remains of Queen Caroline from Harwich to Cuxhaven, Sir Edw. Paget and family from Portsmouth to the East Indies, and the Marquess of Hastings from Calcutta to Gibraltar. He attained the rank of Commander 30 April, 1827; served in that capacity in the Rapid 10,[1] on the Mediterranean station, from 7 Sept. 1829 until paid off 15 July, 1833; and was advanced to the rank he now holds 8 July, 1835. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Swinburne married, 19 May, 1836, Lady Jane Henrietta Ashburnham, daughter of the late and sister of the present Earl of Ashburnham, by whom he has issue. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
SWINBURNE. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
Thomas Anthony Swinburne, born 13 July, 1820, is only son (by his first wife, Maria, third daughter of the Rev. Anthony Coates, Rector of Gouldsborough, co. York) of Thos. Robt. Swinburne, Esq., F.R.S., of Pontop Hall, co. Durham, and Marcus Lodge, co. Forfar, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, and a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Forfarshire, who served in the Guards in Holland and the South of France, and was at Quatre Bras, Waterloo, and Peronne.
This officer passed his examination 5 Jan. 1844; served as Mate, on the North America and West India and Mediterranean stations, in the Illustrious 72, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Adam, and Phoenix steam-sloop, Capt. Jas. Sam. Akid Dennis; attained the rank of Lieutenant 9 Nov. 1846; and since 6 April, 1847, has been employed, again in the Mediterranean, in the Bulldog steam-sloop, Capts. Geo. Evan Davis and Astley Cooper Key.
SWINFEN. (Commander, 1829.)
William Clement Swinfen entered the Navy in Jan. 1816; passed his examination in 1822; and was made Lieutenant, 29 April, 1825, into the Helicon 10, Capt. Thos. Furber, on the West India station; where he removed, 17 Feb. 1826, to the Druid 46, Capts. Sam. Chambers and Williams Sandom. He attained his present rank 26 Aug. 1829, and has since been on half-pay. Agent – J. Hinxman.
SYER. (Lieutenant, 1809. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
Dey Richard Syer, born 17 Oct. 1788, in co. Suffolk, is third son of the Rev. Barrington Blomfield Syer, by Mary, eldest daughter of John Moore, Esq., of Kentwell Hall, Melford.
This officer entered the Navy, 29 June, 1803 (under the protection of the late Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres), as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Prince 98, Capt. Rich. Grindall. In that ship, of which he was nominated Midshipman in Jan. 1804, he was for some time employed in the blockade of Brest, and then off Cadiz. After sharing in the battle of Trafalgar he removed, in Nov. 1805, to the Tigre 74, Capt. Benj. Hallowell; under whom we find him participating in a variety of detached services, and, in 1807, accompanying the expedition to Egypt. While there he assisted in landing the troops,[2] commanded the launch in an attack upon some of the enemy’s forts, and had charge of a gun-boat on Lake Mareotis. He was also sent on a cruize off Rosetta under Lieut. Bucknor, in a Turkish corvette, of which, when previously captured in the inner harbour of Alexandria, he had been placed in command. Having returned to England and been refitted, the Tigre was next, for a short time, stationed off the Texel; where Mr. Syer was employed under the Master in surveying the different shoals. On again proceeding to the Mediterranean he united, in Oct. 1809, in the pursuit which led to the self-destruction of the ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion;[3] and on the night of 31 of that month he served with the boats of a squadron under Lieut. John Tailour at the capture and destruction, after a desperate struggle and a loss to the British of 15 men killed and 55 wounded, of the French armed store-ship Lamproie of 16 guns and 116 men, bombards Victoire and Grondeur and armed xebec Normande with a convoy of seven merchantmen, defended by numerous strong batteries, in the Bay of Rosas. In this affair Mr. Syer, one of those who boarded the Lamproie, was severely wounded in the head and cut down on the quarter-deck of that vessel.[4] He was immediately, however, promoted by Lord Collingwood to a death vacancy, 2 Nov. 1809, in the Volontaire 38, Capts. Chas. Bullen, Joseph Nourse, and Hon. Granville Geo. Waldegrave. In May, 1810, he was again severely wounded by a musket-ball in the right leg at the cutting out of some merchant-vessels and privateers under the batteries of Pomegue, near Marseilles. On 31 March, 1813, while a party of seamen and marines were engaged on shore under Lieut. Isaac Shaw in effecting the capture of two strong batteries, Mr. Syer, in command of the boats of the Volontaire, Undaunted 38, and Redwing sloop, brought out from the harbour of Morjean (although opposed besides by two field-pieces), 11 vessels, tartans and settees, laden with oil, and destroyed three others.[5] In addition to many other boat affairs we find him on one occasion, after having been for six nights secreted among the rocks of Cape Creux, assisting Lieut. Shaw in capturing a large French armed xebec. He appears, on the fall of Tarragona in June, 1811, to have been active in rescuing the inhabitants from the fury of the French troops; and, on 22 Nov. in the same year, to have been in company with the Perlen 38 when she and the Vo-
- ↑ The Rapid, in July, 1831, discovered a volcanic island on the south-west coast of Sicily, which has since subsided into a dangerous shoal.
- ↑ Through a heavy surf to the eastward of Marabout.
- ↑ At the moment the enemy fired their ships, which had been run on shore near Cape Cette, Mr. Syer was in the boats sounding for a channel by which they might be approached.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1903.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 1148.
