Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1218

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
1204
TROTTER—TROUBRIDGE.

nated, in the ensuing April, Acting-Lieutenant; he went back in a similar capacity, in July of the same year, to the Leander; and on his return to England he was officially promoted by a commission bearing date 9 Jan. 1823. His next appointments were to the Hussar 46, Capt. Geo. Harris, Bellette 18, Capt. Chas. Croker, and Rattlesnake 28, Capt. John Leith, all on the West India station; where he was made Commander, 20 Feb. 1826, into the Britomart sloop. From 22 July, 1830, until June, 1834, and from 8 Sept. 1840 until the close oi 1842 he held command, on the coast of Africa, of the Curlew 10 and Albert steamer – the latter employed on an expedition up the Niger. He has since been on half-pay. He attained his present rank 16 Sept. 1835.

Capt. Trotter married, 23 Nov. 1835, Charlotte, second daughter of the late Major-General Jas. Pringle, H.E.I.C.S. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



TROTTER. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 1 6; h-p., 42.)

Robert Trotter entered the Navy, 16 Oct. 1789, as an Officer’s Servant, on board the Edgar 74, in which ship and the Royal William he was for nearly two years employed at Portsmouth under the flag of Admiral Roddam. He joined next, in June, 1795, the Charon 44, Capts. Walter Locke and Jas. Stevenson, attached to the Channel fleet; and from the following Dec. until Nov. 1799, he served, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Prince George 98, Capt. Theophilus Jones, Adamant 50, Capts. Henry D’Esterre Darby, Henry Warre, and Wm. Hotham, Europa 50, Capt. J. Stevenson, and Foudroyant 80, Barfleur 98, and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ships of Lord Keith. In the Adamant he was present, under Capt. Hotham, in the action off Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797. He was also present on shore, and praised by Lieut. Rich. Bourne, his senior officer, for the manner in which he assisted, and the readiness he showed in obeying the orders he received, at the successful defence of the small island of St. Marcouf, when attacked, 7 May, 1798, by a considerable division of the French flotilla.[1] He was made Lieutenant, 15 Nov. 1799, into the Tisiphone sloop, Capt. Chas. Grant, on the West India station; and he was subsequently appointed – 14 June, 1800, to the Solebay 32, Capts. Stephen Poyntz and Thos. Dundas, in which frigate he returned to England and then again visited the North Sea and Mediterranean – 5 July, 1804, after nearly two years of half-pay, to the Albacore sloop, Capt. Major Jacob Henneker, on the Guernsey station – 7 Dec. 1805, to the command of a prison-ship at Portsmouth – and in 1807, to the charge of a Signal-station at Jersey, where he remained until 1811. On 9 Oct. 1804 the Albacore attacked five armed luggers (whom she had compelled the day before to anchor under the cover of a battery near Grosnez de Flamanville) and drove the whole of them on shore in the midst of a very heavy surf that broke with great violence over them. Although herself exposed to a galling fire, and within a few hundred yards only of the coast, she maintained a discharge of round and grape shot until the vessels were abandoned by their crews. Several of the latter appear to have been killed and wounded; but the Albacore, although she was hulled in several places and had her main and maintop masts wounded, escaped without loss. The support afforded by Mr. Trotter on the occasion was spoken of in terms of high approbation.[2] He was placed on the Junior list of Retired Commanders 30 Nov. 1841; and on the Senior 14 May, 1844.



TROUBRIDGE. (Captain, 1842.)

Edward Norwich Troubridge entered the Navy 1 June, 1831; passed his examination in 1837; and obtained his first commission 27 June, 1838. His succeeding appointments were – 19 July, 1838, and 25 April, 1839, as Additional-Lieutenant, to the Melville 72 and Princess Charlotte 104, flag-ships of Hon. Geo. Elliott and Hon. Sir Robt. Stopford at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Mediterranean – 23 April, 1840, to the Benbow 72, Capt. Houston Stewart, under whom he took part in the different operations on the coast of Syria, including the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre – and 10 Dec. following, to the Southampton 50, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Durnford King, again at the Cape. He was promoted, 23 Aug. 1841, to the command of the Wanderer 16; was transferred, in the course of the same year, to the Clio 16; and for his conduct in that vessel during the war in China (where he assisted at the capture of Woosung[3] and Shanghae, and served on the Yang-tse-Kiang[4]) was sdvanced to his present rank 23 Dec. 1842.[5] Since 26 Oct. 1848 he has been in command of the Amazon 26, now in the East Indies. Agent – John P. Muspratt.



TROUBRIDGE, Bart., C.B., M.P. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p. 12; h-p. 38.)

Sir Edward Thomas Troubridge is only son of the late Rear-Admiral Sir Thos. Troubridge, Bart.,[6] and brother-in-law of Lieutenant-General Sir Chas. Bulkeley Egerton, G.C.M.G., K.C.H.

This officer entered the Navy, 21 Jan. 1797, as a Volunteer, on board the Cambridge 74, Capt. Boger, guardship at Plymouth. Being discharged in April, 1799, he next, in Jan. 1801, joined, in the capacity of Midshipman, the Achille 74, Capt. Geo. Murray; with whom he continued employed in the Channel and Baltic in the Edgar 74 and London 98, until transferred in May, 1802, for a few weeks, to the Leander 50, Capt. Jas. Oughton. In the Edgar he fought at the battle of Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801. In July, 1803, he was received on

  1. Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 391.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1804, p. 1284.
  3. Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3399.
  4. Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3404.
  5. Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3821.
  6. Sir Thos. Troubridge entered the Navy about 1773, on board the Seahorse, Capt. Farmer, and distinguished himself shortly afterwards by his gallantry at the capture of the Sartine French frigate of superior force. Attaining Post-rank 1 Jan. 1783, he was afforded an opportunity, in the following June, of participating, as Captain of the Active frigate, in Sir Edw. Hughes’ fifth and last action with M. de Suffrein, off Cuddalore. In 1784 he returned to England in command of Sir Edward’s flag-ship. In 1790 he was again sent to India, in the Thames 32. On his passage, in May, 1794, to Newfoundland, in command of the Castor 32, he was captured, off Cape Clear, by part of the French fleet, and he chanced, in consequence, to be on board the Sanspareil 80, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Nielly, on the famous 1st of June. While in command, afterwards, of the Culloden 74, his reputation reached the highest pitch of fame. Besides sharing in Hotham’s second partial engagement, 13 July, 1793, he led the British fleet in the action off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797, and distinguished himself in the attack upon Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. Although attached to Nelson’s fleet, he was prevented from actually participating in the glories of the Nile, by the circumstance of his ship taking the ground on the tail of a shoal running from the small island of Bequieres. He was, however, as he had been for his conduct off Cape St. Vincent, included in the thanks of Parliament, and presented with a gold medal. He was afterwards engaged in a variety of important operations on the coast of Italy, where, previously to obtaining possession of the Roman territory, he commanded a detachment of seamen and marines at the investment of the Castle of St. Elmo, which capitulated after a siege of nine days. As a reward for the great importance of his services he was presented with the Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit, and was by his own Sovereign raised, 30 Nov. 1799, to the dignity of a Baronet of Great Britain. After officiating as Captain of the Channel Fleet under Earl St. Vincent he took a seat at the Board of Admiralty, and in April, 1805, having attained the rank of Rear-Admiral, hoisted his flag on board the Blenheim 74, and sailed for India as Commander-in-Chief in the seas to the eastward of Pointe de Galle, in the island of Ceylon. On 12 Jan. 1807 he left Madras in the Blenheim, accompanied by the Java frigate and Harrier brig, for the purpose of assuming the chief command at the Cape of Good Hope. The Blenheim and Java parted from the Harrier on the night of 1 Feb., during a tremendous gale, and were not afterwards heard of. Sir Thos. Troubridge, to adopt the words of a former biographer, was “a pattern of professional excellence, of undaunted valour, and of patriotic worth.” He was the cherished friend of Nelson.