the following year, part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman. After he had been for some months employed with Sir Edw. Pellew off Ferrol and Corunna, in the Tonnant 80, he sailed with that officer in 1804 for the East Indies, in the Culloden 74; from which ship he was lent, on his arrival, to the Victor sloop, Capt. Geo. Bell. In her he was present, as Acting-Lieutenant, 15 April, 1807, in a desperate affair with an armed proa, which terminated in the crew of the latter, who had attacked the Victor, being repulsed, with a loss to themselves, in the course of little more than half an hour, of 80 killed, and to the British of 6 killed, including the First-Lieutenant, H. Blaxton, and 26, among whom was Capt. Bell, wounded. Rejoining Sir Edw. Pellew, about July, 1808, in the Culloden, he continued to serve with him as his Flag-Lieutenant (commission dated 14 Aug. 1808) in the same ship and in the Christian VII. 80, and Caledonia 120, on the East India, North Sea, and Mediterranean stations, until April, 1812; on 12 of which month, having been advanced to the rank of Commander 1 Feb. preceding, he assumed command of the Pylades 18. He subsequently, 5 Oct. 1813, assisted, in company with the Edinburgh 74, Impérieuse 38, and Swallow and Éclair sloops, in silencing the fire of several batteries at Port d’Anzo, at which place a convoy of 29 vessels fell into the hands of the British; and in April, 1814, he received the public thanks of Capt. Josias Rowley, of the America 74, for the “ready assistance” he afforded during the operations connected with the reduction of Genoa. On 25 of the month last mentioned he was nominated Acting-Captain of the Rainbow 26; which ship he brought home from the Mediterranean and paid off in the following Dec. He has since been on half-pay. His Post-commission bears date 1 July, 1814.
With the exception of an interval in 1831, Capt. Wemyss retained, from 1820 until lately, a seat in Parliament for the co. Fife; of which he was nominated, 23 Dec. 1840, Lieutenant and Sheriff-Principal. He married, 8 Aug. 1826, Lady Emma Hay, daughter of William, 16th Earl of Erroll, by whom, who died 17 July, 1841, he has issue two sons and one daughter. Agents – Collier and Snee.
WEMYSS. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
Robert Wemyss died in May, 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 Oct. 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Resistance 38, Capt. Chas. Adam, under whom he was for about eight years employed in the same ship and, as Midshipman, in the Invincible 74. The Resistance, while he was in her, was present at the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the Marengo 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule. She brought a considerable quantity of freight home, also, from Vera Cruz; made prize, 27 Dec. 1807, of L’Aigle privateer of 14 guns and 66 men; conveyed a large body of general officers to the coast of Portugal in 1808; bore the late King of the French from Port Mahon to Palermo; and was otherwise actively employed. Co-operating, in the Invincible, with the patriots on the coast of Spain, Mr. Wemyss assisted at the defence of Tarragona in May and June, 1811; at the capture of the town of Almeria, and the destruction there of the castle of St. Elmo and the different batteries protecting the anchorage; and at the reduction, after a siege of five days, of the fort of St. Philippe, in the Col de Balaguer, near Tortosa, armed with 12 pieces of ordnance, including 2 10-inch mortars and 2 howitzers, and garrisoned by 101 officers and men. After serving for a short time, still in the Mediterranean, in the Goshawk sloop, Capt. Hon. Wm. John Napier, he joined, in June, 1814, the Venerable 74, of which ship, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Philip Chas. Durham in the West Indies, he was nominated, 23 Aug. following, Acting-Lieutenant. He was confirmed 5 Nov. following; and from 11 of that month until 30 Aug. 1815 he served in the West Indies and on the coast of North America in the Norge 74, Capt. Chas. Dashwood, part of the force engaged in the attack upon New Orleans. He did not afterwards go afloat. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
WENTWORTH. (Lieutenant, 1813.)
William Fitzwilliam Wentworth entered the Navy, 12 April, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Cambrian 40, Capt. John Poo Beresford, stationed at first on the coast of North America, and next in the West Indies, where he served as Midshipman, from March, 1807, until Sept. 1810, in the Milan 38, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie. After he had been again employed with Capt. Beresford in the Channel and off Lisbon, as Master’s Mate, in the Poictiers 74, he joined, in Dec. 1810 the Barfleur 98, bearing the flag on the latter station of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, under whom, deducting about two months in the summer of 1811, during which he acted as Lieutenant in the North Star 20, Capt. Thos. Coe, he continued to serve until again ordered to act as Lieutenant, in June, 1812, in the Fantome 20, Capt. John Lawrence, off Cadiz. In her, however, he remained but a few weeks. He was next, in Jan. 1813, received, as Admiralty-Midshipman, on board the Impétueux 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Geo. Martin at Lisbon. On 9 March following he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Sabine sloop, Capt. Edw. Wrottesley; and in that vessel, to which the Admiralty confirmed him 13 April in the same year, he was for 12 months stationed in the Gut of Gibraltar, Being appointed subsequently to the Hebrus 36, Capt. Edm. Palmer, Mr. Wentworth commanded the boats of that frigate, in the early part of 1815, in the attack upon Point Petre, and at the capture of St. Mary’s, on the coast of Georgia. He participated, also, in an unsuccessful boat affair with five American gun-vessels near Charleston, where the launch belonging to the Hebrus and a prize-tender fell into the hands of the enemy. In July, 1815, we find him engaged in forcing the formidable passage of the Gironde, destroying the heavy batteries by which it was defended, and actively cooperating with the French Royalists in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux; and in Aug. 1816 present at the battle of Algiers. The Hebrus being paid off in Nov. 1816, he was next, 12 July, 1819, appointed to the Cygnet 10, Capt. Thos. Bennett, on the coast of Ireland. Since 1824 he has been employed, uninterruptedly, we believe, in the Transport-service. At present he is Resident Agent for Transports, and Storekeeper and Agent Victualler, at Cork.
WEST. (Commander, 1848.)
Alexander George West, born 12 Feb. 1821, is second son of Admiral Sir John West, K.C.B.
This officer entered the Navy in 1833; and while Midshipman, in 1840, of the Benbow 72, Capt. Houston Stewart, commanded that ship’s pinnace in the attack upon Tortosa,[1] and was present at the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre. He passed his examination 27 Aug. 1841; served as Mate, at the Nore and at Portsmouth, in the Camperdown 104, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Brace, Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, and Firebrand steam-frigate, Capt. Armar Lowry Corry obtained his first commission 22 Oct. 1844- was appointed, 14 and 27 Dec. following, to the Superb 80, Capt. A. L. Corry, and Vindictive 60, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Wm. Austen, Commander-in-Chief iS North America and the West Indies; and from 19 July, 1845, until advanced to his present rank 2 May 1848, was employed in the Queen 110, as Flag-Lieutenant to his father at Devonport.
Commander West married, 20 June, 1848, Jane only surviving daughter of the Rev. J. Inman, D.D., of Southsea, Hants.
- ↑ Where he had 1 seaman wounded - Vide Gaz. 1840, p.2607.
