again go afloat until Jan. 1807; on 21 of which month he obtained command of the Excellent 74. In her, while co-operating in 1808 with the Spaniards on the coast of Catalonia, he rendered important service to the patriot cause; and in particular by the manner in which, with the Meteor bomb under his orders, he contributed to the defence of the citadel of Rosas when besieged by about 5000 French troops. On 8 Nov., having landed at the latter place, Capt. West, observing that the enemy were hard pressing a body of Miguelets, made a sortie from the citadel at the head of 250 of the Excellent’s seamen and marines, for the purpose of rescuing them. This he succeeded in accomplishing; but not until several of his men had been wounded and his own horse shot under him.[1] On being relieved, 21 Nov., by the Fame 74, Capt. Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett, the Excellent proceeded off Toulon, and was next ordered to the Adriatic.[2] In Dec. 1809 Capt. West removed to the Sultan 74; which ship he continued to command on the Mediterranean, Home, and West India stations, until March, 1814. He became a Rear-Admiral 12 Aug. 1819, a Vice-Admiral 22 July, 1830, and a full Admiral 23 Nov. 1841. He was nominated a K.C.B. 4 July, 1840; and from 15 April, 1845, until April, 1848, he commanded in chief at Devonport, with his flag in the Queen 110.
Sir John West married, in May, 1817, Harriett, daughter of John Adams, Esq., of co. Northampton, by whom he has issue three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, John Temple, is a Captain in the Grenadier Guards; his second, Alexander George, a Commander R.N.; and his youngest, Frederick, an officer in the Army.
WEST. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 19; h-p., 21.)
Joseph West entered the Navy 1 June, 1807, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Téméraire 98, Capt. Sir Chas. Hamilton, lying at Portsmouth, and sailed, towards the close of the same year, in the Sapphire, Capt. Geo. Davies, for the East Indies, where he became Midshipman, in May, 1808, and July, 1811, of the Piémontaise 38, Capt. Chas. Foote, and Phoenix 36, Capt. Jas. Bawen. While attached to the Piémontaise, of which frigate he was for 14 months Master’s Mate, he was employed on shore in 1808 in co-operation with the army at Quilon on the coast of Malabar, and was twice wounded in cutting out gun-boats from Bantam, in the island of Java. In 1809 he was present in an attack upon a body of Malay pirates; and at the celebrated capture, in Aug. 1810, of the island of Banda Neira, he was one of those who escaladed the walls of the castle of Belgria. In 1811 he assisted at the capture of Palambang and Sambas. Returning to England in 1813 in the Bucephalus frigate, Capt. Barrington Reynolds, he joined, in the spring of 1814, the Newcastle 50, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart, and Meteor bomb and Furieuse 36, Capts. Sam. Roberts and Wm. Mounsey – the two last on the coast of North America; where, after having accompanied an expedition to Penobscot Bay, he was made Lieutenant, 6 July, 1814, into the Acasta 40, Capt. Alex. Robt. Kerr. That ship however he never joined. He was employed next, between Oct. 1814 and Sept. 1815, in the Fantôme 18, Capt. Thos. Sykes (under whom he was wrecked on his passage from St. John’s, New Brunswick, to Halifax 24 Nov. 1814) Bulwark 74, Capt. Farmery Predam Epworth, Furieuse again, Capt. Mounsey, and Bann 20, Capt. Thos. Whinyates. His succeeding appointments were – 12 June, 1824, to the Pylades 18, Capt. Fras. Fead, in which vessel, after cruizing with an experimental squadron, he proceeded to the West Indies, whence he returned, we believe, in 1825 – 18 May, 1827, as First-Lieutenant, for upwards of three years, to the Tweed 20, Capt. Lord Henry John Spencer Churchill, at the Cape of Good Hope – 4 June, 1834, to the command, which he retained until the summer of 1836, of the African steamer, on the Home and Mediterranean stations – and, 14 May, 1838, to the command of the Volcano, another steamer. In the latter vessel, which he paid off in the early part of 1841, but recommissioned 23 Aug. following, he was employed on the North America and West India stations. He attained the rank of Commander 23 Nov. 1841; and as such he served in the Hecate steam-sloop of 240 horse-power, on the coast of Africa, from 11 June, 1845, until paid off in the spring of 1847.
WEST. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 18; h-p., 32.)
William Wade West entered the Navy, 16 Oct. 1797, as A.B., on board the Rover sloop, Capt. Geo. Irwin, in which vessel, and, as Midshipman, in the Dasher, Capt. Geo. Tobin, he continued employed on the coast of North America and West Indies until Jan. 1801. He joined next, in Nov. 1803, in the capacity of Master’s Mate, the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Graves in the Channel; where, again in the West Indies, as also on the coasts of Spain and Portugal and in the North Sea, he served as Master, from 16 May, 1804, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 11 April, 1810, in the Merlin sloop, Capt. Edw. Pelham Brenton, Latona 38, Capt. Thos. Le Marchant Gosselin, Pomona frigate, Capt. Fred. Langford, Success 32, Capt. John Ayscough, Audacious 74, Capt. T. Le M. Gosselin, and San Domingo 74, bearing the flag of Sir Rich. Strachan. In the ship last mentionen, to which, on the occasion of his promotion, he was re-appointed, he took part in the operations connected with the expedition to the Walcheren. He finally left her in June, 1811. He was next, until Nov. 1814, employed, on the Home, Baltic, and Cape of Good Hope stations, in the Berwick 74, Capt. Jas. Macnamara, Mars 74, Capt. Henry Raper, Devastation bomb, Capt. Thos. Alexander, Ville de Paris 110 and Boyne 98, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Burlton, Laura 38, Capt. Hon. Granville Leveson Proby, and Barracouta sloop, Capt. Chas. Hawkey. From April, 1815, until May, 1816, he was engaged in raising seamen at Hull; and from 1817 until 1819 he was stationed on the coast of South America in the Blossom 24, Capt. Fred. Hickey. He has since been on half-pay.
WESTBROOK. (Commander, 1839. f-p., 34; h-p., 10.)
Edmund Barford Westbrook entered the Navy, 27 March, 1803, as a Volunteer, on board the Puissant 74, Capts. John Irwin, Robt. Hall, and Chas. Wm. Paterson; in which ship and her tenders he was for eight years and nine months employed at Spithead and off Guernsey. He served next, from Dec. 1811 until Sept. 1815, as Midshipman (a rating he had attained in Nov. 1804) and as Master’s Mate and Acting-Master in the Doterel sloop, Capts. Wm. Westcott Daniel and John Knatchbull, on the Home, Lisbon, African, West India, and North American stations; and in Nov. 1815, at which period he had been for a few weeks Admiralty-Midshipman of the Rifleman 18, Capts. Henry Edw. Napier and Geo. Bennet Allen, he was presented with a commission bearing date 6 July preceding. His succeeding appointments were – 20 March, 1822, to the Coast Blockade, in which service he continued as a Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Severn 50 and Ramillies 74, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Hugh Pigot, until 1827 – 21 July, 1828, to the Windsor Castle 76, Capt. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie, employed on the Home, Mediterranean, Cork, and Lisbon stations – and 20 July, 1831, to the charge, which he retained until advanced to his present rank 1 Jan. 1839, of a station in the Coast Guard. He served again in the Coast Guard, as an Inspecting-Commander, from 5 Nov. 1839 until the early part of 1845.
Commander Westbrook is Senior of 1839. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, pp. 130, 1.
- ↑ The services performed by the boats of the Excellent are detailed in our memoir of Capt. John Harper.
