and Mediterranean. In March, 1805, ho was lent to the Phoebe frigate; he was subsequently taken prisoner and detained for three months at the island of Majorca. Rejoining the Hydra in April, 1806, he was in her, during the next three years and four months, engaged in a variety of service on the coasts of Spain and Portugal. On 7 Aug. 1807, with the assistance of her boats, the Hydra obtained possession, in a very gallant manner, of three armed polacres (the Prince Eugène of 16 guns and 130 men, Belle Caroline of 10 guns and 40 men, and Rosario of 4 guns and 20 men) lying in the narrow harbour of Begu, on the coast of Catalonia, under the fierce defence of a battery mounting 4 26-pounders, of a tower, and of a considerable land force. After serving for a short time under Lord Collingwood in the Ville de Paris 110, Mr. Willis was made Lieutenant, 13 Dec. 1809, into the Conqueror 74, Capt. Edw. Fellowes; he invalided home from the Mediterranean in June, 1811; and he was appointed next – 24 March, 1812, to the Stirling Castle 74, Capts. Sir Jahleel Brenton and Augustus Brine, employed in the Channel and off Rochefort – 2 April, 1813, to the Mosquito sloop, Capt. Jas. Tomkinson, stationed in the West Indies, and on the coast of Brazil – and 24 Nov. 1813, to the Charybdis sloop, Capt. Jas. Clephan, under whom he shared in the attack on New Orleans. He has been on half-pay since 24 Aug. 1815.
WILLIS. (Captain, 1844.)
William Alexander Willis entered the Navy 24 Aug. 1811; and obtained his first commission 17 July, 1824. His succeeding appointments were – 10 Feb. 1825, to the Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Jas. Ashley Maude – 4 Nov. 1828 and 12 May, 1831, to the Cruizer 18, Capt. John Edw. Griffith Colpoys, and Southampton 52, flag-ship of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen, both in the East Indies, whence he returned at the close of 1831 – 3 Dec. 1832, as First- Lieutenant, to the Vernon 50, flag-ship of Sir Geo. Cockburn in North America and the West Indies – 25 June, 1833, to the command, on the same station, of the Skipjack schooner – and 4 Sept. 1834, to the President 52, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir G. Cockburn. He attained the rank of Commander 30 Oct. 1835; was appointed in that capacity, 13 Dec. 1841 and 3 Nov. 1842, to the Jaseur 16 and Frolic 16, on the Mediterranean and South American stations; and for his meritorious services in the latter vessel was advanced to Post-rank 15 March, 1844. Capt. Willis was granted a pension for wounds 29 April, 1845. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
WILLISON. (Lieut., 1811. f-p., 14; h-p., 33.)
John Willison was born in 1789, and died in 1847.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 April, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Mercury 28, Capt. Thos. Rogers, under whom he was for about two years employed in the Mediterranean. In June, 1803, he became Midshipman of the Squirrel 20, Capts. Ernest Bracon and John Shortland, attached to the force in the Channel; where, on his return from a voyage to the coast of Africa, he removed, in Aug. 1805, to the Bellona 74, Capts. Chas. Dudley Pater and John Erskine Douglas. He sailed subsequently for the coast of North America; where we find him, in company with the Belleisle 74 and Melampus 36, assisting, 14 Sept. 1806, at the destruction, off Cape Henry, of the French 74-gun ship Impétueux. In March, 1809, he removed, as Master’s Mate, to the Kent 74, commanded by his former Captain, Rogers, on the Mediterranean station; and in the following June he there joined the Ville de Paris 110; of which ship, bearing the flags in succession of Lord Collingwood and the late Sir Thos. Fras. Fremantle, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant 14 Nov. 1810. He was officially promoted 17 Jan. 1811, and continued employed with the officer last-mentioned in the Rodney and Milford 74’s until Aug. 1814. In the Milford he was present at the reduction of Fiumé in July, 1813. His last appointment was, 16 June, 1815, to the Wye 24, Capts. Andw. Pellet Green and John Harper; in which vessel he served off Jersey under the flag again of Sir T. F. Fremantle until 30 Jan. 1816, and at Sheerness from 20 Feb. until 16 June in the latter year.
Lieut. Willison has left a widow and three children.
WILLOUGHBY. (Lieutenant, 1843.)
Francis Willoughby, born 22 Oct. 1816, is fifth son of Robt. Willoughby, Esq., of Kingsbury Cliff, co. Warwick, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant, by his third wife, Avarilla, eldest daughter of Edw. Croxall, Esq., of Thurstoke, in the same co.; and nephew of Rear-Admiral Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, Kt., C.B., K.C.H. One of his brothers, Henry John, is a Lieutenant in the 2nd European Regiment, Bombay Army.
This officer entered the Navy 2 June, 1830; passed his examination 10 Sept. 1836; and served as Mate in the Southampton 50, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Durnford King, and Gorgon steamer, Capt. Chas. Hotham, at the Cape of Good Hope and in South America, from 1840 until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 1 Nov. 1843. He was appointed, 28 of the month last-mentioned, Additional of the Alfred 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore John Brett Purvis on the coast of Brazil; was employed from 21 Feb. 1844 until the early part of 1847 in the Daphne 18, Capt. John Jas. Onslow, in the Pacific; and from 5 Oct. in the latter year until superseded in May, 1848, was First-Lieutenant, in the Mediterranean, of the Hecate steam-sloop, of 240 horse-power, Capt. Rich. Moorman.
WILLOUGHBY. (Commander, 1846.)
James Beautine Willoughby is a cousin of Rear-Admiral Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, Kt., C.B., K.C.H.
This officer entered the Navy 20 May, 1830; passed his examination 5 Feb. 1837; served for some time as Mate in the Niagara 20, Capt. Williams Sandom, on the Lakes of Canada; and on the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant 14 Dec. 1841, was nominated Additional, for a short period, of the Illustrious 72, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Adam on the North America and West India station. He was employed next, from 12 Oct. 1842 until the summer of 1844, in the Warspite 50, Capts. Lord John Hay and Provo Wm. Parry Wallis, in the Mediterranean; and from 3 Nov. 1845, until after his promotion to the rank he now holds, which took place 9 Nov. 1846, in the Mohawk and Cherokee steamers, each commanded by Lieut. Wm. Newton Fowell, on the Canadian Lakes. He has since been on half-pay.
At a meeting of the Committee of the Royal Humane Society, held 17 Feb. 1847, the unanimous thanks of the Committee were presented to Commander Willoughby for “the judgment, coolness, and intrepidity displayed by him on 25 Nov. 1846 in rescuing the crew of a vessel wrecked on Pigeon Island, Lake Ontario, and who were nearly perished from the; intense cold, by his having undertaken the dangerous task of proceeding in one boat, and George Parker, boatswain’s mate, in another, through a high surf, and the risk of landing imminent.” He had been already awarded the Honorary Medal of the Institution for his courage and humanity on a similar occasion.
WILLOUGHBY, Kt, C.B., K.C.H. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1847. f-p., 23; h-p., 34.)
Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, born 29 Aug. 1777, is third son of the late Robt. Willoughby, Esq., of Cossall and Aspley Hall, co. Notts, and of Kingsbury Cliff; co. Warwick (of whose ancestors, one fought at Cressy, another at Poictiers, and a third. Sir Thos. Willoughby, with distinction, at Agincourt), by his second marriage with Barbara, daughter of Jas. Bruce, Esq., of Kinlock, whose wife was a great-grand-daughter of the Earl of Lauderdale. One of Sir Nesbit J. Willoughby’s
