Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/16

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

2

ACKERLEY—ACKLAND—A’COURT.

This officer entered the Navy, 30 Jan. 1808, as Third-cl. Boy, on board the Dictator 64, Capt. Donald Campbell; attained the rating of Midshipman 6 March following; and continued to serve in the Baltic until transferred in March, 1809, with the same Captain, to the Audacious 74, one of the ships employed in the ensuing expedition against Flushing. After further participating in the co-operations with the British army in the Tagus, Mr. Achmuty, in Nov. 1811, joined the Warrior 74, Capts. Hon. Geo. Byng and John Tremayne Rodd, under the former of whom we find him escorting the Prince of Orange to Holland in Nov. 1813; and, in the year following, a fleet of merchantmen to the West Indies. He next served, between July, 1815, and March, 1817, as Acting-Lieutenant, on the latter station, of the Sabine 16, Capts. Wm. Hall and A. Campbell, and Briseis 10, Capt. Geo. Domett; then returned home in the Lady Hamilton transport; and was subsequently attached, for short periods, as Admiralty-Midshipman, to the Blossom 20, Capt. Tred. Hickey, and Hyacinth 20, Capt. Alex. Renton Sharpe, on the Brazilian station; and, again as Acting-Lieutenant, to the Salisbury 58, flag-ship in the West Indies of Rear-Admiral Donald Campbell, where he was officially promoted to the Raleigh 18, Capts. Wm. Augustus Baumgardt and Geo. Blackman, 13 July, 1819. Mr. Achmuty returned to England, and was paid off towards the close of 1821; from which period he remained on half-pay until appointed, 27 Dec. 1841, Admiralty-Agent in a Contract Mail Steam-vessel. In this capacity he appears to have been employed until the date of his death.

He married, 27 Aug. 1822, Alicia Jane, eldest daughter of Arthur Auchmuty, Esq., M.D., of Kilmore House, Roscommon, a magistrate for that county, by whom he has left issue. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



ACKERLEY. (Lieut., 1822. f-p., 19; h-p., 18.)

Charles Henry Ackerley is second son of the late John Hawkesley Ackerley, Esq., barrister-at-law, by Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Chamberlayne, of Maugersbury House, co. Gloucester; younger brother of Joseph Chamberlayne Chamberlayne, Esq., of Maugersbury House, who assumed that name on inheriting the large estates of his maternal uncle, Edmund John Chamberlayne, Esq.; and cousin of Commander John Chamberlayne, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Sheldrake 16, Capt. John Thicknesse. In Sept. following he became Midshipman of the Adamant 50, bearing the flag at Leith of Rear-Admiral Wm. Albany Otway, and in that ship and the Daphne 23, commanded in the Baltic by Capt. Jas. Green, he continued to serve, until the conclusion of hostilities in 1814. During the first three years of the peace he appears to have been employed in the East Indies on board the Iphigenia 36, Capts. Andrew King and John Hancock; after which (with the exception of an attachment of three months as Acting-Lieutenant, during the year 1821, to the Drake sloop, Capt. Baker) he served, until March, 1823, on board the Sir Francis Drake, flag-ship at Newfoundland of Sir Chas. Hamilton. Having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 20 of the previous Nov. Mr. Ackerley afterwards joined – 21June, 1824, the Wellesley 74, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond, employed on particular service – 23 Dec. 1825, the Spartiate 76, Capt. Fred. Warren – and, 23 March, 1827, the Ocean 80, Capt. Patrick Campbdl, guard-ship at Plymouth, but afterwards charged with the conveyance of the British forces to Portugal, and finally attached to the squadron in the Mediterranean. He was placed on half-pay in May, 1830, and has not since been afloat.

Lieut. Ackerley was presented, 2 June, 1828, with the large silver medal of the “Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce,” for his safety rods for ships’ boats.



ACKLAND. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 15; h-p., 26.)

Edward Ackland entered the Navy, 22 July, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Orestes 16, Capt Hon. Geo. Poulett, under whose successor, Capt. John Richards Lapenotiere, he took part in the expedition against Copenhagen in Aug. and Sept., and was subsequently employed in the blockade of Elsineur, as likewise in affording protection to the trade passing through the Sound. In Dec. 1807, he joined the Thalia 36, Capts. Thos. Manby and Jas. Giles Vashon, with the former of whom he proceeded in supposed pursuit of two French frigates to Davis Strait; and then, after a fruitless exposure of several weeks to many severe hardships, and a prolonged stay on the coast of Labrador, returned to Europe. Continuing to serve in the Thalia, Mr. Ackland took part in the expedition to Flushing in 1809, and eventually visited the West Indies, whence we find him, in May 1812, escorting home a very numerous convoy. In the following August, immediately on passing his examination, he joined the Impregnable 98, successive flag-ship on the Home station of Admiral Wm. Young, and of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, under the latter of whom he brought over to England the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia. While next serving in the Insolent 14, Capt. Wm. Kelly, he was promoted to the rank he now holds, by commission dated 17 Feb. 1815. Since that period, with two intervals, from 15 June, 1820, to 19 Oct. 1821, and from 15 Jan. 1831 to 1834, when he held a command in the Coast Guard, he has been on half-pay.



A’COURT. (Captain, 1811. f-p., 17; h-p., 34.)

Edward Henry A’Court, born 10 Dec. 1783, is second son of the late Col. Sir Wm. Pierce Ashe A’Court, Bart., M.P., by his second wife, Letitia, daughter of Henry Wyndham, Esq., of Salisbury; brother of Lord Heytesbury, late Viceroy of Ireland, and of Col. Chas. Ashe A’Court, K.H., one of the Poor-law Commissioners; brother-in-law of the Earl of St. Germans, and of the Hon. Philip Pleydell Bouverie, the brother of the Earl of Radnor and of Rear-Admiral Bouverie; and uncle of the Hon. W. H. A. A. Holmes, M.P. for the Isle of Wight.

This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy in Jan. 1796, and embarked, in Jan. 1800, as Midshipman, on board the Clyde 38, Capt. Chas. Cunningham. After serving for some time in the Channel and off the Western Islands, he became successively attached to the Endymion 40, Capt. Henry Garrett, lying at Portsmouth – Falcon sloop, Capt. Henry Manaton Ommanney, off Newfoundland – and Pluto, Capt. Henry Barwell, on the same station. In Jan. 1803, he was appointed Master’s Mate of the Isis 50, Capt. Wm. GrenviUe Lobb, in the North Sea – then, of the Britannia 100, Capt. Lord Northesk, at Portsmouth – and, in June of the same year, of the Blanche 36, Capt. Zachary Mudge. In Nov. following he acquired great distinction by a gallant exploit off St. Domingo, where, in command of a boat with only five hands, he succeeded, after a severe struggle, in capturing a French schooner, with a detachment on board, besides other passengers, of between thirty and forty soldiers. Being shortly after that event appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Theseus 74, Capts. John Bligh and Edw. Hawker, the subject of this memoir, in conjunction with Lieut. Rich. Henry Muddle, took command, 31 Jan. 1804, of a body of seamen who were landed at Curaçoa, and participated in the gallant but unsuccessful attack on that island. His promotion meeting with official sanction 13 Feb. following, he subsequently joined, 9 Oct. 1805, 15 July, 1806, and 21 Jan. 1808, the Mediator 44, Capts. John Seaton and Wm. Furlong Wise, Veteran 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Daeres, and, as Lieut.-Commander, the Sandwich schooner – all on the Jamaica station, where he was confirmed in the command, 10 June, 1808, of the Shark sloop. In Oct. of the same year he removed to the Pelican 18; and in Oct. 1810, he next joined the Harpy 18, at the