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COLCHESTER—COLE.

COLCHESTER Lord, formerly Abbot. (Captain, 1826. f-p., 16; h-p., 20.)

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Colchester, born 12 March, 1798, is eldest son of the late Lord Colchester, a distinguished lawyer, who, previously to his elevation to the peerage, had filled the high appointments of Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Keeper of the Privy Seal in that part of the United Kingdom, and Speaker of the House of Commons, by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Gibbes, Bart. He succeeded his father 9 May, 1829.

This officer entered the Navy, 8 April, 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Revenge 74, Capt. John Nash, bearing the flag off Cadiz of the Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge; came home, in June, 1812, in the Warspite 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood; then entered the Royal Naval College, where he remained until Oct. 1813; and, after a re-attachment for short periods to various ships, joined, early in 1814, the Bacchante 38, Capts. Sir Wm. Hoste and Fras. Stanfell. With the latter officer he sailed for North America, where, in Sept. following, he attended an expedition to the Penobscot under Sir John Sherbrook and Rear-Admiral Griffith. On becoming attached, in Doc. 1815, to the Alceste 38, Capt. Murray Maxwell, he accompanied Lord Amherst to China, and was there wrecked 18 Feb. 1817. He immediately returned home, and, within three mouths of passing his examination, was promoted, from the Glasgow 40, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, to the rank of Lieutenant, by commission dated 15 Sept. 1817. In that capacity Mr. Abbot was employed in the Liffey 50, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, on different particular services, from 22 June, 1818, until invested, 27 Jan. 1821, with the command of the Racehorse sloop, in the Mediterranean. He next joined, 9 April, 1823, the Columbine 18, which he lost, off Sapienza, near the Morea, 25 Jan. 1824. On 30 Nov. following he was commissioned to the Rose 18, and, returning to the Mediterranean, continued on that station until posted 26 Jan. 1826. Lord Colchester’s last appointment was, 9 Oct. 1829, to the Volage 28, in which he escorted the ex Emperor and Empress of Brazil to Cherbourg in April, 1831, and was employed during the winter of 1832 in enforcing the Dutch embargo. He has been on half-pay since Jan. 1833.

His Lordship is Senior Captain of 1826. He married, 3 Feb. 1836, the Hon. Elizabeth Law, sister of the Earl of Ellenborough, late First Lord of the Admiralty, and sister-in-law of Admiral Lord Colville. By that lady he has issue. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



COLE. (Lieutenant, 1806, f-p., 32; h-p., 17.)

Edward Cole entered the Navy (into which he was impressed), 29 May, 1798, as Captain of the Main Top, on board the Inflexible 64, Capt. Solomon Ferris, and, in 1799, was employed landing Russian troops in the Texel. In Nov. of the latter year he became Midshipman of the Redoubt 20, Capt. Jas. Keith Shepard, lying at the Nore. He rejoined Capt. Ferris soon afterwards, as Master’s Mate, in the Ruby 64, in which he assisted at the capture, in April, 1800, of the African island of Goree; and, removing next, with the same officer, to the Hannibal 74, was present, 6 July, 1801, in the battle of Algeciras, when the latter ship, having grounded under the enemy’s batteries, was compelled, after a long and deadly resistance, to strike her colours. Six days afterwards, having in the mean while joined the Superb 74, Capt. Rich Goodwin Keats, Mr. Cole took a warm part in the victory gained by Sir Jas. Saumarez over the Franco-Spanish squadron near Cadiz. The Superb subsequently proceeded to the West Indies with Lord Nelson in pursuit of the enemy’s fleet, and, while on that station, participated, as flag-ship of Sir John Duckworth, in the battle off St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806. At the close of the action Mr. Cole was appointed Acting-First-Lieutenant of Le Brave, one of the captured 74’s, Capt. Edm. Boger, with whom and the rest of the crew, when that ship foundered on her passage home, he was picked up by the Donegal 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm. Having been promoted, from the Royal George 100, flag-ship of Sir J. T. Duckworth, to a Lieutenancy, 23 Sept. 1806, in the Stately 64, Capt. Geo. Parker, he next assisted, in company with the Nassau 64, and was slightly wounded, at the capture and destruction, after an obstinate running fight, and a loss to the Stately of 4 killed and 28 wounded, of the Danish 74-gun ship Prindts Christian Frederic off the coast of Zealand, 22 March, 1808.[1] His ensuing appointments afloat were, 12 Aug. 1809, and 11 Sept. 1810, to the Ardent 64, Capt. Robt. Honyman, and Vengeur 74, commanded by various officers, but particularly by Capt. Tristram Robt. Ricketts, under whom he witnessed the capture of Fort Bowyer in Feb. 1815. From the latter year, until 1820, Mr. Cole further superintended the Ordinary at Plymouth and Greenhithe. Since May, 1837, he has been engaged on quarantine service in the river Medway.

Lieut. Cole, in consideration of the wounds he received at the capture of the Prindts Christian Frederic, was presented by the Patriotic Society with the sum of 40 guineas. He married a daughter of the late Robt. Woits, Esq., of Belaugh, co. Norfolk. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



COLE. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 30.)

George Ward Cole entered the Navy, 21 Oct, 1807, as a Volunteer, on board the Lark 18, Capt. Robt. Nicholas, on the Jamaica station, where he soon attained the rating of Midshipman, and served, until 1810, in the Fleur de la Mer schooner, Lieut.-Commander Daly, and Daedalus 32, Capt, Sam, Hood Inglefield. He then joined the Princess of Orange 74, flag-ship in the Downs of Vice-Admiral Geo. Campbell; was employed, from Nov. in the same year until Jan. 1814, in the Cracker 14, Lieut.-Commanders Henry Fyge Jauncey and Mich. Fitton, under the first of whom he took, in the North Sea, 22 Nov. 1810, the Diane privateer, of 4 guns and 22 men; and, in Dec. 1814, was promoted, from the Tonnant 80, flag-ship of Sir Alex. Cochrane, to the command, with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant, of the Destructive gun-vessel. While in attendance on the ensuing expedition against New Orleans, he was slightly wounded during a furious conflict which rendered captive to the British a flotilla of five American gun-boats on Lake Borgne, after the heavy loss to the former of 17 men killed and 77 wounded.[2] Being confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant 29 Mar. 1815, Mr. Cole returned home in the Wasp sloop, Capt. John Fisher, and, after a further servitude of two years, again in the West Indies, on board the Primrose 18, Capt. Chas. Geo. Rodney Phillott, Pique 36, Capts. Jas. Haldane Tait and John M‘Kellar, and Active 38, Capt. Phil. Carteret, was placed on half-pay 9 Oct. 1817. Since that date he has not been afloat.

While in the Primrose, on her passage from England to Jamaica, Lieut. Cole intrepidly plunged overboard, and, at the risk of his own life, saved that of one of the crew. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



COLE. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 14; h-p., 36.)

Martin Cole died 10 July, 1846, at Broadstairs, aged 63.

This officer entered the Navy, in Oct. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Impétueux 78, Capts. John Willet Payne and Sampson Edwards, with whom he cruized in the Channel, until transferred, as Midshipman, in Nov. 1798, to the Indefatigable 46, Capts. Hon. Henry Curzon and Matthew Henry Scott. After accompanying the expedition against Ferrol, and assisting at the capture, 22 Oct. 1800, of La Vénus French frigate of 32 guns, he next, in April, 1803, joined the Endymion 40, bearing the flag in the Downs of Vice- Admiral Jas. Gambler,

  1. Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 536.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1815, p. 448.