This officer entered the Navy, in Feb. 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Calcutta 50, armée en flûte, Capt. Dan. Woodriff. On his return from a voyage round the world, performed by that ship in the short period of 10 months and three days, he joined, in July, 1804, the Latona 38, Capt. Thos. Le Marchant Gosselin, with whom, on removing to the Audacious 74, he went in pursuit of Jerome Buonaparte to the West Indies. Being ultimately promoted, from the Centaur 74, bearing the flag of Sir Sam. Hood, to a Lieutenancy, 29 April, 1809, in the Implacable 74, commanded in the Baltic by Capts. Thos. Byam Martin and Geo. Cockburn, he took part in the boats of that ship in numerous detached services under Lieut. Joseph Hawkey, and on 7 of the ensuing July was especially mentioned for his highly exemplary conduct in a brilliant cutting-out affair, the particulars of which have been detailed in our narrative of the present Capt. Chas. Allen.[1] He was in consequence, as soon as he had completed his two years’ servitude as Lieutenant, advanced to the rank of Commander, by commission dated 29 April, 1811. Previously, however, to the consummation of that event, he appears to have been further employed in making a voyage to the Havana, and assisting at the defence of l’Isla de Leon. In Sept. 1813, Capt. Harcourt, who had assumed command, on 25 of the preceding May, of the Challenger 16, took part in the siege of St. Sebastian; and on 13 of the following Oct. we find him contributing to the capture of Le Flibustier French national brig, mounting 16 guns, a brass howitzer, and 4 swivels, and laden with treasure, arms, ammunition, and salt provisions. He next, in March, 1814, co-operated with the force under Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose in forcing the passage of the Gironde. Attaining Post-rank on 7 June in the same year, he was afterwards employed in command of the Blossom 24, and Doris frigate, on the South American station. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Harcourt married Martha, daughter of the late Vice-Admiral John Richard Delap Tollemache (grandson of Lionel, third Earl of Dysart), by Lady Elizabeth Stratford, daughter of John, third Earl of Aldborough. H« has issue. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
HARCOURT, formerly Vernon. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 18; h-p., 23.)
Octavius Vernon Harcourt, born 25 Dec. 1793, at Rose Castle, co. Cumberland, is eighth son of the Archbishop of York; and brother of Capt. F. E. V. Harcourt, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in Aug. 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Tigre 74, Capt. Benj. Hallowell, and, on attending the expedition of 1807 to Egypt, witnessed the surrender of Alexandria, and was much employed on boat-service up the river Nile. After assisting at the blockade of Toulon, and contributing to the destruction, towards the close of Oct. 1809, of the French ships of the line Robuste and Lion, he accompanied Capt. Hallowell, on his promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral, into the Malta 80, and continued to serve with him in that ship, on the Mediterranean station, until the receipt of his first commission, bearing date 11 Jan. 1814 – co-operating intermediately with the troops on the south-east coast of Spain, and serving in the batteries at the siege of Tarragona. Be next joined the Mulgrave 74, Capt. Thos. Jas. Maling, and, while cruizing in that ship off the coast of Italy, landed with a party of seamen and marines near Piombino, where he captured a martello tower, and brought out or destroyed a convoy anchored under its protection. During the war of a Hundred Days, Mr. Harcourt, then belonging to the Amelia 38, Capt. Hon. Granville Proby, served at the blockade of Elba, and, on the intelligence arriving of the surrender of Buonaparte after the battle of Waterloo, he was sent with a Major of the Tuscan army to summon the town of Porto Ferrajo. Quitting the latter vessel in 1816, he remained on half-pay until appointed, 2 Feb. 1818, to the Sir Francis Drake, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Hamilton at Newfoundland; where he obtained command, 3 Feb. 1820, of the Drake sloop, and, for a short time in the same year, of the Carnation 18. He afterwards joined, 5 June, 1824, and 30 May, 1825, the Britomart 10, and Primrose 18, both employed in the West Indies, from which station he returned to England, with upwards of a million of dollars, in July, 1827. He was promoted to his present rank on 7 of the following month, and, about the same period, was selected by the Lord High Admiral to act as his Aide-de-Camp, in the Royal Sovereign yacht, on the occasion of a visit of Inspection to the various seaports. Capt. Harcourt’s last appointment was, 26 March, 1834, to the North Star 28, in which vessel he took out H. Hamilton, Esq., the British Minister, to Buenos Ayres, was then employed in surveying the coast of central America and California, and ultimately returned home with a large freight. He has been on half-pay since 27 Oct. 1836.
Capt. Harcourt, during the year 1820, discharged the duties of Surrogate at Newfoundland. He married, 22 Feb. 1838, Anne Holwell, daughter of Wm. Guter, Esq., and relict of Wm. Danby, Esq., of Swinton Park, Yorkshire.
HARDING. (Capt., 1841. f-p., 20; h-p., 15.)
Francis Harding, born 28 April, 1799, is fifth son of the late Wm. Harding, Esq., of Baraset House, Stratford-on-Avon, co. Warwick, a gentleman of the Privy Chamber to George III.; and brother-in-law of Capt. Geo. Baker, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 24 Jan. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Amazon 38, commanded in the Channel by his patron, the present Sir Wm. Parker. Removing, in a few weeks, to the Northumberland 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Hotham, he assisted, on 22 May in the same year, at the destruction, near L’Orient, of the 40-gun frigates L’Arienne and L’Andromaque, and 16-gun brig Mamelouck, whose united fire, conjointly with that of a heavy battery, killed 5 and wounded 28 of the British. On being afterwards ordered to the Mediterranean, in the Pembroke 74, Capt. Jas. Brisbane, he shared, 5 Nov. 1813, in a partial action, with the Toulon fleet, and, in the course of the next April, was present at the capture of a large convoy under the guns of Porto Maurizio, and also at the surrender of Genoa. Between Aug. 1814 and Aug. 1821, Mr. Harding (who passed his examination in 1818) was successively employed, as Midshipman and Mate, on the South American, Home, Newfoundland, and East India stations, in the Valiant 74, flag-ship of Sir Manley Dixon, Albion 74, Capts. Philip Somerville and Jas. Walker, Perseus 22, and Tamar 28, both commanded by Capt. Thos. Rich. Toker, Dauntless 26, Capt. Hon. Valentine Gardner, Liverpool 50,, Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier, and Leander 50, bearing the flag of Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood. He then became Acting-Lieutenant of the Topaze 46, Capts. Chas. Richardson and Price Blackwood, and in that vessel (being confirmed to her by commission dated on 30 of the following March) he continued to serve until Oct. 1822. His next appointment was, 7 April, 1824, to the Griper discovery-ship, Capt. Geo. Fras. Lyon, whom he accompanied in the same year in a disastrous attempt made to reach Repulse Bay, an enterprise, the harassing and distressing nature of which nearly ruined the constitutions of all those who were connected with it. He went on half-pay at the close of 1824, and remained thenceforward unemployed until 22 May, 1827, when he joined the Espoir 10, Capt. Henry Fras. Greville, and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. In Nov. 1809 [errata 1] he assumed the acting command of the Hecla surveying-vessel, vacant by the death of Capt. Thos. Boteler, who, with the greater part of his crew, had been swept away by African fever. Immediately on his arrival home in the latter vessel, with such hands as had been
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1210.
