the Sappho 18, fitting for the Halifax station, whence he returned on his advancement to Post-rank 4 April, 1825. He accepted the half-pay of Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Hotham was nominated a K.H. 25 Jan. 1836.
HOUGH. (Commander, 1827. f-p., 20; h-p., 28.)
John James Hough was born about Feb. 1785.
This officer entered the Navy, in Sept. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Mars 74, Capt. John Monckton, bearing the flag in the Channel of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley. He served next, from Jan. 1801 to Aug. 1805, part of the time as Midshipman, in the Anson 44, Capt. Wm. Edw. Cracraft, on the Mediterranean station; then joined, for short periods, the Saturn 74, Capt. Lord Amelius Beauclerk, Kent 74, Capt. Henry Garrett, and Hibernia 110, flag-ship of Earl St. Vincent, all engaged on Home service; and on 2 Oct. 1807 was nominated Acting-Lieutenant, after an unemployed interval of 17 months, of the Bellona 74, commanded at Halifax by Capt. John Erskine Douglas, to which ship he was confirmed by commission dated 19 Nov. following. His next appointments, until paid off in Aug. 1814, were, on the last mentioned, and on the Lisbon, West India, and Home stations – 18 Nov. 1808, to the Horatio, of 46 guns and 270 men, Capt. Geo. Scott – 27 Nov. 1810, to the Formidable 98, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris – 9 March, 1811, to the Barfleur 98, bearing the flag of Hon. G. C. Berkeley – 27 July, 1812, to the Asia 74, Capt. Geo. Scott – and, 5 Feb. 1814, to the Egmont 74, Capt. Joseph Bingham. Of the above ships the Horatio appears, when in company with the Latona 38, and Supérieure and Driver sloops, to have effected the capture, 10 Feb. 1809, off the Virgin Islands, of La Junon French frigate, of 46 guns and 323 men, after a close and sanguinary action of nearly three hours, a loss to herself of 7 men killed and 33 wounded [errata 1], and to her antagonist of 130 killed and wounded. We also, on 21 Feb. 1810, find her making prize, at the close of a long chase, and of a running fight of one hour, of La Nécessité pierced for 40 guns, but not mounting more than 28, with a complement on board of 186 men, and laden with naval stores and provisions from Brest bound to the Isle of France. Mr. Hough, who on the latter occasion officiated as the Horatio’s First-Lieutenant, was in both instances the officer sent to take possession of the French ships, and he each time likewise conducted the prizes into port. He subsequently, on joining the Egmont, served in that ship under the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose at the forcing of the passage of the Gironde, in the spring of 1814. His last naval appointments were to the command, 3 May, 1817, 1 March, 1824, and 21 March, 1826, of the Active, Basilisk, and Cracker cutters; in which vessels he effected the capture of several smugglers, twice conveyed large amounts of specie from London to Dublin, sailed on two occasions with squadrons of observation under the flag of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, and was employed as Senior officer in protecting the fisheries off Jersey. He attained his present rank 29 Sept. 1827.
In May, 1834, Commander Hough was nominated one of the six stipendiary magistrates appointed at Barbadoes under the Slavery Emancipation Act; and when he resigned that situation in Oct. 1838 he was presented with a sum for the purchase of a piece of plate, as a mark of the satisfaction he had afforded by the just and impartial manner in which he had administered its duties. He was afterwards employed in the Indian Navy, as Captain, from 7 April, 1840, until 29 July, 1846, of the Proserpine war-steamer. During the operations of 21 July, 1842, against Chin-Kiang-Foo, he was stationed on the Yang-tse-Kiang and blockaded an entrance to the Grand Canal.[1] He married, 28 Aug. 1815, a daughter of Geo. Thos. Tracey, Esq., Purser and Paymaster R.N. ( 1805 [errata 2]), and sister of Lieut. Benj. Wheatley Tracey, R.N. By that lady he has issue a son and three daughters. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
HOUGHTON. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 11; h-p., 39.)
Charles Evelyn Houghton, born 20 Sept. 1784, is eldest son of Major Houghton, of the 69th Regiment, who lost his life in exploring the interior of Africa; grandson of Capt. Wm. Houghton, of the 3rd Light Infantry, who was wounded at the battle of Bunker’s Hill; and great-grandson of Sir Wm. Houghton, Bart., of Hoghton Tower, Lancaster. Maternally, Commander Houghton is nephew of the present Sir Hugh Evelyn, Bart., of Wotton Place; grand-nephew of the late Gen. Wm. Evelyn, Colonel of the 29th Regt., and M.P. for Helston, in Cornwall; and a descendant of the learned and distinguished John Evelyn, F.R.S., who was a Commissioner of the Navy, also Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital (to which institution he was a donor of 3000l.), and the last joint Sheriff for cos. Surrey and Sussex. One of the Commander’s brothers, Frederick, a Lieutenant R.N., was lost with Capt. F. Moore Maurice in the Magnet sloop, in 1812; and another, Ralph, a Lieutenant in the Army, died in the West Indies.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 Aug. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Standard 64, Capts. Thos. Parr and Thos. Revell Shivers, stationed in the North Sea; removed, in April, 1798, to the Blonde 32, armée en flûte, commanded by Capt. Dan. Dobree, in the Baltic, off the Texel, and on the Irish coast; and in Nov. 1799 rejoined Capt. Shivers on board the Defiance 74, flag-ship afterwards of Rear-Admiral Thos. Graves. Under the latter officer he bore a warm part, as Midshipman, in the action off Copenhagen 2 April, 1801; and at its close, when the Dannebrog, bearing the Danish Admiral’s flag, caught fire, and was drifting towards the Defiance, he was sent with the boats to tow her head round, and had actually hold of the towrope at the moment she blew up. Between Oct. 1801 and Jan. 1805 Mr. Houghton was employed, on the West India, Home, and Mediterranean stations, in the Audacious 74, Capt. Shuldham Peard, Juno 32, Capt. Henry Richardson, Triumph 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Barlow, and Drake 10, Capt. Drury. Having passed his examination in 1804, and been for six months in charge of a watch, he was then appointed Sub-Lieutenant of the Locust gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander John Lake; which vessel, in Feb. 1805, took the ground off Boulogne, while endeavouring to cut off a boat, and lay exposed for some time to a very heavy fire from 11 of the enemy’s batteries, and several thousands of their troops. Although the sails and rigging of the Locust were cut to pieces, and she was otherwise damaged, the only person hurt on board was Mr. Houghton, who received a musket-ball in the right leg. On 24 of the following April we find the same vessel uniting with the Railleur and Starling gun-brigs in an attack upon a powerful division of the invasion flotilla. Six schuyts were on that occasion captured, after a spirited resistance; and in boarding one of them Mr. Houghton was again wounded by a bayonet under the left arm. He was made full Lieutenant, on 14 Sept. in the same year, into the Regulus 44, armée en flûte, Capt. Boys, lying at Portsmouth, but continued only a few weeks in that ship, and was lastly, from 3 July, 1807, until 26 Feb. 1810, employed, in the Channel, off the coast of Portugal, and in the North Sea and Baltic, on board the Plantagenet 74, Capts. Wm. Bradley and Thos. Eyles. He accepted his present rank 17 Jan. 1838.
Commander Houghton married, in 1806, Charlotte, youngest daughter of the late Fras. Dancer, Esq., of the Treasury, and of Wealdstone House, Harrow, co. Middlesex, by whom he has issue three sons and two daughters. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1842, p.340-4
