became in succession attached to the Severn Coast-Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, and Queen Charlotte 100, and Victory 104, commanded at Portsmouth by Capts. John Baker Hay and Chas. Inglis. On leaving the latter ship, he proceeded, as Admiralty Midshipman of the Driver sloop, Capt. Thos. Wolrige, to the coast of Africa, but, being soon compelled to invalid; he next, in 1823, joined, in a similar capacity, the Naiad 46, Capt. Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer, and sailed for the Mediterranean. Arrived on that station, he contributed, 31 Jan. 1824, to the complete defeat of the Tripoli Algerine corvette of 18 guns and 100 men; and on the night of 23 May following, he aided in the boats under Lieut. Michael Quin at the valiant destruction of a 16-gun brig moored in a position of extraordinary strength alongside the walls of the fortress of Bona, in which was a garrison of 400 soldiers, who, from cannon and musket, kept up a tremendous fire almost perpendicularly on the deck. We subsequently find him ordered to the East Indies in the Warspite 76, in which ship, bearing the flag at first of Rear-Admiral Wm. Hall Gage, he ultimately returned to the Mediterranean, where, after the battle of Navarin, he was promoted from the Asia 84, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Codrington, to a death-vacancy in the Rose 18, Capt. Hon. Wm. Wellesley. His commission bears date 17 Dec. 1827. He returned to England in 1828; and with the exception of a period of nearly three years, between 1835 and 1838, has been in the Coast Guard since 1 Dec. 1829.
Lieut. Lavington married, 25 May, 1830, Anne, eldest daughter of Wm. Ferris, Esq., of Lymington, Hants, by whom he has issue six children.
LAWLESS. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 18; h-p., 22.)
Henry Lawless entered the Navy, in May, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Procris 18, Capt. Fras. Beauman, attached to the force in the North Sea; and between the close of the same year and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 27 April, 1814, was successively employed, chiefly as Midshipman, in the Inflexible 64, Capt. Joshua Rowley Watson, Éclair sloop, Capt. Chas. Kempthorne Quash, Princess of Orange 74, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Campbell, Perlen 38, and Bombay 74, both commanded by Capt. Norbone Thompson, Barham 74, Capt. John Wm. Spranger, and Argo 44, Capts. Wm. Browne and Wm. Fothergill, on the Home and West India stations. He then joined the Statira frigate, Capt. Spelman Swaine, and, continuing in that ship until Jan. 1815, was present in her in the expedition against New Orleans. His next appointments were – 17 Eeb. and 26 Nov. 1830, to the Ramillies and Talavera Coast Blockade ships, both commanded by Capt. Hugh Pigot – and 15 April, 1831, to the Coast Guard, in which he remained until the commencement of 1833. Since 7 March, 1843, he has been again employed in the latter service.
He married, 17 Jun. 1825, Miss Catherine Gask, of Bury Street, St. James’s. Agent – J. Chippendale.
LAWRANCE. (Retired Commander, 1836. f-p., 13; h-p., 37.)
George Bell Lawrance died 9 April, 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 March, 1797, as Master’s Mate, on board the El Corso 18, Capt. Bartholomew James, with whom he served, in the same vessel and the Canophs 80, on the Mediterranean and Lisbon stations, until Sept. 1799. During the next three years and a half he was employed off St. Helena and in the Downs and West Indies on board the Director 64, Capt. Wm. Bligh, and Leviathan 74, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth. He then, in March, 1803, became Acting-Lieutenant of the Racoon 18, Capt. Austen Bissell, and while in that sloop, to which he was confirmed by commission dated 8 Sept. following, we find him in the course of the same year participating in a very warm action of 40 minutes, which terminated in the capture, in Leogane Roads, of the French corvette Le Lodi, of 10 guns and 61 men – contributing, also, to the destruction, off the island of Cuba, of the national brig La Mutine, of 18 guns – and further present, with distinction, in an action in which the Racoon, with only 42 men on board, most gallantly took, notwithstanding a long and desperate resistance on the part of the enemy, a French gun-brig, cutter, and schooner, carrying altogether between 300 and 400 men.[1] In 1805, Lieut. Lawrance – who had for some time had command of the Gipsy schooner of 10 guns, and been also employed in the Echo sloop, Capt. Edmund Boger – successively joined the Acasta 40, Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn, Hercule 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres, and Theseus 74, Capt. Fras. Temple, all on the West India station; and he next, from 10 July 1806 until 15 July, 1808, served with the late Sir Sam. Hood on board the Centaur 74. While in the Echo he cut out a brig from the Bight of Leogane; he captured, in the Gipsy, a privateer of 4 guns off Trinidad; and, when in the Centaur, he assisted, in company with the Mars and Monarch 74’ s, at the defeat, 25 Sept. 1806, of four heavy French frigates off Rochefort, on which occasion Sir Sam. Hood lost his arm – accompanied, in Aug. and Sept. 1807, the expedition to Copenhagen, where he was employed in taking soundings during the siege – and was present in Dec. of the same year at the surrender of Madeira. His last appointment was, 5 June, 1810, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. Thos. Fife, with whom he served on the coast of France until 17 Dec. 1811. He retired with the rank of Commander 4 May, 1836.
Commander Lawrance married, in 1814, a daughter of Rich. Bennett, Esq., of Lostwithiel, co. Cornwall, by whom he has left, with one daughter, a son, the present Lieut. Geo. Bennett Lawrance, R.N.
LAWRANCE. (Lieutenant, 1843.)
George Bennett Lawrance is only surviving son of the late Retired Commander Geo. Bell Lawrance, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy 19 June, 1829; passed his examination 6 Jan. 1836; and since his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 15 Feb. 1843, has been in command, on the North America and West India station, of the Lark surveying-vessel, in which he had been previously employed for many months in the capacity of Mate.
LAWRANCE. (Lieut., 1826. f-p., 34; h-p., 5.)
Henry Lawrance was born 4 Aug. 1789. This officer entered the Navy, 10 June, 1808, as Ordinary, on board the Van Tromp, Lieut.-Commander Michael M‘Carthy, lying at Falmouth; and from Feb. 1809 until June, 1816, was employed, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Nonpareil 12, Lieut.-Commander Jas. Dickinson, Argo 44, Capt. Fred. Warren, Euryalus 36, Capt. Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and Trident 64, Capt. Rich. Budd Vincent. While in the latter ship, in Aug. 1815, he passed his examination. Until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 27 June, 1826, he appears to have further served, on the same stations as above, as Admiralty Midshipman and Mate, in the Calypso 18, Capt. Sam. Sison, Florida 20, Capt. Chas. Sibthorpe John Hawtayne, Wye 26, Capt. Geo. Wickens Willes, Hind 20, Capts. Sir Chas. Burrard, Hon. Henry John Rous, and Lord John Churchill, and Revenge 76, flag-ship of Sir Harry Burrard Neale. He then joined the Seringapatam 46, Capt. Chas. Sotheby, also in the Mediterranean, whence he returned in Dec. 1827; and since 1 Jan. 1833 he has been employed in the Coast Guard.
He married, in Jan. 1837, Mary, daughter of Pierce Chute, Esq., of Tralee, co. Kerry.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1804, p. 162.
