manded by his father; after serving in which ship in Sir Robt. Calder’s action he was lent, in time to participate in the battle of Trafalgar, to the Orion 74, Capt. Edw. Codrington. In Sept. 1806, having during the last few months been again employed with Capt. Lechmere in the Prince 98, and with Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn in the Acasta 40, he joined the Royal George 100, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, with whom, in Feb. 1807, he passed the Dardanells. In May, 1809, he followed the same Admiral into the San Josef 110; and between Oct. in that year and Dec. 1811 he served, we find, on the Cape of Good Hope, Lisbon, and Baltic stations, in the Inconstant 36, Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, Formidable 98, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and Cressy 74, Capt. Chas. Dudley Pater. On 24 of the month last mentioned Mr. Lechmere was on board the Grasshopper 18, Capt. Henry Fanshawe, when that vessel, to avoid being lost, as was her consort the Hero 74, surrendered to the Dutch fleet in the Texel. He accordingly remained a prisoner until the peace of 1814, when he returned to England, and, on 3 Feb. 1815, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. During the Hundred Days’ War we find him employed on board the Astraea 36, Capt. Edw. Kittoe, in which frigate he escorted to La Vendée the celebrated Larochejaquelin, with whom, owing to his knowledge of the French language, h« was afterwards made the constant medium of communication. Three days before his death that personage did Mr. Lechmere the honour of extracting from him a musket-ball with his own hands; and he actually, in the presence of General Roget and other of his officers, promised him the Cross of St. Louis – an intention his premature death unfortunately prevented him from realizing. On one occasion, relying upon an assurance conveyed to him from his Admiral, to the effect that the latter would do all in his power towards procuring him his promotion, Mr. Lechmere, although warned from the same source that in so doing he exposed himself to the probability of being hanged by the Republicans as a spy, volunteered to land for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of a report that the Royalist party had been surprised and entirely cut off. He accordingly went on shore, and, having satisfied himself that such was not the fact, returned on board with the pleasing intelligence. He still, however, remains a Lieutenant. His last appointment was, 19 Jan. 1816, to the Dee 24, Capt. Sam. Chambers, with whom he served on jthe Halifax station until Aug. 1817, when he invalided.
Lieut. Lechmere is a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Oxford. He married, 3 March, 1823, Anna Maria, youngest daughter of the late Hon. Andrew Foley, M.P., of Newport House, co. Hereford, and Hately Court, Oxon, and cousin of the present Lord Foley. Agent – J. Hinxman.
LECKIE. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
Charles Taylor Leckie is nephew of Vice-Admiral Sir Chas. Malcolm.
This officer entered the Navy In 1834; passed his examination 14 Dec. 1840; served as Mate, from 1842 until 1844, in the Thalia 42, Capt. Chas. Hope, on the Pacific station; and next joined, in that capacity, the Hibernia 104, bearing the flag in the Mediterranean of Sir Wm. Parker, who promoted him, 12 Nov. 1845, to a death vacancy in the Inconstant 36, Capt. Chas. Howe Fremantle, and, on presenting him with his commission on the quarterdeck of the Hibernia, informed him that he did so on account of his invariably good conduct, and because he possessed qualities which would do honour to the service. The Inconstant returned home and was paid off in 1847.
LECOUNT, F.R.A.S. (Lieutenant, .1827. f-p., 18; h-p., 20.)
Peter Lecount was born 25 May, 1794.
This officer entered the Navy, 29 Dec. 1809, as L.M., on board the Thunder bomb, Capt. Wm. Shepheard, under whom he continued to serve, as Midshipman, in the Colombine and Comet sloops until 1812. While in the Thunder at the siege of Cadiz in 1810 he appears to have been not less than 45 times in action with the enemy, witnessing, during that period, the destruction of Fort Matagorda – sharing, also, in an engagement with Fort Napoleon, when one of the prison-ships, filled with détenus, had broken from her moorings and drifted under the enemy’s fire, as likewise with Fort Catalina in an attempt to afford assistance to a Spanish 74 which had grounded near it – serving, too, in the boats when they were thrice beaten off in an effort to board the Argonaut 80, another prison-ship (ultimately burnt), which had got under the French batteries – engaging the enemy, next, while they were erecting a battery on the Trocadero – contributing, further, to the bringing out of the American schooner Priscilla, after the latter had been deserted by her crew under Catalina – and present in an attack made by the British flotilla on a strong detachment of gun-vessels on their way from Rota to Port Santa Maria. Among the numerous (many of them fierce) cutting-out affairs in which Mr. Lecount took part when in the Columbine, was the capture, by three boats, after 40 had failed, of the Guadalquiver privateer, near San Lucar, on which occasion he lost the sight of his right eye and was slightly wounded in the right foot and left arm. In a previous expedition of the same nature every man in his boat had been either killed or knocked overboard. From 1812 until Feb. 1816, in the course of which month he .passed his examination, Mr. Lecount (who had co-operated, we should state, in the defence of Tarifa, and been present at the battle of Barrosa) served with activity on the Home, Jamaica, and Newfoundland stations, in the Circe 32, Capt. Edw. Woolcombe, Fylla 22, Capt. Wm. Shepheard (in which ship he assisted at the capture, in Jan. 1814, of L’Inconnu French privateer, of 15 guns and 109 men). Harlequin 18, Capt. Wm. Kempthorne,’and Africaine 38, Capt. Hon. Edw. Rodney. He was subsequently appointed Admiralty-Midshipman – in April, 1816, of the Meander 38, Capts. John Bastard and Arthur Fanshawe, stationed in the Channel – next, of the Infernal bomb, Capt. Hon. Geo. Jas. Percival, under whom he served at the bombardment of Algiers – in Oct. 1816, of the Conqueror 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Plampin at St. Helena – and, in Dec. 1820, of the Queen Charlotte 100, Capts. Thos. Briggs, John Baker Hay, and J. Nash, lying at Portsmouth. On quitting the latter ship in April, 1824, Mr. Lecount became Admiralty-Mate of the Prince Regent 120, bearing the flag at the Nore of Sir Robt. Moorsom, who, at the expiration of his command, most unexpectedly presented him, 6 Aug. 1827, with the hauling-down commission at his disposal. He has since been on half-pay.
Lieut. Lecount, a Civil Engineer, is the author, among other works, of a pamphlet entitled ‘A Practical Treatise on Railways,’ being an article which originally appeared under that head in the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica; also of three treatises on railway bearings; and of one on the polarization and inflection of light. An important dissertation, published by him in 1820, on Variable Magnetism, led to his being elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society while yet a Midshipman, the only instance of the kind known. He held an appointment for some time on the London and Birmingham Railway.
LEE. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
William Alfred Rose Lee entered the Navy in 1828; passed his examination 26 Dec. 1837; and served as Mate, between 1840 and the early part of 1845, in the Tweed 20, Capt. Hugh Donald Cameron Douglas, Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, and Hecla steam-sloop, Capt. John Duffill, on the North America and West India, Home, and Mediterranean stations. He obtained his commission 30 Aug. 1845; and, from 3 of the following Sept. until the commencement of 1847, was employed
