Naval Aide-de-Camp to his late, and to her present Majesty; and he had likewise, in the year last mentioned, been awarded the Captains’ Good-service Pension. He married, 16 April, 1805, Selina, youngest daughter of Henry, second Viscount Hood, and sister of Lieut.-Col. Fras. Wheler Hood, who was killed in action on the heights of Aire, 2 March, 1814. By that lady, a near connexion of Admiral Sir Graham Eden Hamond, Bart., K.C.B., Sir Francis has had issue twelve children, nine of whom are still living. His eldest son, Charles, a Midshipman R.N., was lost in the Arab sloop of war in Dec. 1823. One of his daughters, Charlotte Susannah, married, 14 April, 1832, Capt. Hood Richards, h-p. 6th Dragoon Guards.
MASON. (Lieutenant, 1827.)
George Mason entered the Navy 1 Oct. 1809; and was present, we are informed, at the reduction of Guadeloupe (where he had previously witnessed the destruction of the French frigates Loire and Seine), and also in the operations against New Orleans. He passed his examination in 1815; obtained his commission 28 April, 1827; was appointed, 19 June, 1828, and 19 Feb. 1830, Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies and Talavera Coast Blockade ships, both commanded by Capt. Hugh Pigot; obtained charge of a station in the Coast Guard 4 April, 1831; and was removed, 21 Jan. 1847, to the command of a Revenue-vessel, the Stag, in which he is now serving.
Lieut. Mason married, 1 June, 1831, Ann, eldest daughter of W. Whitehead, Esq., of Teynham, co. Kent.
MASON. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 11; h-p., 33.)
Henry Browne Mason, born 26 April, 1791, is descended from Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham and Winchelsea.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Dec. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Prince 98, Capt. Rich. Grindall, stationed in the Channel and off Cadiz. After sharing in the battle of Trafalgar he removed, in Nov. 1805, to the Amphion 32, Capt. Wm. Hoste, on the Mediterranean station, where, in May, 1809, he was captured in a prize by two French privateers, and carried to Ancona. From that place he was marched to Briançon, and subsequently to Verdun. In Aug. 1810, owing to misconduct on the part of other midshipmen, he was deprived of his parole, and placed in close confinement in the citadel prison. Thence, in the following Nov., after many ineffectual attempts, he contrived to escape; and on 1 Jan. 1811, having traversed Holland, he had the good fortune to reach England. He was in consequence promoted, on 2 Feb. in the same year, to a Lieutenancy in the Dreadnought 98, Capt. Sam. Hood Linzec, off Lisbon; and he was next appointed – 3 May and 18 Dec. 1811, to the America and Kent 74’s, Capts. Josias Rowley and Thos. Rogers, on the Mediterranean station – and, 28 June, 1813 (after six months of half-pay), to the Forth 40, Capt. Sir Wm. Bolton. He acquired his present rank 13 June, 1815, but has not been since employed.
Commander Mason, for upwards of 13 years, has been in the Commission of the Peace for co. Southampton. He was left a widower, with six children, 29 Oct. 1843.
MASON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 11; h-p., 30.)
Henry William Mason entered the Navy, 5 Nov. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Terrible 74, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet. In that ship, which was at first employed off Cadiz, he saw a good deal of active service in the Mediterranean, where he assisted, as Midshipman, in driving two French ships on shore, and commanded the jolly-boat at the cutting-out of an enemy’s vessel. He left the Terrible in June, 1810, and between that period and Aug. 1815 was employed on the Lisbon, North American, Mediterranean, Home, and Bermuda stations in the Macedonian 38, Capts. Lord Wm. Fitzroy, Hon. Wm. Waldegrave, and John Surman Garden, Conquestador 74, Capt. Lord Wm. Stuart, Resistance 38, Capts. Chas. Hole, Wm. Hamilton, and Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, Thisbe 28, Acting-Capt. Rich. Weymouth, and Scamander 36, Capt. Gilbert Heathcote. He then took up a commission, bearing date 27 Feb. 1815; and was afterwards, from 5 Oct. in that year until 9 Oct. 1817, employed on the Home, Jamaica, and South American stations, in the Désirée and Active frigates, both commanded by Capt. Philip Carteret. During the term of his attachment to the ship last mentioned Lieut. Mason was placed in charge of the Speedwell tender, and employed on the eastern coast of England. Since he left the Active he has been on half-pay.
In 1829 Lieut. Mason was Sheriff for Buckinghamshire. He is now a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for that co. He married first, in 1822, Mary, niece of the late Sir Wm. Heathcote, Bart.; and (that lady dying in 1825), secondly, in 1826, Horatia, fourth daughter of Geo. Matcham, Esq., of Ashford Lodge, Sussex, by Catherine, sister of the immortal Nelson. By his second wife (who is sister-in-law of Lieuts. John Bendyshe and John Davies, and of the late Capt. Edw. Blanckley, R.N.), the Lieutenant has had issue two sons and five daughters. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
MASON. (Commander, 1841.)
Thomas Henry Mason entered the Navy 7 Nov. 1822; passed his examination in 1830; obtained his first commission 21 July, 1837; and was appointed – 29 of the same month, as Additional Lieutenant, to the Winchester 52, flag-ship in the East Indies of Hon. Sir Thos. Bladen Capel – 11 March, 1838, to the Wellesley 72, bearing the flag of Sir Fred. Lewis Maitland on the same station – and, 26 March, 1839, to the command of the Algerine 10. In that vessel he obtained mention for his zeal and alacrity at the capture of Chusan in July, 1840;[1] after which he was sent, in company with the Conway 28, and Young Hebe tender, to examine the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang. In the attack made upon Canton in March, 1841, we find him enacting a very conspicuous part;[2] as he subsequently did in the operations renewed in the following May against that place. Having, in the words of Sir Humphrey Le Fleming Senhouse, won his promotion by a series of gallant and brave services,[3] he was accordingly, 8 June, 1841, advanced to the rank of Commander. Continuing, however, in the Algerine until Sept. 1842, he was afforded an opportunity of aiding in the capture of Amoy.[4] He has been in command, since 25 Jan. 1847, of the Medea steam-sloop of 350 horse-power, in the East Indies.
Commander Mason married, 14 July, 1846, Isabella Susanna, third daughter of the late Edw. Frere, Esq., of Bitton, Gloucestershire.
MASSEY. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 10; h-p., 34.)
John Massey entered the Navy, 3 Nov. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Plantagenet 74, Capts. Hon. Michael De Courcy, Fras. Pender, and Wm. Bradley. After a servitude of four years in the Channel and among the Western Islands, half the time in the capacity of Midshipman, he joined, in Nov. 1807, the Tonnant 80, bearing the flag of his friend Hon. M. De Courcy; whom, in March, 1809 (having previously assisted in embarking the remains of Sir John Moore’s army at Corunna), he followed, as Master’s Mate, into the Foudroyant 80, of which ship he was successively created an acting and a confirmed Lieutenant 3 Nov. 1809 and 9 April, 1810. He continued in her on the Brazilian station until Nov. 1812; and was next, from Nov. 1813 until Nov. 1814, employed off New York in the Saturn 56, Capt. Nash. He has not been since afloat.
