Cadiz. In the Phoebe he contributed, 28 March, 1814, in the capacity of Second-Lieutenant, to the capture, off Valparaiso, of the American frigate Essex of 46 guns and 265 men, after a warm action of 2 hours, productive of a loss to the British of 4 men killed and 7 wounded, and to the enemy of 24 killed and 45 wounded. The Senior Lieutenant, Wm. Ingram, being killed during the battle, Mr. Pearson, whose conduct on the occasion obtained him a strong recommendation to the notice of the Admiralty, succeeded to that post, and was sent in charge of the prize to England, where he arrived in company with the Phoebe 13 Nov. following.[1] He was promoted to the rank of Commander by commission bearing date 29 July, 1814; and was subsequently employed, from 6 July, 1830, until 1833, in the Coast Guard at North Yarmouth; and, from 9 Nov. 1833 until 4 Feb. 1837, in the Sparrowhawk 18, in South America. His advancement to Post-rank took place 3 April in the latter year; since which period he has been on half-pay.
Capt. Pearson married, 3 Jan. 1826, Maria, daughter of the late J. Sayers, Esq., of North Yarmouth. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.
PEARSON. (Retired Commander, 1846. f-p., 12; h-p., 34.)
Charles Pearson is brother of Lieut.-General Sir Thos. Pearson, Kt., C.B., K.C.H., Colonel of the 85th Regt.; another brother, George, who had been severely wounded in the Bellerophon at Trafalgar, and had been subsequently employed under Sir Sam. Hood, died a Lieutenant in India towards the close of the war.
This officer entered the Navy, about Feb. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the St. George 98, Capts. Thos. Masterman Hardy and Wm. Grenville Lobb; in which ship, bearing at first the flag of Lord Nelson, he served in the Baltic, off Cadiz, and in the West Indies, until July, 1802. Joining next, in Aug. 1803, the Spencer 74, Capt. Hon. Robt. Stopford, he fought and was wounded in the action off St. Domingo 6 Feb. 1806, and in 1807 accompanied the expedition against Copenhagen, where, during an attack upon the in-shore squadron, the boat he commanded was sunk. In consideration of the wound he received at St. Domingo, Mr. Pearson was presented with a grant from the Patriotic Fund. On 21 May, 1808, a short time after he had been removed to the Victory 100, flag-ship in the Baltic of Sir Jas. Saumarez, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Thunder bomb, Capt. Jas. Caulfeild; under whom we find him, 9 June following, present (while in charge of a homeward-bound convoy, and in company with the Charger, Piercer, and Turbulent gun-brigs, the latter of which was captured) in a very severe running action of four hours with 25 Danish gun-boats off the island of Saltholm. Being confirmed a Lieutenant, 8 Nov. in the same year, in the Orion 74, Capt. Sir Arch. Dickson, he sailed in the year following with the armament destined to act against Flushing, during the operations against which place he was intrusted with the charge of an armed brig. In Sept. 1809, on the application of Rear-Admiral Stopford, he was appointed to that officer’s flagship, the Scipion 74; and in Jan. 1812, after having co-operated in the reduction of Java, he was selected to officiate as his Flag-Lieutenant; a post which, on the eve of the Scipion’s return from the Cape of Good Hope to England, he was induced by the Admiral to resign for the purpose of effecting the advancement of a near connexion of the latter, a Midshipman, but upon the understanding that it was not to interfere with his promotion on the flag being hauled down. He was doomed, however, to disappointment. He served from 1813 to 1815 in the President 38, Capts. Sam. Warren, Fras. Mason, and Arch. Duff; and has since been on half-pay. Under Capt. Mason he was employed on shore in the batteries at the siege of St. Sebastian. He accepted his present rank 27 Jan. 1846.
Commander Pearson married, in 1831, a niece of Col. Knight, of Coolrass, co. Limerick, and has issue three children. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
PEARSON. (Lieutenant, 1832.)
Charles Pearson (b) entered the Navy 31 July, 1819; passed his examination in 1829; and obtained his commission 31 July, 1832. His appointments have since been – 28 Dec. 1833 and 20 Aug. 1834, to the Endymion 50 and Britannia 120, Capts. Sir Sam. Roberts and Peter Rainier, both in the Mediterranean, whence he returned home and was paid off in the early part of 1835 – 12 Sept. in the latter year, to the Howe 120, flag-ship at the Nore of Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming – and, 6 Jan. 1837, to the Coast Guard, in which service he continues.
He married, 31 Oct. 1835, Emma, third daughter of Wm. Rowes, Esq., of Elm Grove, Sonthsea, formerly Assistant Master-Attendant of Portsmouth Dockyard. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
PEARSON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 32; h-p., 8.)
Thomas Pearson was born 8 Dec. 1792.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 April, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Alfred 74, Capts. John Bligh, John Hayes, and Joshua Rowley Watson; removed as Midshipman, in Oct. 1809, to the Narcissus 32, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Aylmer; and from March, 1812, to Aug. 1815, was employed in the Royal Sovereign 100, Capts. Wm. Bedford and Jas. Bissett, Telegraph 12, Capt. Timothy Scriven, Clarence 74, Capt. Fred. Warren, and Tay 24, Capts. Wm. Robilliard and Robt. Bloye. While in the Alfred he accompanied Admiral Gambier in the expedition to Copenhagen, served under Sir Chas. Cotton at the blockade of the Russian squadron in the Tagus prior to the convention of Cintra, landed and assisted in taking possession of the town of Figueira, and aided in disembarking the army under Sir Arthur Wellesley in Mondego Bay. Being lent, in 1809, to the San Domingo 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Strachan, he took part in the reduction of Flushing, and was employed in a gunboat during the after-operations in the Scheldt. In the Narcissus, in 1810, Mr. Pearson, besides witnessing the capture of two privateers carrying between them 28 guns and 180 men, was engaged in active co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain. He afterwards, in the same ship, visited the latitude of Greenland. In the Royal Sovereign he was for nearly sixteen months stationed in Basque Roads; and in the Telegraph he was also employed on the coast of France, where he cut out a great number of the enemy’s vessels, and on 13 Oct. 1813, shared, in sight of the French and British armies, and under the fire of some batteries in the neighbourhood of Bayonne, in a spirited action of 15 minutes with the French corvette Flibustier of 16 guns, whose crew, after having effectively set her on fire, took to their boats and escaped. Within view of the Telegraph were the 18-gun sloop Challenger and 12-gun brig Constant. On leaving the Tay in Aug. 1815, Mr. Pearson, whose zeal and good conduct in the action had gained him the official thanks of his Captain,[2] took up a commission bearing date 27 Feb. in that year. He has been in command, since 2 Dec. 1823, of a station in the Coast Guard, and has rendered much valuable service to the revenue.
Lieut. Pearson has been twice married, the first time in Sept. 1819, the second in Aug. 1842. By his former marriage he has issue nine children.
PEAT. (Captain, 1847. f-p., 21; h-p., 16.)
David Peat was born 21 June, 1795, at Kirkaldy in Scotland.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 April, 1810 under the auspices of the late Admiral Sir Philip Durham, as L.M., on board the Archer gun-brig,
