RAWLE. (Retired Commander, 14; h-p., 35.)
Richard Rawle was born 26 May, 1782 uncle of Lieut. Graham Hewett, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 July, 1798, as A.B., on board the Frederick hired tender, Lieut.-Commander Thos. Jennis, under whom we find him employed in raising seamen and volunteers for the fleet, and carrying them from Bristol to Plymouth. On being paid off in June, 1799, he became Midshipman (a rating he had previously attained) of the Canada 74, Capts. Hon. Michael De Courcy and Joseph Sydney Yorke, attached to the Channel fleet, with which he continued until May, 1802. In March, 1806, he rejoined the officer last mentioned on board the Barfleur 98, also stationed in the Channel; and he was next, in June, 1807, and May, 1808, nominated Master’s Mate of the Niobe 40 and Christian VII. 80, Capts. John Wentworth Loring and Sir J. S. Yorke, employed on the coast of Ireland and off Ushant. He was made Lieutenant, 20 April, 1809, into the Caesar 80, flag-ship of Rear-Admirals Hon. Robt. Stopford and Wm. Albany Otway; and subsequently appointed – 14 May, 1810, to the Clio sloop, Capts. Thos. Folliott Baugh and Wm. Ffarington, engaged in convoying the trade between Leith and Gottenborg, and in cruising off the coast off Norway and among the Orkney and Shetland Isles – 2 Nov. 1812 (nearly six months after ill health had obliged him to leave the Cuo), to the Doris 36, Capt. Wm. Jones Lye, lying at Plymouth – 10 Dec. following, to the Rota 38, Capts. Philip Somerville and John Pasco – and, 2 Dec. 1815, to the Lee 20, also commanded, on the Plymouth station, by Capt. Pasco. Accompanying in the Caesar the expedition of 1809 to the Scheldt, Mr. Rawle served on shore with a party of seamen, and assisted in erecting and working the batteries during the bombardment of Flushing. The Walcheren fever, in the month of Oct., compelled him to invalid. While attached to the Rota he escorted convoy to and from Quebec and also to the West Indies, where he cruised With much activity. On 26 Sept. 1814 he participated in an unsuccessful attempt made to cut out from the road of Fayal the American privateer General Armstrong, a vessel whose resistance killed 34 and wounded 86 of her assailants, consisting originally of about 180 seamen and marines. Among the wounded was Lieut. Rawle. He was under the necessity, when afterwards serving in the Lee, of being sent to the Naval Hospital at Stonehouse, 2 April, 1817. He accepted his present rank 9 April, 1847.
He married 23 Jan. 1822, and has issue one son.
RAWLINS. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 16; h-p., 38.)
Robert Dicklegg Rawlins is the son of a Purser in the Royal Navy, now deceased. This officer entered the Navy, 11 June, 1793, as a Boy, on board the Cyclops 24, commanded in the Channel by Capt. Davidge Gould; and in the following Sept. was discharged, at his own request, in consequence of some severe injuries he had sustained in falling into the main hold. In Dec. 1800 he again embarked, as Midshipman, on board the Guildford, Lieut.-Commanders Wetherstone and Murray, lying at Portsmouth; in the early part of 1802 he sailed in the Buffalo store-ship, Capt. Wm. Kent, for New Holland; and in Feb. 1804 (a few months after he had returned to England in the Glatton 50, Capt. Jas. Collnett) he joined the Ruby 64, Capt. Chas. Rowley. In a boat belonging to that ship he participated in an attempt made to cut out a large Dutch sloop-of-war, the Texel, from the neighbourhood of Cadiz, where, on a subsequent occasion, he contributed, also in the boats, to the eapture of three merchant-vessels. In one instance he was sent to Gibraltar in charge of several prizes, seven of which were lost in a gale. He afterwards visited the North Sea; and in Nov. 1805, while on his passage in the Woodlark 10, Lieut.-Commander Thos. Innes, to join the Eagle 74, was wrecked on the coast of France. In spite of all his endeavours to escape he remained a prisoner until May, 1814. He afterwards served on the coast of Ireland in the Montagu 74, Capt. Peter Heywood, and at Sheerness in the Namur 74, flag-ship of Sir C. Rowley; obtained, 1 Feb. 1815, a Lieutenant’s commission; was employed duripg three months of the same year in the Meteor bomb, Capt. Sam. Roberts, and Namur 74, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Rowley; and in 1824 was appointed to the Coast Guard, from which service he was, in 1827, after nearly two months of deliberation, dismissed by sentence of court-martial for having been off his station. In consequence of this he addressed a letter, containing an explanation of the circumstances, to the Admiralty, the result of which was that by return of post he was appointed Third-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74. From that ship he removed, by exchange, to the command, which he retained about 18 months, of a station in the Coast Blockade. He was then, in consequence of ill health produced by the fatigues of the service, sent to the hospital at Chatham; and he has not been since employed.
The Lieutenant is married, and has one son, a Clerk in the service. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
RAWLINS. (Lieut., 1811. f-p., 11; h-p., 32.)
Thomas Rawlins entered the Navy, 18 Sept. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Mars 74, Capt. Geo. Duff, part of the force engaged in the action off Cape Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805. On 30 of that month he removed to the Euryalus 36, Capts. Hon. Henry Blackwood and Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, employed off Cadiz and in the Channel; and in April, 1806, he joined the Ajax 74, Capts. John Pilfold and Hon. H. Blackwood. On the destruction of that ship by fire off the island of Tenedos 14 Feb. 1807, he was received as Midshipman on board the Active 38, Capt. Rich. Hussey Moubray, under whom we find him accompanying Sir John Duckworth in the ensuing passage of the Dardanells. In the course of the same and of the following year he became attached in succession to the Lucifer bomb, bearing the flag of Sir Alex. John Ball at Malta, Tigre 74, Capt. Benj. Hallowell (in which he returned to England), Royal William, flag-ship of Admiral Montagu at Spithead, and Warspite 74, commanded by his old Captain, Blackwood. In the latter ship, after serving for a time in the North Sea and Channel, he again proceeded to the Mediterranean, where, on 20 July, 1810, he took part in a very gallant skirmish, in which the British, with a slender force, beat back a powerful division of the French Toulon fleet. On 26 Sept. 1811 Mr. Rawlins was confirmed a Lieutenant (after having acted for three months as such) in the Implacable 74, Capt. Joshua Rowley Watson. He came home in the autumn of 1812; and was lastly, from 28 June, 1813, until Sept. 1815, employed on the coasts of North America and France in the Severn 40, Capt. Joseph Nourse. While on the former station he co-operated in the attacks upon Washington and Baltimore in Aug. and Sept. 1814; assisted, 13 Jan. 1815, at the reduction of St. Mary’s, a town near Point Petre, on the coast of Georgia; and contributed to the capture of two privateer schooners and a letter-of-marque, carrying in the whole 22 guns and 241 men.
RAWLINSON. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 11; h-p., 32.)
Charles James Rawlinson, born 9 March, 1788, is second son of Wm. Rawlinson, Esq., of Ancoats Hall, Manchester.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1804, as a Volunteer, on board the Trent 36, flag-ship of Sir Alan Gardner at Cork; and removed a short time afterwards to the Topaze 38, Capts. Willoughby Thos. Lake and Anselm John Griffiths, with whom he continued employed as Midshipman, on the coast of Ireland, among the Western Islands, and on the North American station, until transferred, about April, 1807, to the Resolution 74,
