Society of British Artists. Meanwhile the beauties of English scenery led him by degrees to devote himself exclusively to landscape painting, and in 1834 he joined the Associated Painters in Water-Colours, out of which was formed in 1835 the New Society of Painters in Water-Colours (now the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours), which held its first three exhibitions in Exeter Hall, and in 1838 removed to Pall Mall, when Fahey became its secretary. This office he held until 1874, and discharged its duties with much tact and devotion. His works, mostly landscape compositions, in which he introduced figures and groups, were seldom absent from its exhibitions, and his official services were long given without any remuneration. In 1853, 1855, and 1857 he again sent landscape drawings to the Royal Academy, and in 1856 he was appointed drawing-master at the Merchant Taylors' School, from which post he retired with a pension after twenty-seven years' service. He also painted occasionally in oil, and exhibited two pictures at the British Institution in 1861 and 1862. Fahey died at The Grange, Shepherd's Bush Green, London, 11 Dec. 1885. His son, Mr. Edward Henry Fahey, was well known as a painter in water-colours.
[Athenæum, 1885, ii. 814; Illustrated London News, 26 Dec. 1885, with portrait; Exhibition Catalogues of the Royal Academy, British Institution, Society of British Artists, and New Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1825–84.]
FAHIE, Sir WILLIAM CHARLES (1763–1833), vice-admiral, of an Irish family settled at St. Christopher's, where his father was judge of the vice-admiralty court, entered the navy in 1777, on board the Seaford, with Captain Colpoys, and afterwards in the Royal George. In October 1779 he was appointed to the Sandwich, bearing the flag of Sir George Rodney, and was present at the defeat of Langara off Cape St. Vincent, and in the several actions with De Guichen on 17 April and 15 and 19 May 1780. In August 1780 he was appointed acting lieutenant of the Russell, in which he was present in the action off Martinique on 28 April 1781, and at St. Christopher's on 26 Jan. 1782. On account of his local knowledge he was afterwards sent by Hood to communicate with the garrison of Brimstone Hill, and on the second occasion, being unable to regain his ship—the fleet putting to sea at very short notice [see Hood, Samuel, Viscount]—he gave himself up to the French general, but was permitted to depart. He rejoined the Russell at St. Lucia, and was present in the actions to leeward of Dominica on 9 and 12 April. In January 1783 he was confirmed in the rank of lieutenant, but remained with his family at St. Christopher's till the outbreak of the war with France in 1793, when he was appointed to the Zebra sloop with Captain Robert Faulknor [q. v.], in which he took part in the brilliant assault on Fort Royal. Sir John Jervis consequently appointed him to the flagship, the Boyne, and on 5 Aug. promoted him to be commander of the Woolwich. On 2 Feb. 1796 he was posted to the command of the Perdrix of 22 guns, in which he continued until she was paid off in August 1799. In 1804 Fahie was again sent out to the West Indies in command of the Hyæna, from which, in 1805, he was moved into the Amelia, and again, in 1806, into the Ethalion, in which ship he assisted at the capture of the Danish West India islands by Sir Alexander Cochrane in December 1807. In November 1808 he was appointed to the Belle Isle of 74 guns, one of the squadron which reduced Martinique in February 1809. He afterwards exchanged with Commodore Cockburn into the Pompée, employed in April 1809 in the blockade of three French ships which had anchored in the roadstead of the Saintes. On the night of 14 April they put to sea, closely followed by the Hazard and Recruit sloops and the Pompée, the rest of the squadron being at a considerable distance. The chase continued during the 15th. At nightfall the French ships separated; the Pompée and her little consorts attached themselves to the Hautpoult; and, mainly through the persistent gallantry of Captain Charles Napier [q. v.] of the Recruit, assisted towards the close by the Castor frigate, brought her to action about four o'clock on the morning of the 17th, and captured her after a sharp combat lasting an hour and a half (James, Nav. Hist. 1860, v. 19). In the following August Fahie was appointed to the Hautpoult, which had been commissioned as the Abercromby; in November he was ordered to wear a broad pennant, and in February 1810 assisted in the reduction of Guadeloupe, from which he was sent by Cochrane to take possession of St. Martin's and St. Eustatius. In June he sailed for England in charge of a valuable convoy, and the Abercromby having been refitted, in December he joined the flag of Sir George Berkeley at Lisbon. During the three following years he commanded the Abercromby in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, and in 1815 was appointed to the Malta, which, on the escape of Bonaparte from Elba, was sent out to the Mediterranean, where Fahie was employed for some months as senior officer on the coast of Italy, a service for which the
