2290620Royal Naval Biography — Shiffner, HenryJohn Marshall


HENRY SHIFFNER, Esq.
A Magistrate for the County of Sussex.
[Post-Captain of 1819.]

Eldest surviving son of Sir George Shiffner, Bart. M.P. by Mary, only daughter and heiress of Sir John Bridger, of Coombe Place, Lewes, Knt.[1].

This officer was born, Nov. 4, 1789, and educated at the Royal Academy, Portsmouth, from whence he joined the Thetis frigate. Captain (now Rear-Admiral) William Hall Cage, in 1805. His promotion to the rank of lieutenant took place Feb. 10, 1809; on which occasion he was appointed to the Trusty, of 50 guns. In the following month, he was removed to the Owen Glendower 36, Captain William Selby, under whom he assisted at the capture of the island of Anholt, May 18th following[2]. We subsequently find him in the same ship, on the East India station, where he continued under the command of Captain Brian Hodgson, until Nov. 1814; when he received a commission from England, dated Feb. 22nd, promoting him to the command of the Sphynx sloop, then building at Bombay: he returned home, on admiralty leave, in the year 1815. His subsequent appointments were, Jan. 6, 1818, to the Drake of 10 guns, fitting for the Newfoundland station; May 30, 1819, to the Carnation 18; and, Sept. 11th following, to the Egeria 26, at St. John’s. He obtained post-rank Nov. 10th in the latter year; and paid off the Egeria Jan. 5, 1820.

Captain Shiffner married, July 9, 1825, Emily, second daughter of the late Thomas Brooke, of Church Minshull, Cheshire, Esq. His eldest brother, John Bridger Shiffner, a captain in the 3rd regiment of foot guards, was mortally wounded at the sortie from Bayonne, April 14, 1814, and died the following day: he has another brother, George, in holy orders; and one of his sisters, Frances, is married to the Rev. C. E. Keene.

Agents.– Messrs. Maude and Co.



  1. Sir George Shiffner is the son of the late Henry Shiffner, of Pontrylass, co. Hereford, Esq. formerly in parliament for Minehead, by Mary, daughter and co-heiress of John Jackson, Esq. appointed Governor-General of Bengal in 1748, whose wife was niece to John Lord Bellenden.
  2. See Vol. II. Part I. p. 121.