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A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Marsham, Henry Shovell

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1826340A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Marsham, Henry ShovellWilliam Richard O'Byrne

MARSHAM. (Captain, 1833. f-p., 20; h-p., 20.)

Henry Shovell Marsham entered the Navy, 17 May, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Superb 74, Capts. Donald M‘Leod and Sam. Jackson, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Rich. Goodwin Keats. In that ship he went to the Mediterranean in pursuit of a French squadron which had effected its escape from Rochefort, witnessed the embarkation from Nyeborg of the Spanish troops under the Marquis de la Romana, and, previously to accompanying the expedition to the Walcheren, was in her when she was frozen up at Gottenborg and only extricated by a canal being cut through four miles of ice. After a servitude of three months at Spithead in the Puissant 74, Capt. Robt. Hall, he became Midshipman, in March, 1810, of the Defiance 74, commanded by Capt. Hon. Henry Hotham, with whom he continued employed in the Northumberland 74 until Jan. 1813; being in consequence afforded an opportunity, in the latter ship, of assisting, 22 May, 1812, when in company with the Growler gun-brig, at the gallant destruction, at the entrance of L’Orient, of the French 40-gun frigates L’Arienne and L’Andromaque, and 16-gun-brig Mamelouck, whose united fire, conjointly with that of a destructive battery, killed 5 of the Northumberland’s people and wounded 28. He obtained his first commission while serving with Sir John Borlase Warren on the coast of North America in the San Domingo of 74 guns, 30 June, 1813; and was subsequently appointed – 1 July, 1813, to the Ramillies 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy, engaged in the blockade of New London – 2 Sept. 1814, again to the Superb, bearing the flag of Hon. H. Hotham on the coasts of America and France – 26 Aug. 1818 (two years and seven months after he had left the Superb), to the Rochfort 80, Capts. Andrew Pellet Green and Chas. Marsh Schomberg, to which ship, bearing the flags in the Mediterranean of Sir Thos. Fras. Fremantle and Sir Graham Moore, he continued attached for upwards of five years and a half – and 6 July, 1824, as senior, to the Cambrian 46, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, on the same station, where, in command, in the Negropont Channel, of the boats of his own ship and the Seringapatam, he contrived to board and carry, in the most gallant manner, notwithstanding a desperate resistance, two piratical vessels, each with 1 gun and about 30 men, 31 Jan. 1825.[1] The terms of high commendation in which his conduct on the occasion was reported procured him a Commander’s commission dated 21 of the following April. His next appointments were – 10 Sept. 1829 and 25 Feb. 1831, to the Britannia 120, Capt. Geo. Burdet, and St. Vincent 120, Capt. Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, stationed in the Mediterranean, where, at the period of his official advancement to the rank of Captain, 24 Dec. 1833, he was acting as such in the Malabar 74. Since the paying off of the Malabar in July, 1834, he has been on half-pay.

Capt. Marsham married, in 1838, Maria, daughter of W. Jones, Esq., of Ballinamore, co. Leitrim, and Hayle Place, co. Kent. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.


  1. Vide Gaz. 1825, p. 698.