Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mudge, William (1796-1837)

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1340973Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 39 — Mudge, William (1796-1837)1894John Knox Laughton

MUDGE, WILLIAM (1796–1837), commander in the navy, born in 1796, third son of Major-general William Mudge [q. v.], was promoted to be lieutenant in the navy on 19 Feb. 1815. In August 1821 he was appointed first lieutenant of the Barracouta, with Captain Cutfield, employed on the survey of the east coast of Africa under Captain W. F. Owen [q. v.] He was afterwards moved into the Leven under the immediate command of Owen, and on 4 Oct. 1825 was promoted to the rank of commander. He was then appointed to conduct the survey of the coast of Ireland, on which he was employed till his death at Howth, on 20 July 1837. He was buried with military honours in the ground of the cathedral at Howth on 24 July.

In addition to 'Sailing Directions for Dublin Bay and for the North Coast of Ireland,' which were officially published, 1842, Mudge contributed several papers (mostly hydrographic) to the 'Nautical Magazine;' and to the Society of Antiquaries, in November 1833, an interesting account of a prehistoric village found in a Donegal bog (Archæologia, xxvi. 261). He married in 1827 Mary Marinda, only child of William Rae of Blackheath, by whom he had a large family. He has been confused with his father (e.g. in Brit. Mus. Cat.), whose work, it will be seen, was entirely geodetic.

[Flint's Mudge Memoirs; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. xii. (vol. iv. pt. ii.) 175, Gent. Mag. 1837 pt ii p 326 Nautical Mag 1837, p. 616; Dawson's Memoirs of Hydrography, i. 123.]

J. K. L.