Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Schomberg, Charles Marsh
SCHOMBERG, Sir CHARLES MARSH (1779–1835), captain in the navy and lieutenant-governor of Dominica, born in 1779, was the youngest son of Sir Alexander Schomberg [q. v.] In 1788 he was entered on board the Dorset yacht as captain's servant, and in 1793 on board the Cumberland with Captain (afterwards Sir Thomas) Louis [q. v.], whom he followed to the Minotaur. On 30 April 1795 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Rattler, from which in August 1796 he returned to the Minotaur, and was in her, as lieutenant, in the battle of the Nile, and afterwards in the operations on the coast of Italy. On 3 Sept. 1800 he commanded the boats of the Minotaur, under Captain (afterwards Sir James) Hillyar [q. v.] of the Niger, in cutting out two Spanish corvettes at Barcelona, for which he was moved into the Foudroyant, and served through the Egyptian campaign as flag-lieutenant to Lord Keith [see Elphinstone, George Keith, Viscount Keith]. In August 1801 he was put in command of the Charon, employed, with a reduced armament, in carrying the French troops from Egypt. For his services at this period he received the Turkish order of the Crescent. On 29 April 1802 he was promoted to the rank of commander, and to that of captain on 6 April 1803, when he was appointed to the Madras, stationed at Malta till the spring of 1807. The Madras was then put out of commission, and Schomberg returned to England, after an absence of ten years.
In the following November he was appointed to the Hibernia as flag-captain to Sir William Sidney Smith [q. v.], with whom he went to Lisbon, and thence, having moved into the Foudroyant, to Rio de Janeiro. In January 1809 he was appointed by Smith to the President; but, as another captain for the President was sent out by the admiralty, Schomberg returned to England, arriving in April 1810. In June he was appointed to the Astræa of 36 guns, fitting for the Cape of Good Hope, whence he was detached as senior officer at Mauritius. On 20 May 1811, in company with two other frigates and a sloop, he fell in with three large French frigates with troops sent out from France as a reinforcement for their garrison at Mauritius, of whose capture they had been ignorant. After a brisk action, one of the French frigates, the Renommée of 40 guns, struck to the Astræa; the other two escaped for the time, but one, the Néréide, surrendered at Tamatave a few days later. In April 1813 Schomberg was moved into the Nisus, in which he went to Brazil, and convoyed a large fleet of merchant ships to England, arriving at Spithead in March 1814. On 4 June 1815 he was nominated a C.B. From 1820 to 1824 he commanded the Rochefort in the Mediterranean, as flag-captain to Sir Graham Moore [q. v.]; and from 1828 to 1832 was commodore and commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope, with his broad pennant in the Maidstone. On 21 Sept. 1832 he was nominated a K.C.H. and was knighted. He also received the order of the Tower and Sword from the Prince of Brazil. He was afterwards appointed lieutenant-governor of Dominica, and died on board the President, flagship of Sir George Cockburn, in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, on 2 Jan. 1835. He was unmarried. There are three portraits, by Sir W. Beechey, now in the possession of different members of the family.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. iv. (vol. ii. pt. ii.) 817; O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Service-book in the Public Record Office; James's Naval History; Troude's Batailles Navales de la France, iv. 127; information from the family.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.242
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 424 | i | 13 | Schomberg, Sir Charles M.: for first lieutenant read lieutenant |