Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/113

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99

BOSWALL—BOSWELL—BOTELER..

of 10 guns. Finding on his arrival, in the latter vessel, at Mozambique, in Sept. 1836, that that place was in a state of insurrection and all the authorities under arrest, Mr. Bosanquet, by a bold coup de main, restored public tranquillity and re-established the ascendancy of the Queen of Portugal. Landing at night with his ship’s company, supported by a party of the well-affected, he took the insurgents by surprise, seized an 84-gun battery, obtained possession of the Custom and Government Houses, released the authorities, and in three days re-embarked, his energetic promptness having been attended with the most complete success. For this important service he was made a Commander of the Portuguese order of Christo, and presented with a handsome letter of thanks from the Mozambique government. Three months after the latter event, Mr. Bosanquet fell in with, chased for 800 miles, and ultimately captured by hoarding, a slave-vessel, the Diogenes, of five 24-pounders and 70 men, within musket-shot distance of a Portuguese frigate and of the battery above alluded to. He continued in the Leveret until the summer of 1839, on 10 May in which year he was promoted for his services to the rank of Commander. He next, from 28 July, 1843, until June, 1846, commanded the Alert sloop on the coast of Africa; and, on 9 Nov. following, was advanced to his present rank. He is now on half-pay.

Commander Bosanquet married, 5 June, 1832, his cousin, Charlotte Eliza, youngest daughter of the late Jacob Bosanquet, Esq., of Broxbournbury House, Herts, 45 years an East India Director, and has issue two daughters. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



BOSWALL, formerly Donaldson. (Captain, 1822. f-p., 18; h-p., 30.)

John Donaldson Boswall, born in 1790, in co. Fife, N.B., assumed his present surname in addition to his patronymic, Donaldson, 27 Nov. 1812.

This officer entered the Navy, early in Aug. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Pouncer gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Smith, and immediately afterwards attended the expedition to the Helder, under Sir Andrew Mitchell. He next joined the Polyphemus 64, Capts. Geo. Lumsdaine and John Lawford, under the latter of whom he fought, as Midshipman, at the battle of Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801; and, in May, 1802, he removed to the Centaur 74, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Sam. Hood. In that ship Mr. Boswall assisted at the capture, in June and Sept. 1803, of the French West India island of Ste. Lucie, and of the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo; and, on the morning of 4 Feb. 1804, he served in the boats, under Lieut. Robt. Carthew Reynolds, who subsequently died of the wounds he received, at the cutting out from under Fort Edward, Martinique, of the French brig-corvette Le Curieux, of 16 guns and 70 men, which was in every way prepared to resist the attack, and only surrendered at the termination of a desperate and sanguinary conflict, in which the enemy lost 10 killed and 30 wounded, and the British 9 wounded. On the prize being added to the British Navy, under the same name and the command of Capt. Edmund Geo. Byron Bettesworth, Mr. Boswall, on 7 Oct. following, was appointed to her as Acting-Lieutenant; and, on 8 Feb. 1805, we find him signalising himself by his coolness and bravery at the capture, after a close and gallant action of 40 minutes, of La Dame Ernouf privateer, of 16 guns and 120 men, of whom 30 were killed and 41 wounded, while the loss of the Curieux did not exceed 5 killed and 3 wounded. He was confirmed a Lieutenant on 14 Sept. in the same year, and afterwards appointed, in that capacity, 17 Oct. ensuing, to the London 98, Capts. Robt. Rolles, Sir Harry Neale, and Edw. Oliver Osborn, in which, under Sir H. Neale, he assisted, in company with the Amazon 38, at the taking, 13 March, 1806, of the French 80-gun ship Marengo, with Rear-Admiral Linois on board, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule, after a long running fight in which the London lost 10 killed and 22 wounded – 8 Nov. 1806, to the Crocodile, Capt. E. G. B. Bettesworth, off Guernsey – 30 April, 1807, to the Inflexible 64, Capt. Joshua Rowley Watson, with whom he was present, on shore, at the bombardment of Copenhagen in the ensuing Sept. – 21 Feb. 1808, to the Spitfire sloop, Capt. John Ellis, on the Leith station – 7 July, 1808, as First, to the Gannet brig, Capt. Jas. Stevenson, employed off the coast of France – 4 Nov. 1810, to the Alfred 74, Capt. J. B. Watson, engaged in the defence of Cadiz – 23 April, 1811, to the Implacable 74, commanded by the latter officer on the Mediterranean station, where, with the tender under his orders, he contributed to the capture of a convoy near Genoa in 1811 – and, 2 April, 1814, to the Latona 38, bearing the flag, at Leith, of Rear-Admiral Sir Wm. Johnstone Hope, from which ship he was superseded on the receipt of his second promotal commission, 15 June following. He was afterwards, on 12 Aug. 1819, selected to command the Spey 20, in the Mediterranean. He attained Post-rank 26 Dec. 1822, and was placed on the half-pay of retirement 1 Oct. 1846.

Capt. Boswall is a Deputy-Lieutenant and Magistrate for co. Mid-Lothian, and one of the Royal Company of Archers, the Queen’s body-guard for Scotland. He married, in 1822, Charlotte Angell, daughter of the late Sir Sam. Chambers, Kt., of Bredgar House, co. Kent, by Barbara, eldest daughter of the Hon. Philip Roper, uncle of the present Lord Teynham, and by this lady has issue a son and daughter, the former in the 51st Regt. of Madras Native Infantry.



BOSWELL. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 30; h-p., 35.)

Walter Boswell entered the Navy, 1 Sept. 1782, as Lieutenant’s Servant, on board the Blenheim 74, Capt. Adam Duncan, with whom we find him present, 20 Oct. following, in Lord Howe’s partial action with the combined French and Spanish fleets, near Gibraltar. He afterwards served chiefly as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, on the Halifax, Home, and Mediterranean stations, on board the Ariadne, Capts. Joseph Ellison and Sam. Osborn, Vixen, Lieut.-Commander Mark Wentworth, St. George, Lieut.-Commander Barker, Gorgon, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Craven, Impregnable 98, Vice-Admiral Graves, Inspector, Capt. Alex. Mackey, Scout, Capt. R. R. Bowyer, Trimmer, Capt. Fras. Fayerman, Courageux 74, Capt. Hon. Wm. Waldegrave (in which ship he participated in the reduction of Toulon in Aug. 1793), and Queen Charlotte 100, Admiral Lord Howe. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 20 March, 1795, in the Barfleur 98, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Vice-Admiral Waldegrave, his former Captain, and afterwards joined, 14 Jan. 1797, the Gibraltar 80, Capt. John Pakenham, off Lisbon – 3 April following, the Romney 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Waldegrave off Newfoundland – 16 May, 1801, the Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, under whom he assisted, in Sept. 1803, at the capture of Port Dauphin, St. Domingo – 29 Oct. following, the Cumberland 74, in which ship he returned home – and 29 Oct. 1804, the Conquest gun-brig, which he commanded in the Channel until 30 Aug. 1814. Since that period, shortly previous to which, 15 June, he had been advanced to his present rank. Commander Boswell has been on half-pay. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.



BOTELER. (Commander, 1819. f-p., 25; h-p., 18.)

Henry Boteler, born 15 Feb. 1793, is member of a family of very ancient standing in co. Kent, and eldest surviving son of the late Wm. Boteler, Esq., F.S.A., of Eastry, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Capt. John Harvey, R.N., who was mortally wounded in command of the Brunswick 74, on the memorable 1st of June, 1794. He is