Mediterranean, North American, and West India stations, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Lynx and Sophie sloops, Capts. Alex. Skene and Philip L. J. Rosenhagen, Dryad 36, Capt. Wm. Domett, Tonnant 80, Capts. Sir Edw. Pellew and Chas. Tyler, Cerberus 32, Capt. Wm. Selby, and Veteran 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres. In the Tonnant he fought at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805. His appointments in the capacity of Lieutenant were – 30 March, 1808, to the Meleager 36, Capt. Fred. Warren, under whom he was wrecked, 30 July following, on the Barebush Key, near Port Royal – 5 Dec. in the same year, to the Bonne Citoyenne, of 20 guns and 127 men, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, employed on the Halifax and Lisbon stations – and 7 and 27 Feb. 1810 to the Belvidera 36 and Rodney 74, Capts. Henry Baker and Sir Wm. Bolton, lying at Woolwich. In the Bonne Citoyenne he was present, 6 July, 1809, and was mentioned for the able assistance he afforded, at the capture of La Furieuse French frigate of 20 guns (pierced for 48) and 200 men, armée en flûte, which did not surrender until a hard-fought action of nearly seven hours had occasioned the British a loss of 1 man killed and 5 wounded, and herself of 35 killed and 37 wounded.[1] For his conduct on this occasion Mr. Symes, as soon as he had completed his two years’ servitude as Lieutenant, was promoted, 13 March, 1810, to the rank of Commander. His last appointments were, 5 Sept. 1810 and 30 Aug. 1811, to the Portia and Thracian sloops, the former stationed in the North Sea, the latter off Cherbourg, where he destroyed, 18 Dec. 1811, a French lugger privateer, pierced for 18 guns, and full of men. He was posted 21 March, 1812; and advanced to his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
Rear-Admiral Symes married, 13 May, 1815, Miss Sarah Phelps, of Crewkerne, co. Somerset.
SYMONDS. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 17; h-p., 35.)
Thomas Edward Symonds, born 31 Jan. 1781, is eldest son (by Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Malet, Esq., and wife afterwards of Lieut.-General Farmer, R.M.) of the late Capt. Thos. Symonds, R.N.;[2] and brother (with the present Sir Wm. Symonds) of Commander Jermyn John Symonds, R.N., who was lost with all his crew in the Helena sloop, on the coast of Holland, 3 Nov. 1796, and of Commander John Chas. Symonds, R.N. (1814), who died 16 Dec. 1840, at Keyhaven, Hants, aged 50. His uncle, the late Dr. Symonds, was Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, and successor to the poet Gray.
This officer entered the Navy, in Dec. 1795, as Midshipman, on board the Cambridge 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Rich. Onslow at Plymouth; and from March, 1796, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 8 Oct. 1802, was employed, on the Lisbon, Halifax, West India, and Home stations, part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the St. Albans 64 and Resolution 74, flag-ships of Vice-Admiral Geo. Vandeput, Dasher 18, Capt. Geo. Tobin, Asia 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Vandeput, Lily 14, Capt. Jos. Spear, Belleisle 74, Capt. John Whitby, and Royal Charlotte yacht, Capt. Sir Harry Burrard Neale. He was next, 17 Nov. 1802 and 10 May, 1803, appointed to the Dasher sloop, Capt. Delafons, and Ville de Paris 110, flag-ship of Hon. Wm. Cornwallis, on the Irish, Mediterranean, and Channel stations; he attained the rank of Commander 22 Jan. 1806; and from March, 1807, until posted 29 Sept. 1813, he served in that capacity in the Tweed 18, in the West Indies and North Sea and on the coast of Africa. In the Ville de Paris, in which ship he performed the duties of Signal-Lieutenant, he was present, 22 Aug. 1805, in an attack made upon the French fleet close in with Brest Harbour; and while serving in the Tweed he commanded the in-shore squadron at the blockade and surrender of the city of St. Domingo, in 1809, and made prize at different times of three privateers (the Santissima Trinidad of 4 guns and 20 men, L’Aventure of 3 guns and 52 men, and the Steinbill of 10 guns and 30 men) and 15 sail of merchantmen. Referring to the siege of St. Domingo, Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby, of the Polyphemus 64, in an official letter to Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley, the Commander-in-Chief, dated 7 July, 1809, says – “This despatch will be delivered to you by Capt. Symonds, of the Tweed, to whose zealous attention in conducting the troops, schooners, and gun-boats, during a close and vigorous blockade of two months, I owe considerable obligation; and although the services of the squadron you did me the honour to place under my orders may not have been of a brilliant nature, I trust I may be permitted on this occasion to bear testimony to the unremitting perseverance with which the vessels maintained the stations assigned them, through all the variety of weather incident to the season, on a steep and dangerous shore, where no anchorage was to be obtained, as well as to the vigilance and alacrity of those men who were employed in the night guard-boats, by whose united exertions the enemy’s accustomed supply by sea was entirely cut off, and the surrender of the city greatly accelerated.”[3] Capt. Symonds accepted his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
The Rear-Admiral is Chairman of the Lymington Union. He married, 11 March, 1815, Lucinde,[4] twin-daughter of the late Fras. Joseph Touzi, a Lieutenant in the French navy, by whom he has had issue 10 children, seven of whom are now living. One of his sons, Thomas Edward, is a Commander R.N.; another, Jermyn Charles, is a First-Lieutenant R.M. (1841); and a third, Octavius Cumby, fell a victim to African fever while serving with Capt. Walter Grimston Estcourt in the Éclair steamer.
SYMONDS. (Commander, 1847.)
Thomas Edward Symonds is eldest son of Rear-Admiral T. E. Symonds.
This officer entered the Navy 15 Nov. 1832; obtained his first commission 17 March, 1841; and was then appointed to the Iris 26, Capts. Hugh Nourse, Wm. Tucker, and Geo. Rodney Mundy, on the coast of Africa, whence he returned to England and was paid off in 1843. He attained the rank he now holds 29 April, 1847.
Commander Symonds married, 22 July, 1848, Anne, only child of the late J. G. Schweitzen, Esq., of Southall, co. Middlesex, and widow of the Rev. N. Tindal.
SYMONDS. (Captain, 1841.)
Thomas Matthew Charles Symonds is son of Capt. Sir Wm. Symonds, R.N., Kt., C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 25 April, 1825; passed his examination in 1831; and obtained his first commission 5 Nov. 1832. His succeeding appointments were – 6 May, 1833, to the Vestal 26, Capt. Wm. Jones, fitting at Portsmouth – 26 Sept. following and 16 July, 1834, to the Endymion 50 and Britannia 120, Capts. Sir Sam. Roberts and Peter Rainier, both in the Mediterranean – and 20 Dec. in the latter year to the Rattlesnake 28, Capt. Wm. Hobson, equipping for the East Indies. He returned home on the occasion of his promotion
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1496.
- ↑ Capt. Thos. Symonds attained Post-rank in 1771. He commanded the Charon 44 in an action with the d’Artois 64, which ship, on the approach of the Bienfaisant, surrendered. The Charon was afterwards blown up by red-hot shot while acting against the rebels in York River. The crew were taken prisoners with the troops under Lord Cornwallis; and Capt. Symonds, who at the time of the explosion was on shore at the batteries, also fell into the enemy’s hands. He died in 1793 at Bury St. Edmunds.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1420.
- ↑ The romantic history of this lady, who was captured, when an orphan, at the age of eleven, by the boats of the Tweed, in endeavouring to effect her escape with others in a small schooner from St. Domingo, and who, with her twin-sister, was brought to England and educated by Capt. Symonds, has been published in a charming little autobiographical work entitled ‘Les Jumelles.’
