the following year to the West Indies and back, in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain. Being again, 12 Oct. 1805, placed under the command of Capt. Digby, as Master’s Mate in the Africa 64, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing in that ship, and was severely wounded, in the action fought, nine days later, off Cape Trafalgar.[1] From the Africa he removed, in Feb. 1806, to the Uraine 38, Capt. Christopher Laroche, stationed in the Channel; where, in the following Nov., he joined the Lavinia 40, Capt. Lord Wm. Stuart. In 1807, while in charge of a prize, he was captured by a Spanish corvette off Ushant, and taken to Bilboa, at which place and at St. Sebastian he was detained a prisoner until the French made themselves masters of the latter city, on the abdication of Charles IV. He then escaped to St. Andero, and was sent home by the British Consul-General with despatches from the Junta of Oviedo to Mr. Canning, at that time Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who afterwards employed him on a mission to Corunna. On 16 Aug. 1808 he was made Lieutenant into the Merope sloop, Capt. Michael Dodd; and on 14 Jan. 1809 and 24 April, 1813, he was appointed to his former ship the Lavinia, Capts. Lord Wm. Stuart and Geo. Digby, and, as First-Lieutenant, to the Jaseur sloop, commanded by Capt. Geo. Edw. Watts, by himself as Acting-Commander (from 9 until 30 Oct. 1814), and by Capts. Nicholas Pateshall and Nagle Lock. The Lavinia was one of ten frigates which, accompanying the expedition to the Walcheren, forced the passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadsand 11 Aug. 1809. She served afterwards off Lisbon and in the Mediterranean. In Nov. 1813, being then in the Jalouse off the Delaware, Mr. West was despatched with a flag of truce to the town of Lewes, for the purpose of inquiring into the circumstances attendant upon the detention of an officer who had been sent on shore with some prisoners. On landing he was treated with every indignity, and all but one of his boat’s crew were enticed to desert. With that one man he succeeded in a tempestuous night in regaining his ship, but so worn out in body and mind by the exertions he had undergone that a debilitating fever ensued, the effects of which lasted for many years. When subsequently stationed in the Chesapeake, Mr. West assisted at the capture of the towns of Benedict and Marlborough, and, with the boats of the Jaseur under his orders, took and destroyed more than 30 vessels of different descriptions. On one occasion, 2 May, 1814, in a single boat, with only 6 men, he brought out from under a battery the Grecian, a privateer, mounting 4 guns (pierced for 20) and 5 swivels, with a complement of 27 men[2] – an exploit for which he received a letter of thanks from Sir Alex. Cochrane, the Commander-in-Chief. During the time he acted as Commander of the Jaseur, Mr. West carried despatches and escorted some transports from Halifax and Shelburne to Castine. The Jaseur being paid off in Aug. 1816, he did not again go afloat until appointed, in Feb. 1831, to the Windsor Castle 76, Capt. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie, employed on the Cork and Lisbon stations. He was advanced to his present rank 25 June following; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander West married, first, in 1822, his cousin, the only daughter of the Rev. Henry Cotes, Vicar of Bedlington, co. Durham; and, secondly, 29 April, 1828, Frances Anne Hussey, youngest daughter of the late Sam. Huthwaite, Esq., of Hartley Lodge, co. Northumberland. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
WEST. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
Henry West passed his examination 6 Sept. 1842; and, after having served at Portsmouth in the Excellent gunnery-ship, Capts. Sir Thos. Hastings and Henry Ducie Chads, was appointed in that capacity to the Nimrod 20, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, fitting for the coast of Africa; where he continued employed as Lieutenant (commission dated 29 June, 1846) in the Actaeon 26, Capt. Geo. Mansel, Britomart 8, Capt. Wm. Chas. Chamberlain, and Rapid 8, Capt. Edw. Dixon – in the two last as Senior – until the early part of 1849.
WEST. (Commander, 1846.)
James Banks West entered the Navy 7 March, 1821; passed his examination in 1827; and obtained his first commission 25 June, 1831. His succeeding appointments were – 27 Sept. 1837, to the Tyne 26, Capt. John Townshend – 15 May, 1838, to the Beacon surveying-vessel, Capt. Thos. Graves – 29 Dec. 1840, as First-Lieutenant (a post he had filled for a year on board the Beacon) to the Hastings 72, Capt. John Lawrence – 30 Aug. 1841, in a similar capacity, to the Aigle 24, Capt. Lord Clarence Edw. Paget – and 11 Sept. 1846, again as Senior (after about 12 months of half-pay) to the America 50., Capt. Hon. John Gordon, lying at Devonport. All the above ships, with the exception of the one last mentioned, were stationed in the Mediterranean. Since 12 Aug. 1848, Commander West, who attained his present rank 9 Nov. 1846, has been serving as Second-Captain in the Southampton 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Barrington Reynolds at the Cape of Good Hope. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
WEST, K.C.B. (Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 19; h-p., 40.)
Sir John West, born 28 July, 1774, is eldest son of the late Temple West, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel in the Grenadier Guards, by Jane, daughter of Pitt Drake, Esq.; and cousin of the late Commander Balchen Folkes West, R.N. He is nephew of the late Admiral Temple West; and grandson of Temple West, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White (second in command in Admiral Byng’s memorable action, and afterwards a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Representative in Parliament for co. Buckingham), who married Frances, daughter of Sir John Balchen, Kt. The latter officer (to whom a tablet, as well as to his son-in-law, was erected in Westminster Abbey) was Governor of Greenwich Hospital, and was lost on board the Victory in the Channel 5 Oct. 1744. Sir John West’s great-grandfather, the Venerable Rich. West, Archdeacon of Berks and Prebendary of Durham, married the eldest sister of Lord Cobham and of the Countess Temple, grandmother of William Pitt. His grand-aunt was the wife of Admiral the first Viscount Bridport.
This officer entered the Navy, in June, 1788, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Pomona, Capt. Wm. Domett, with whom he continued employed on the coast of Guinea, in the West Indies, at Newfoundland, and in the Channel, in the same ship, in the Salisbury 50, and, as Midshipman, in the London 98 – the two last bearing the flags of Admirals Milbank and Alex. Hood – until July, 1790. He then served for one year and seven months with Capt. Alex. Hood in the Hebe frigate, in the Channel; and after he had been again employed with Capt. Domett and with Admirals Goodall and Hood in the Mediterranean, and afresh in the Channel in the Romney 50 and Royal George 100, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 27 July, 1793. In the following Nov. be was appointed to the Saturn 74, Capt. Newnham, lying at Portsmouth; and in Feb. 1794 he was again placed under the command of Capt. Domett on board the Royal George; in which ship we find him present under the flag of the above-named Admiral Hood, then Lord Bridport, in the action off Ile de Groix 23 June, 1795. Attaining the rank of Commander 7 Sept. in the same year, he was appointed in that capacity, 11 Dec. ensuing, to the Diligence sloop, in the West Indies; on which station he was made Post, 15 Nov. 1796, into La Tourterelle of 30 guns. In March, 1798, he returned to England; and with the exception of a few months in 1801-2, during which he served at Chatham in the Utrecht 68, he did not
