Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1304

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1290
WILBRAHAM—WILDEY—WILKINSON.

was removed, in the ensuing June, to the Scout 18. In her he made prize, In 1824, off the Belize, Honduras, of L’Amazone, a piratical brigantine, carrying 1 long gun on a pivot, with a crew of 65 men. He returned to England in 1825. His last appointment was, 22 Jan. 1829, to the Warspite 76, in which ship, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Baker in South America, he continued to serve as Acting-Captain until advanced by the Admiralty to his present rank 22 July, 1830.

Capt. Wigston married, 25 July, 1833, Mary Theodora, only daughter of the late Major-General Sir John Chalmers, K.C.B., of the Madras Army, by whom he has issue three daughters. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



WILBRAHAM. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 18; h-p., 53.)

Richard Wilbraham died in 1848.

This officer entered the Navy, in Dec. 1776, as A.B., on board the Augusta 64, Capt. Fras. Reynolds; and was Midshipman of that ship when she was blown up in action with the enemy on the coast of North America in Oct. 1777. Between Feb. 1779 and 1781 he was employed in the Channel in the Blenheim 90, Capts. Lord Shuldham and Fras. J. Hartwell, Cambridge 74, Capt. Lord Shuldham, and, as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Fox frigate, Capt. Thos. Windsor. He joined next, in 1795, the Melpomène 38, Capt. Sir Chas. Hamilton; and after serving for five years as Master’s Mate in the Agincourt 64, Capt. John Williamson, as Acting-Lieutenant in the Apollo frigate, Capts. Manby and Peter Halkett, again as Master’s Mate in the Firm, Capt. Campbell, and as A.B. in the Bristol and Wolf gun-brig, Lieut.-Commanders Hutchinson, Withers, and Robinson, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 8 Oct. 1801, and appointed to the command, for a brief period, of the Blessing gun-brig at Sheerness. From Feb. 1804 until 1806 he commanded the Borer in the North Sea; and from 1807 until 1814 he was employed in the Transport service, three years of the time on shore in cooperation with the army in Spain and Portugal. His promotion to the rank of Commander took place 15 June, 1814. He remained thenceforward on half-pay.



WILDEY. (Retired Captain, 1840.)

Henry Wildey entered the Navy, 4 March, 1790, as Midshipman, on board the Colossus 74, Capt. Hugh Cloberry Christian, lying at Portsmouth. He served in 1791 in the Porcupine 24, Capt. Geo. Martin, off Belfast; and in the following year he joined the Hussar 28, Capt. Rupert George, on the Halifax station; where he removed as Acting-Lieutenant, in 1795, to La Raison of 30 guns and 195 men, Capt. John Poo Beresford. He was present, 25 Aug. 1796, in the latter ship when she effected her escape from the French 40-gun frigate La Vengeance, after a running fight maintained with much gallantry for two hours, in which the British sustained a loss of 3 men killed and 6 wounded, and had their rigging and sails much damaged. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, 3 Nov. 1797, into the Plover sloop, Capt. John Chesshyre, in the Downs; and was appointed next – 11 Oct. 1798, to the command of the Camperdown hired cutter, on the same station, where he made prize, 26 Nov. 1799, of the French lugger-privateer Républicain of 20 men – 15 May, 1801, to the Jason frigate, Capt. Hon. John Murray, off Guernsey – in the course of the same year, to the Seahorse 38, Capt. Edw. Jas. Foote, with whom he proceeded in escort of 10 sail of Indiamen to Calcutta, returning to England in 1802 – 23 March, 1804, to the Queen 98, Capts. Theophilus Jones, Manley Dixon, and Fras. Pender, in which ship we find him, until he invalided in May, 1807, employed in the Channel and Mediterranean, and off the Port of Cadiz – and 13 Jan. 1808, to the command, for two years, of the Whiting schooner, on the Home station. In the latter vessel, which had been fitted for throwing rockets, he assisted in Lord Cochrane’s attack upon the French squadron in Aix Roads 11 April, 1809. He was promoted to the rank of Commander 3 May, 1810; and was for some time in 1812 employed in that capacity in the Rover sloop in the Channel. He was placed on the list of Retired Captains 10 Sept. 1840. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



WILDEY. (Lieut., 1817. f-p., 22; h-p., 21.)

John Wildey entered the Navy, 1 April, 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Queen 98, Capts. Manley Dixon and Fras. Pender, employed in the Channel and Mediterranean. In the following Sept. he attained the rating of Midshipman. On his return to England with Capt. Pender in Jan. 1806 in the Royal Sovereign 100, he joined the Renown 74, Capt. Philip Chas. Durham, with whom he served in the Channel until Jan. 1807. He was next, in Nov. 1814, placed under the command of Capt. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, on board the Pompée 74, again in the Mediterranean. In Dec. of the following year, five months after he had left the Pompée, he was appointed Admiralty-Midshipman of the Magicienne 42, Capt. John Brett Purvis; under whom we find him conveying Sir Rich. King, the Commander-in-Chief, to the East Indies. On 21 July, 1817, having returned to England in the Volage 22, Capt. John Reynolds, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. From 29 March, 1827, until 30 March, 1832, from 22 Nov. 1834 until 31 Dec. 1839, and from 25 Oct. 1841 until 1848, he had charge of the Semaphore stations on Haste Hill, Compton Down, and Portsdown Hill.



WILKINSON. (Commander, 1824. f-p., 10; h-p., 23.)

Frederick Augustus Wilkinson, born 29 April, 1798, at Drinkstone, Suffolk, is second son of the Rev. W. Wilkinson, Rector of Redgrave, in that co.; and nephew of Sir John Osborne, Bart., formerly a Lord of the Admiralty and M.P. for Bedfordshire.

This officer entered the Navy, 16 Nov. 1814 (after having studied for two years at the Royal Naval College), on board the Berwick 74, Capt. Edw. Brace, under whom he co-operated, in 1815, in the reduction of Gaeta, and visited, in the spring of 1816, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, for purposes connected with the abolition of Christian slavery. On 27 Aug. in the latter year, having removed to the Superb 74, Capt. Chas. Ekins, he assisted at the bombardment of Algiers. He next, in Feb. 1817, joined the Conqueror 74, fitting for the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Plampin, Commander-in-Chief at St. Helena, where he was for four months lent to the Hyaena. In the summer of 1819 he came home in the Podargus 14, Capt. Hon. Henry John Rous; but returning soon to the Conqueror, he continued in her, employed in guarding the person of Napoleon Buonaparte, until Jan. 1820, when, having been advanced to the rank of Lieutenant 5 Oct. preceding, he again left for England in the Sappho 18, Capt. Jas. Hanway Plumridge. His last appointments were – 26 July, 1820, 25 April, 1823, and 30 April, 1824, to the Cambrian 48, Dispatch 18, and Chanticleer 10, Capts. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, Wm. Clarke Jervoise, and Burton Macnamara, all in the Mediterranean; where, during the war between the Greeks and Turks, he aided, in the Cambrian, in saving the lives of 3000 of the contending parties. On leaving the Chanticleer, in Aug. 1824, he took up a Commander’s commission bearing date 31 March in that year.

Commander Wilkinson married, 9 Feb. 1830, Emma Maria, third daughter of the late Henry Bowles, Esq., of Cuckfield, Sussex.



WILKINSON. (Lieutenant, 1841.)

George William Wilkinson was born 31 March, 1806. He is the son of a Master R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1814, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Edinburgh 74, Capt. Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and in the