Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1336

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1322
WOODRUFF—WOODRUFFE—WOODS—WOODTHORPE.

last mentioned, to the Donegal 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm. In her he assisted at the capture, a few days afterwards, of El Rayo, one of the ships recently defeated at Trafalgar. He was sent with others on board the prize and remained in her until she was wrecked near San Lucar, on which occasion those who were not drowned were taken prisoners. In the course of 1806 (he had returned home from Gibraltar in the Colossus 74, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris) he joined in succession the Glory 98 and Sampson and Diadem 64’s, bearing each the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Stirling. While in the Diadem in the Rio de la Plata, whither he had proceeded in the Sampson (the Glory had been stationed in the Channel), Mr. Woodriff served on shore, and was the very first person that landed, at the storming of Monte Video in Feb. 1807. During Lieut.-General Whitelocke’s unfortunate attack upon Buenos Ayres he was attached with 2 3-pounders to the brigade of seamen under Capt. Josias Rowley of the Raisonnable 64. He was subsequently employed under the flag of Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope and off the Isle of France as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and Acting-Lieutenant in the Leopard 50; in which ship he made a voyage also to Bombay. While off the Isle of France he was sent in charge, in 1809, of a slave-ship to the Cape and suffered much on the passage from the want of provisions and water. On 26 April, 1811, he was confirmed to the rank of Lieutenant (he had been acting as such) in the St. Albans 64, Capts. Edw. Brace, Grant, and John Ferris Devonshire; and in the same year he was actively employed, in charge of a gun-boat. No. 4, at the defence of Cadiz; where, in rowing guard, he made prize of two French boats. From Sept. 1812 until Feb. 1813, and from June in the latter year until Aug. 1814, he served in the Channel and again at the Cape of Good Hope in the Savage 16, Capt. Wm. Bissell, and Laurel 38, Capt. Hon. Granville Leveson Proby; and from 4 Nov. 1836 until rewarded for his services with the rank he now holds 1 Jan. 1848, he had charge of a station in the Coast Guard.

Commander Woodriff is Senior of 1848. He married, in 1837, Jesse, youngest daughter of Capt. Bradley, and has issue five children. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



WOODRUFF. (Lieutenant, 1830.)

Henry Woodruff entered the Navy 16 April, 1810; passed his examination in 1816; attained the rank of Lieutenant 24 Feb. 1830; and from 18 March following until the spring of 1836 had charge of a station in the Coast Guard. He has not been since employed.

He was left a widower 1 Jan. 1840. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.



WOODRUFFE. (Lieutenant, 1828.)

Daniel Woodruffe died 18 July, 1845.

This officer entered the Navy 12 Feb. 1811; and obtained his commission 14 Sept. 1828. He was afterwards appointed, for short periods – 17 Feb. 1834, to the President 52, Capt. John M‘Kerlie, in which ship he escorted Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B., Governor-General of Nova Scotia, to Halifax – 27 Aug. 1834, to the Vernon 50, also commanded by Capt. M‘Kerlie, and at the time fitting for the Mediterranean – 10 March, 1835, to the Coast Guard – and 12 July, 1843, to the command of the Albert steamer, on the coast of Africa. Agent – J. Hinxman.



WOODS. (Lieutenant, 1819.)

Thomas Woods entered the Navy, 16 July, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Active of 46 guns and 300 men, Captain (now Vice-Admiral Sir) Jas. Alex. Gordon, with whom he continued to serve as Midshipman, in the same ship and in the Seahorse 38, in the Mediterranean and West Indies, off Cherbourg, and. on the coast of North America, until Sept. 1815. On 13 March, 1811, he was present in the celebrated action off Lissa, where the Active and three other frigates, carrying in the whole 156 guns and 879 men, completely routed, after a conflict of six hours, and a loss to the former of 4 killed and 24 wounded, a Franco-Venetian armament, whose force amounted to 284 guns and 2655 men. He assisted next, 29 Nov. in the same year, at the capture of La Pomone French frigate of 44 guns and 332 men, 50 of whom were killed and wounded, with a loss to the Active, whose complement had been reduced to 218 men, of 8 killed and 27 wounded. In the Seahorse he accompanied the brilliant expedition against the city of Alexandria on the river Potomac, and took part in the attacks upon Baltimore and New Orleans. Immediately prior to the latter event he served, 14 Dec. 1814, with the boats of a squadron under Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, at the capture, on Lake Borgne, of a flotilla of five American gun-vessels under Commodore Jones, whose resistance was protracted until the British had sustained a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. After he had been for about 10 months employed at Plymouth, at Sheerness, and in the Channel, as Midshipman, Admiralty-Midshipman, and Master’s Mate, in the St. George 98, Capt. Nash, Eridanus 86, Capt. Wm. Paterson, Madagascar 38, Capt. Sir J. A. Gordon, and Albion 74, Capt. John Coode, he was received in the capacity last mentioned, in July, 1816, on board the Impregnable 104, Capt. Edw. Brace, part of the force engaged at the ensuing bombardment of Algiers. In Oct. of the same year, having returned to England, he again joined Sir J. A. Gordon in the Madagascar; from which frigate he followed him soon afterwards into the Meander 38. In her, in the month of Dec, he was nearly lost, off Orfordness. In the early part of 1817 he sailed in the Shearwater 10, Capts. Edw. Rodney, Joseph Troughton, and Douglas Cox, for the West Indies; where, in June, 1819, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant (a rank he had held in the Shearwater from 21 July until 15 Dec. 1817) of the Iphigenia 42, Capt. Hyde Parker. He was officially promoted 14 Oct. followiug. His appointments have since been – 1 Feb. 1820, to the Beaver 10, Capt. Fred. Marryat, at Portsmouth – 8 Feb. 1825, to the Hyperion 42, Coast Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – in July, 1825, as Senior, to the Helicon 10, Capt. Chas. Dyke Acland, at the Cape of Good Hope – 30 Dec. 1829, to the Coast Guard – 29 Sept. 1832, to the command of the Hornet Revenue-cruizer – 24 Sept. 1835, again, for three years, to the Coast Guard – 10 Nov. 1841, to the Ocean 80, Capts. Sir John Hill and Peter Fisher, guard-ship at Sheerness – and 29 Sept. 1843, to the Poictiers 72, Capts. Wm. Henry Shirreff and Sir Thos. Bourchier, Depot-ship of Ordinary at Chatham, where (with the exception of an interval of 14 months, from Aug. 1846 until Oct. 1847) he has ever since remained.

Lieut. Woods married, 1 Nov. 1843, Susannah Warner, only daughter of Commander John Stephen, R.N.



WOODTHORPE. (Captain, 1842. f-p., 21; h-p., 16.)

John Bolton Woodthorpe was born 28 Aug. 1796, and died 19 May, 1846.

This officer entered the Navy, 30 Sept. 1809, as Midshipman, on board the Druid 32, in which frigate and the Endymion 40, both commanded by his cousin Sir Wm. Bolton, he was for three years employed in the Channel and West Indies. In the Druid he assisted in making prize, 13 Nov. 1809, of the Basque French national brig of 16 guns. On leaving the Endymion he joined the Briton 46, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines; under whom we find him, until paid off in Aug. 1815, employed, part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the manner detailed in our memoir of Commander Thos. Dilnot Stewart. He served subsequently at Portsmouth, in the Mediterranean, on the coast of Ireland, in the West Indies, and at Plymouth, as Midshipman, Mate, and Admiralty-Midshipman (he passed his examination