Thos. Brown. In her he cruized in the Baltic, went for convoy to St. Helena, and proceeded ultimately to the coast of North America; where, particularly in the Chesapeake, he saw much active service, and was constantly employed in the boats. He assisted in landing the marine battalion at different places; was present at the taking of Benedict, Marlborough, and other towns; and came into frequent contact with the flotilla under Commodore Barney; who on one occasion attacked the Loire, the Narcissus, and Jaseur, at the same time that a masked battery, in the end blown up, opened on them a fire and struck the Loire in several places with hot shot. Some of the enemy’s gun-boats were in this affair destroyed. In Aug. 1814 Mr. Woollcombe was transferred on promotion to the Tonnant 80. While in that ship, which bore the flag of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, he witnessed the attacks upon Washington and Baltimore, and accompanied the expedition against New Orleans. During the operations connected with the latter service he landed with the naval brigade under Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge, and on 8 Jan. 1815 “particularly distinguished himself,”[1] and was severely wounded, in leading a party of seamen, under the immediate orders of Capt. Rowland Money, to the assault of a battery on the right bank of the Mississippi. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 23 Feb. 1815, and was subsequently appointed – 22 April, 1815, for five months, to the Madagascar 38, Capt. Bentinck Cavendish Doyle, on the coast of North America – 29 June, 1816, to the Lee 20, Capt. John Pasco, in the Channel, where he served until ill health obliged him, in Dec. 1817, to go on shore – 12 Jan. 1819, to the Active 46, Capt. Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon, in which frigate he was for nearly three years employed on the Halifax, Home, and Mediterranean stations – 11 March, 1823, to the Windsor Castle 74, Capt. Chas. Dashwood, lying at Flymouth – and, 17 Oct. following, as first, to the Owen Glendower 42, Capt. John Filmore, on the coast of Africa. On the return of Capt. Filmore to England, Mr. Woollcombe succeeded, 21 Jan. 1824, to the acting-command of the Owen Glendower, then at Cape Coast Castle, where, as Senior officer, he effectually cut off from the Ashantees all supply of provisions by water, and by the other services he performed afforded the Lieut.-Governor, Colonel Chisholm, an opportunity of declaring, in a despatch dated 17 June, 1824, that “he attributed the Elmina people not having joined the enemy to Capt. Woollcombe’s exertions and cordial co-operation.” He was nominated, 17 Feb. 1824, Acting-Commander of the Bann 20; promoted by the Admiralty 10 April following; employed, from 25 May in the same year until 21 Aug. 1827, in the Victor 18; appointed next, 4 March, 1830, to the Curlew 10, fitting at Woolwich; and advanced to his present rank 22 July ensuing. In the Bann he made prize of a vessel carrying between 300 and 400 slaves; and in the Victor, in which he was afterwards employed on the Irish station, he was again for some time Senior officer at Cape Coast Castle. He there landed all his marines and one watch of sailors to serve as a garrison.
Capt. Woollcombe is married, and has issue. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
WOOLVER. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 27; h-p., 14.)
Richard James Woolver entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Malta 84, Capts. Edw. Buller and Wm. Shield, employed off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, where he removed, in July, 1807, for four months, to the Hindostan 50, Capt. Bowen. He joined next, in March, 1808, the Pallas 32, Capt. Geo. Fras. Seymour, attached to the Channel fleet; and in June, 1810, after having served for 16 months on the Falmouth station, part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the Tromp, Lieut.-Commander Michael M‘Carthy, he was received on board the North Star 20, Capt. Thos. Coe. In her he sailed for the West Indies, where, from 17 Sept. 1814 until 25 May, 1815, he acted as Master in the Electra 14, Capts. Cecil and Mercer, in which vessel he continued further employed as Lieutenant (he had been promoted at home 8 Feb. in the latter year) until the proximate Sept. He was appointed a Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Coast-Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, 29 Nov. 1825; was transferred to the Coast Guard service 16 March, 1831; obtained command, 5 Aug. 1836, of the Repulse Revenue-cruizer; and went back to the Coast Guard 17 Oct. 1838. He has been on half-pay since the close of 1842.
WOOLWARD. (Lieutenant, 1840.)
John Horatio Woolward entered the Navy 2 March, 1826; passed his examination in 1832; and on the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 26 Dec. 1840, was appointed Additional of the Southampton 50, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Durnford King at the Cape of Good Hope. He has been on half-pay since the summer of 1841.
WORMELEY. (Capt., 1814. f-p., 14; h-p., 34.)
Ralph Randolph Wormeley was born 29 Oct. 1785, in Virginia, where his family, both on his father’s and his mother’s side, had been seated since the period nearly at which that colony was established. His maternal grandfather, John Randolph, was Attorney-General at the commencement of the war of independence, and was under the necessity of flying to England, with the loss of a fine property of which he and his ancestors had been in possession for 150 years. Capt. Wormeley had an uncle of his own name, who served with distinction in the southern campaign as Captain of one of the loyal American corps.
This officer entered the Navy, 30 Oct. 1799, as Midshipman, on board the London 98, in which ship and the Royal George 100, both commanded by the late Admiral John Child Purvis, he served in the Channel until March, 1801. He was afterwards, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 22 Jan. 1806, employed, on the Home, Newfoundland, and Cadiz stations, part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the Magicienne 32, Capts. Wm. Ogilvie and Henry Vansittart, Aurora 28, Capt. Micajah Malbon, Dreadnought 98, Capt. J. C. Purvis, and Prince of Wales 98, flag-ship of Sir Robt. Calder. In the Prince of Wales he saw 52 sail-of-the-line formed in three columns off Ushant; and he was on board of her when, with 20 of those ships, she was detached in pursuit of the French fleet under Admiral Villeneuve, and succeeded in reaching Cadiz in time to reinforce Admiral Collingwood before the battle of Trafalgar. After cruizing for a short time in the Downs in the Otter sloop, Capt. John Davies, Mr. Wormeley was appointed, in June, 1806, Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Purvis, with whom (deducting an interval of five months in 1807-8, occasioned by ill-health) he continued employed off Cadiz in the Minotaur 74, Queen 98, Atlas 74, Terrible 74, and Atlas again, until nominated, 22 Nov. 1809, Acting-Commander of the Minstrel 18, in the Mediterranean. While he was in the Atlas, that ship was for 6, 8, 10, and 12 months at a time off the port mentioned without letting go an anchor. On one occasion, when the French army was rapidly advancing upon Cadiz, Mr. Wormeley was sent with 350 men to the Caraccas to rig and rescue from their grasp five Spanish ships-of-the-line. This service he accomplished in three weeks; and for his exertions he received the thanks of Lord Collingwood. On 16 Feb. 1810 he was confirmed a Commander in the Minorca 18, in which vessel, stationed in the Mediterranean, he remained for upwards of four years, conducting himself in a manner that secured for him the favourable consideration of his Commanders-in-Chief, Sir Edw. Pellew and Sir Chas. Cotton. In the winter of 1813-14 he escorted in safety from Malta to Gibraltar although harassed for three days by the presence of a French privateer-schooner, a convoy of 18 sail one of the richest that had ever left the above
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1815, p. 451.
