Sir Rich. John Strachan, on the Mediterranean, Home, and Halifax stations, in the Donegal and Renown 74’s, Caesar 80, Triumph 74, and Caesar again. In the Donegal he assisted, 25 Nov. 1804, at the capture, near Cadiz, of the Spanish frigate Amfitrite of 44 guns; and on removing from the Renown to the Caesar he fought, 4 Nov. 1805, in the action which rendered prize to the British the four French ships-of-the-line that had escaped from the battle of Trafalgar under Rear-Admiral Dumanoir Le Pelley. On 22 of the month last mentioned (the date of his first commission) Mr. Wriford was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to Sir E. J. Strachan. In that capacity he continued to officiate until Oct. 1808; in the course of which month he became Senior of the Caesar, then bearing the flag of Hon. Robt. Stopford; under whom (previously to witnessing the attack made by Lord Cochrane upon the French shipping in Basque Roads) we find him present, 24 Feb. 1809, at the destruction, beneath the powerful batteries of Sable d’Olonne, of the 40-gun frigates Italienne, Calypso, and Cybèle. He subsequently accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren, and was for some time stationed on the coast of Portugal under the command of Capt. Wm. Granger. From 17 June, 1811, until 26 July, 1812, from 23 Nov. 1812 until 22 Aug. 1814, and from 7 Feb. 1815 until a few weeks after his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 10 Oct. following, he was employed in succession, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as First-Lieutenant, in the Pompée and Pembroke 74’s and Malta 80, Capts. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, Jas. Brisbane, and Wm. Chas. Fahie. He beheld, in the Pembroke, the destruction of a convoy under the guns of Porto Maurizio and the fall of Genoa; and he co-operated, in the Malta, in the reduction of Gaeta. His last appointments were – 5 Sept. 1843 and 22 May, 1845, to the San Josef 110 and Caledonia 120, Capts. Fred. Wm. Burgoyne and Manley Hall Dixon, both at Devonport, where he remained until Dec. 1846.
Commander Wriford married, in June, 1822, Mary, second daughter of the late Mr. Peter Goodman Glubb, of Liskeard, co. Cornwall, by whom he has issue.
WRIGHT. (Captain, 1846. f-p., 29; h-p., 10.)
Charles Mayson Moncrieffe Wright entered the Navy, 12 Jan. 1808, on board the Goliath 74, Capt. Peter Puget, stationed in the Baltic. He served afterwards, between the close of the latter year and May, 1821, in the Channel, Mediterranean, and East Indies, in the Helicon and Philomel sloops, Capts. Spelman Swaine, Gardiner Henry Guion, and Chas. Shaw, Rainbow and Iphigenia frigates, Capts. G. H. Guion and Andrew King, Philomel again and Amphitrite 38,[1] Capts. C. Shaw and Jas. Hanway Plumridge, Liverpool 50, Capt. Fras. Aug. Collier, and Topaze frigate, Capt. John Rich. Lumley. In the Liverpool he accompanied an expedition sent in 1819 to act against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, where Ras-al-Khyma, the head-quarters of the freebooters, was taken, its fortifications destroyed, and all the vessels found there burnt or sunk. After he left the Topaze Mr. Wright (he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 21 Oct. 1820) was appointed – 24 Aug. 1825, and again (after about two years of half-pay) 13 May, 18.30, as a Supernumerary, to the Hyperion 42, Coast Blockade-ship, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – 5 April, 1831, to the Coast Guard – 17 Dec. following, as Senior, to the Harrier 18, Capt. Spencer Lambart Hunter Vassall, fitting for the East Indies, where he was actively employed in the suppression of piracy in the Straits of Malacca – 18 March, 1836, in a similar capacity (the Harrier had been paid off in July, 1835), to the Vanguard 80, Capts. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie and Sir Thos. Fellowes, under whom he was for about four years stationed in the Mediterranean – and 27 Oct. 1840, also as First-Lieutenant, to the Impregnable 104, Capt. Thos. Forrest, at Plymouth. He attained the rank of Commander 23 Nov. 1841; served as such in the Alfred 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore John Brett Purvis on the south-east coast of America, from 22 May, 1842, until paid off in Aug. 1845; and was advanced to his present rank 9 Nov. 1846.
WRIGHT. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
George Keith Elphinstone Wright was upset and drowned with 8 men, while in pursuit of a slaver, in a boat belonging to the Espoir, in an attempt to cross over the bar on the Benguela station, about Oct. 1846.
This officer passed his examination 3 Nov. 1837; served as Mate, on the Mediterranean and Home stations, in the Implacable 74, Capt. Edw. Harvey, Avon steamer, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Jenkin, Aetna 8, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Geo. Butler, and Caledonia 120, and Queen 110, flag-ships of Sir David Milne and Sir John West; attained the rank of Lieutenant 1 Sept. 1845; was nominated, 15 of the same month, Additional of the Penelope steam-frigate, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Wm. Jones on the coast of Africa; and on 21 Jan. 1846 was there appointed to the Espoir 10, Capt. Geo. Sumner Hand.
WRIGHT. (Lieut., 1832. f-p., 16; h-p., 6.)
Henry Wright was born 10 Feb. 1812. His father, a member of the legal profession, was the representative of an old Cheshire family, the Wrights of Brewer’s Hall. This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1825, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Albion 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Hoste, lying at Portsmouth. In the following June he removed to the Gloucester 74, Capt. Joshua Sydney Horton, at Sheerness; he there, in March, 1826, attained the rating of Midshipman; and from Dec. in the latter year until his return to England in the summer of 1831 in the Melville 74, he was employed in the Mediterranean, the last few months as Mate, in the Asia 84, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Codrington (under whom he fought at the battle of Navarin), Camelion 10, Capt. Sir Thos. Sabine Pasley, and Pelican 18, Capt. Joseph Gape. He proceeded subsequently, in the Fly 18, Capt. Peter M‘Quhae, to the West Indies; was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 9 May, 1832; and was subsequently appointed, on the station last named – 25 July, 1832, to the Gannet 16, Capts. Mark Halpen Sweny and John Balfour Maxwell – 13 Jan. 1837, for about four months, to the Racehorse 18, Capt. Sir Jas. Everard Home – 28 Nov. 1837, to the Vestal 26, Capt. Thos. Wren Carter – and 31 Aug. 1839, to the command of the Skipjack schooner of 5 guns. In the latter vessel he made prize, 30 Nov. 1839, of the Ulysses, an armed Portuguese brigantine, manned with a crew of 150 men, and having on board as many as 535 slaves. In March, 1841, he was at his own request, from the state of his health, superseded in the command of the Skipjack. He had been, at that period, nearly nine years employed in the West Indies. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
WRIGHT. (Lieutenant, 1848.)
Henry Wilson Wright passed his examination 29 Sept. 1847; was then nominated Acting-Mate of the Hibernia 104, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Parker in the Mediterranean; and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 30 Sept. 1848.
WRIGHT. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 19; h-p., 22.)
John Wright was born 14 Feb. 1794, and died about the early part of 1848. He was son of the late Sam. Wright, Esq., of Cheshire, a Major in the Army, who, at the breaking out of the Irish rebellion in 1798, assisted in raising the Loyal Lancashire Fencibles, commanded by the late Earl of Wilton. His brother, Peter, a Lieutenant in the Royal En-
- ↑ He quitted the Amphitrite in Jan. 1817, and joined the Liverpool in April, 1818. During the interval he remained on shore.
