7
AIRD—AIREY—AITCHISON—AITKIN.
Aug. 1844, as First Lieutenant, to the Stromboli steam-sloop, Capt. Thos. Fisher, now employed on particular service. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
AIRD. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
David Aird passed his examination 5 April, 1839; and was appointed Mate, towards the close of 1841, of the Fly surveying-vessel, Capt. Francis Price Blackwood, on the East India station. He was promoted to the rank he now holds 9 Dec. 1845; rejoined the Fly, which he had but recently left, 23 Jan. 1846; and is at present employed in her tender, the Bramble schooner, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Bampfield Yule.
AIREY. (Lieutenant, 1830. f-p., 13; h-p., 12.)
George Sherbrooke Airey entered the Navy 4 April, 1823; passed his examination in 1823; and obtained his commission 10 Feb. 1830. His subsequent appointments were – 22 Aug. 1831, to the Isis 50, flag-ship at the Cape of Good Hope of Rear-Admiral Fred. Warren – 16 Dec. 1834, to the Scylla 16, Capt. Edw. John Carpenter, on the North America and West India station – and, 23 Feb. 1836, to the Howe 120, bearing the flag at the Nore of Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming. He has been on halfpay since the early part of 1837.
Lieut. Airey at present holds the appointment of Crown Commissioner at Port Philip.
AIREY. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 32.)
George Taylor Airey entered the Navy, 12 June, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Donegal 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm, and on removing to the Hussah 3d, Capts. Robt. Lloyd and Alex. Skeene, sailed, after attending Lord Gambler’s expedition of 1807 to Copenhagen, for Halifax and the West Indies. From June, 1810, two years previously to which period he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he served, until the receipt of his commission, dated 17 Feb. 1813, latterly as Master’s Mate, in the Berwick 74, Capt. Jas. Macnamara, Colossus 74, Capt. Thos. Alexander, Bristol troop-ship, Capt. Geo. Wyndham, and Podargus 14, Capt. Jas. Wallis, all on the Home station. He has not since been officially employed.
He now commands the Hon. E.I.C.’s steam-ship Pluto.
AIREY. (Lieutenant, 1829. f-p., 16; h-p,, 10.)
John Moore Cole Airey entered the Navy 1 Jan. 1821, and passed his examination in 1827. Being made Lieutenant, 13 May, 1829, into the Medina 20, Capt. Edw. Webb, on the African station, he afterwards joined, in that capacity, 25 June, 1831, and 28 Oct. 1833, the Philomel 10, and Edinburgh 74, Capts. Wm. Smith and Jas. Rich. Dacres, both in the Mediterranean. Since his return to England, in 1837, he has been on half-pay. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
AITCHISON. (Lieut., 1816. f-p., 15; h-p., 24.)
Edward Aitchison was born 15 Oct. 1794. This officer entered the Royal Naval College 16 Feb. 1808; and embarked, 21 Dec. 1810, as a Volunteer, on board the Crescent 38, Capt. John Quilliam, with whom he continued to serve, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, on the Baltic, Newfoundland, and West India stations, until April, 1815. During that period he saw a good deal of boat service, was often in collision with the enemy’s batteries, and assisted at the capture, 16 Sept. 1813, of the Elbredge Gerry, American privateer, of 14 guns and 66 men. He afterwards joined the Tigre 74, Capt. John Halliday, and Ville de Paris and Leander, bearing the respective flags of Admirals Lord Keith and David Milne. On his return, in the latter ship, from Algiers, where, during the bombardment, he had been intrusted with the charge of a boat, for the purpose of burning one of the enemy’s frigates, and had been wounded, Mr. Aitchison was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, by commission dated 16 Sept. 1816. His next appointment appears to have been, 13 Sept. 1819, to the Brisk 10, Capts. John Wm. Montagu and Edw. Stewart; in which sloop, of whose boats he had command on the river Tyne during a serious dispute between the colliers and the civil authorities, he remained until transferred, 22 Sept. 1321, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Severn 40, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch. With his name afterwards on the books of the Ramillies 74, and Hyperion 42,Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye, he continued to be employed on the Coast Blockade until Aug. 1326; but since that period he has not held any further appointment.
Lieut. Aitchison married in March, 1825.
AITCHISON. (Capt., 1827. f-p., 19; h-p., 20.)
Robert Aitchison is son of Wm. Aitchison,Esq., of Drummore, East Lothian.
This officer entered the Navy, 3 Dec. 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Lively 38, Capt. Geo. McKinley, in which frigate he was wrecked, off the Island of Malta, 10 Aug. 1810. Until confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant, 6 May, 1815, he afterwards served, as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and Acting-Lieutenant, in the Unite 36, and Leviathan 74, both commanded by Capt. Patrick Campbell, Conqueror 74, Capt. Edw. Fellowes, Impetueux, Dublin, Venerable, and Bulwark 74’s, Capt. David Mane, Tonnant 80, flag-ship of Sir Alex. Cochrane, and Vengeur 74, Capt. Tristram Robt. Ricketts. While in the Bulwark, we find Mr. Aitchison commanding her tender for the annoyance of the enemy’s trade off Boston, and also witnessing (during a boat expedition up the Penobscot) the attack on Bangor and the destruction of the John Adams frigate. He was subsequently employed for six weeks in the boats of the Tonnant during the operations against New Orleans; and further commanded the small-arm men landed from the Vengeur to assist in the reduction of Fort Bowyer in Feb. 1815. Being appointed, 1 May, 1816, to the Leander 60, Capt. Edw. Chetham, Mr. Aitchison served at the ensuing bombardment of Algiers, and on that occasion commanded the forecastle and gangway guns. After a subsequent servitude of nearly three years as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir David Milne on the North America station, he was promoted to the rank of Commander, by commission, dated 17 July, 1819; and on 3 April, 1826, was next appointed to the Clio 18, in the North Sea. Since his Post-promotion, which took place 30 April, 1827, Capt, Aitchison has been on half-pay.
He married, first, 13 Dec. 1321, Eliza, daughter of the late Matthew Munro, Esq., of the island of Granada; and, secondly, 23 April, 1838, Catherine, daughter of Henry Combe Compton, Esq., M.P. for South Hampshire. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
AITKIN. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 11; h-p., 32.)
Alexander Aitkin entered the Navy, 10 Dec. 1804, on board the Roebuck 44, Capt. Geo. M‘Kinley, bearing the flag in Yarmouth Roads of Admiral Billy Douglas. He afterwards served for nine years (including a short period as Acting-Lieutenant), in the Nassau 64, Orion 74, Tremendous 74, Orlando 36, and Tremendous again, flag-ships, in the North Sea, Baltic, and Mediterranean, of Admirals Thos. Macnamara Russell, Sir Jas. Saumarez, Sir Edw. Pellew, Sir John Gore, and Sir Chas. Vinicombe Penrose. In the Nassau, commanded at the time by Capt. Robt. Campbell, he attended the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807; and (on that ship’s hard-wrought extrication from a mass of ice in which she had been blocked up during the whole winter) was present, in company with the Stately 64, at the capture and destruction, 22 March, 1808, of the Danish 74-gun ship Prindts Christian Frederic, after a running fight of great length and obstinacy, in which the Nassau sustained a loss of two men killed and 16 wounded. He obtained his commission 11 Feb. 1815, and has not since been employed.
