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CLAVELL—CLAXTON—CLAY—CLAYTON.
6 – and, from the latter date until 1841, as Captain-Superintendent (in the Brune 22, and Poictiers 74) of Chatham Dockyard. He was appointed to Greenwich Hospital 22 Aug. 1841.
Capt. Clavell, who died Senior Captain of the Navy, and had received a pecuniary reward from the Patriotic Fund, was father-in-law of the late Lieut. Wm. Simpson Blount, R.N. (1824); and had also a daughter who married a son of Vice-Admiral Henry Garrett. His son, John, is a Commander, R.N. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
CLAVELL. (Commander, 1843.)
John Clavell, is son of the late Capt. John Clavell, R.N.
This officer passed his examination in 1831; obtained his first commission 28 June, 1838; and was afterwards appointed – 4 Aug. in the same year, to the Rose 18, Capt. Peter Christie, whom he accompanied to South America – 20 May, 1841, to the Dublin 50, as Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Rich. Thomas, Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific – and, 24 Feb. 1843, to the acting-command of the Champion 18, which sloop he brought home and paid off towards the close of 1844. He was then officially promoted to his present rank by commission dated back to 4 Feb. 1843; and, since 20 Feb. 1846, has been employed in the Coast Guard. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
CLAXTON. (Commander, 1842. f-p. 14; h-p., 29.)
Christopher Claxton entered the Navy, 28 Nov. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Melampus 36, Capt. Stephen Poyntz, and, continuing in that frigate until the close of 1806, assisted at the capture of two armed brigs, four luggers, and a Spanish privateer, the Hydra, of 28 guns and 192 men, as also at the destruction, off Cape Henry, of L’Impétueux, a French 74. He then joined the Cambrian 38, Capt. John Poo Beresford, and, next, the Leopard 50, Capt. Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, on the North American station, where he beheld the surrender to that ship, on 22 March [errata 1], 1807, of the United States frigate Chesapeake. After a further servitude of a few months in the Triumph 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy, Mr. Claxton, in May, 1809, joined Vice-Admiral Berkeley, off Lisbon, in the Barfleur 98, of which ship he was created a Lieutenant 9 Dec. 1810. During the latter year he appears to have been much employed on detached service in the Tagus, where he rendered appreciated co-operation to the troops occupying the lines of Torres Vedras, and had command of the gun-boats attached to the army. On the retreat of the French from Santarem he crossed the river, and communicated the intelligence to Lord Wellington; after which be seized, on his return, three rough-built pontoons, two rafts, and 12 .or 14 heavy cannon, the relics of the enemy.[1] While belonging next, from Oct. 1812, to March, 1815, to the Ramillies 74, Capt. Sir T. M. Hardy, Lieut. Claxton distinguished himself in command of the small-arm men at the attack upon Baltimore in Sept. 1814; and was likewise present at the capture of the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, and the bombardment of Stonington. He returned home on board the Nymphe 36, Capt. Hugh Pigot, in Aug. 1815; and afterwards commanded, on the Yarmouth station, from May, 1816, until 24 May, 1819, the Tartar Revenue-cutter, the first vessel of the kind given to a naval officer. He has not since been afloat. His present rank was conferred on him 20 June, 1842.
Commander Claxton (who has been the means on several different occasions of saving the lives of others, and has in consequence received numerous medals) was appointed in 1834 Harbour-Master of Bristol, and is the officer under whose surveillance were built those celebrated steam-vessels the Great Western and Great Britain. He is married and has issue seven children. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
CLAY. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1837. f-p., 23; h-p., 40.)
Edward Sneyd Clay died 3 Feb. 1846, at Southwell, co. Nottingham, aged 78.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 April, 1783, as Midshipman, on board the Hector 74, Capt. Sir Jas. Hamilton, and, until March, 1794, served, on the Home, West India, and Mediterranean stations, in the Europa 50, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Jas. Gambier, Catherine yacht, Capt. Sir Geo. Young, Phaeton 38, Capt. Geo. Dawson, Solebay 32, Capt. Wm. Squire, and Alcide 74, Capt. Robt. Linzee, in which latter ship he was present at the occupation of Toulon and capture of St. Fiorenza, in 1793-4. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant on 19 March in the latter year, he joined, in succession, the Mulette 20, Capts. Joseph Bullen and Rich. Goddard, Magnificent 74, Capt. W. Squire, Montagu 74, Capt. John Knight, and Venerable and Kent 74’s, flagships of Lord Duncan. In the Venerable Mr. Clay was wounded in the battle off Camperdown, 11 Oct. 1797;[2] and, from the Kent, was sent home. In Aug. 1799, in compliment to his intelligence and merit, with the despatches announcing the successful issue of the expedition to the Helder.[3] He obtained command of the Zebra sloop, 3 Dec. 1799; paid that vessel off, after intermediately serving in the North Sea and participating in the battle of Copenhagen, 29 Oct. 1801; and, on 29 April, 1802, was raised to Post-rank. From 20 July, 1805, until May, 1808, Capt. Clay was next employed as Regulating Officer at Belfast. He then joined the St. George 98; and was afterwards appointed – 6 Feb. 1809, to the Téméraire 98, in the Baltic – 14 May, 1810, to the Nymphe 36, in which frigate he took the Danish privateer Norwegian Girl, of 2 guns and 19 men, 26 Oct. following, and was eventually wrecked at the entrance of the Frith of Forth on 18 Dec. in the same year – and 16 July, 1812, to the Raisonnable 64, at Sheerness. Rear-Admiral Clay, who had not been afloat since June, 1814, and was in receipt of a pension for wounds of 250l., attained Flag-rank 10 Jan. 1837.
He died a widower, having lost his wife 20 April, 1837. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
CLAY. (Lieutenant, 1822. f-p., 15; h-p., 19.)
William Noble Clay entered the Navy, 17 March, 1813, as Midshipman, on board the Raisonnable 64, Capt. Edw. Sneyd Clay, lying at Sheerness; proceeded, soon afterwards, to Greenland, in the Princess Caroline 74, Capt. Hugh Downman; joined, towards the close of the same year, the Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, in the Channel; sailed, in 1815, for the East Indies, on board the Orlando 36, Capt. John Clavell; came home, in 1818, in the Melville 74, Capt. Henry Chas. Pemberton; returned to India, a few months afterwards, in the Topaze 38, Capt. John Rich. Lumley, under whom he was wounded in the operations against Mocha in 1820; and, until promoted, 26 Dec. 1822, served, further, in the Alligator 28, Capt. Jas. Wilkie, Bulwark 74, Capt. Thos. Dundas, and Tartar, Capt. Thos. Brown. He was subsequently appointed, 30 May, 1825, and 22 Jan. 1829, to the Aurora 46, and Warspite 76, Capts. John Maxwell and Wm. Henry Shirreff, on the Lisbon and South American stations; and, from 28 Nov. 1832, until 1836, he served in the Coast Guard. Since the latter date he has been unemployed.
Lieut. Clay is married and has issue. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
CLAYTON. (Lieut., 1812. f-p., 32; h-p., 10.)
James Clayton entered the Navy, in 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Kent 74, Capts. Henry Garrett and Thos. Rogers, employed in the Channel and Mediterranean; removed, in 1809, to the Manilla 36, Capt. Geo. Fras. Seymour, off Lisbon;
