Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/326

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

312

DUNCAN—DUNCOMBE—DUNDAS.

against Via Reggio and Leghorn, accompanied the same Captain, in Aug. 1814, into the Glasgow 50. Between Aug. 1815 and July, 1823, we find him successively joining, on the North American station, the Scamander, Eurotas, and Forth frigates, all commanded by Sir John Louis, the Phaeton 38, Capt. Wm. Augustus Montagu, and the Salisbury 50, Capt. Maude. Having passed his examination in 1819, he was confirmed to a Lieutenancy, 22 Oct. 1823, in the Doterel sloop, Capt. Rich. Hoare. His after-appointments appear to have been, on various stations, to the Harrier 18, Capt. Geo. Gosling, Alacrity 10, Capt. Geo. Jas. Hope Johnstone, Jasper 10, Capt. Leonard Chas. Rooke, Curaçoa 26, Capt. David Dunn, Asia 84, Capts. Hyde Parker and Peter Richards, and Howe 120, bearing the flag of Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming. He was promoted to the rank of Commander, after having served for some time as First-Lieutenant of the latter ship, 10 Jan. 1837; and from 13 Nov. 1840 until the period of his death was employed in the Coast Guard.

Commander Duncan married Fanny, daughter of Travers Homan, Esq., of Colga, co. Sligo. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.



DUNCAN. (Commander, 1840.)

Robert Duncan entered the Navy 9 Jan. 1819; passed his examination in 1826; and obtained his first commission 2 May, 1837. He was then appointed to the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings, under whom he continued until transferred, 1 Jan. 1839, to the Powerful 84, Commodore Sir Chas. Napier. Taking part, afterwards, in the Syrian hostilities, he volunteered and led the mountaineers in a very spirited attack made by the Turkish troops under Sir C. Napier on a strong position occupied by Ibrahim Pacha on the heights near Beyrout, 10 Oct. 1840.[1] Being Senior Lieutenant of the Powerful at the fall of St. Jean d’Acre, he was in consequence promoted to the rank of Commander by commission dated 4 Nov. 1840. He has since been on half-pay. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



DUNCAN. (Retired Commander, 1832. f-p., 16; h-p., 38.)

Thomas Duncan entered the Navy, 24 April, 1793, as Ordinary, on board the Thames, of 32 guns and 184 men, Capt. Jas. Cotes. On 24 Oct. following, being on his passage to Gibraltar, he took part in a furious drawn action of nearly an hour’s duration with the French frigate Uranie, of 44 guns and 320 men. The Thames, which on that occasion was dreadfully cut up, and sustained a loss of 11 men killed and 23 wounded, was unfortunately, however, captured in the course of the same day by one of the enemy’s squadrons. After nearly two years’ imprisonment, Mr. Duncan was at length, in Aug. 1795, restored to liberty. He then joined the Vesuvius bomb, Capts. Facey and Robt. Lewis Fitzgerald; and while in that vessel was present at the bombardment of Havre by a squadron under Sir Rich. Strachan, and assisted at the destruction of La Confiante, of 36 guns, and of a French national cutter, 31 May, 1798. Returning home afterwards from the Mediterranean in the Tonnant 80, Mr. Duncan became attached to the Nereide 36, Capt. Fred. Watkins; under whom we find him participating in the capture, 2 March, 1800, of La Vengeance privateer, of 16 guns and 174 men, and, the next day, of a ship, with a cargo on board of the value of 30,000l. After a continued servitude, as Master’s Mate and Midshipman, in the Cambrian 40, Capt. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge, and Windsor Castle 98, bearing the flag in the Channel of Sir Andrew Mitchell, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the latter ship by commission dated 5 Sept. 1801. His subsequent appointments were – 19 May, 1803, to the Serapis 44, Capt. Henry Waring, under whom he assisted at the reduction, in May, 1804, of the Dutch settlement of Surinam – 31 Oct. 1804, to the Amelia and Ethalion frigates, Capts. John Chas. Wolcombe and Wm. Chas. Fahie, in the latter of which he served at the capture of the Danish West India Islands in Dec. 1807 – and, 27 July, 1808, to the Namur 74, flag-ship at the Nore of Vice-Admiral Wells. This officer, who has been on half-pay since 1810, acquired the rank of Retired Commander 30 March, 1832.



DUNCOMBE, M.P. (Captain, 1834. f-p., 13; h-p., 15.)

The Honourable Arthur Duncombe, born 24 March, 1806, is fourth son of the first Lord Feversham, by Charlotte, only daughter of William, second Earl of Dartmouth; and brother of the present peer. He is also brother of Hon. Octavius Duncombe, M.P., an officer in the 1st regiment of Life Guards; and brother-in-law both of the present Earl of Eldon and of Sir Thos. Digby Legard, Bart.

This officer entered the Navy 1 April, 1819; and obtained a Lieutenancy, 26 Jan. 1826, in the Seringapatam 46, Capt. Chas. Sotheby. After serving for some time in the Challenger 28, he was awarded a Commander’s commission, 18 Aug. 1828. He subsequently joined – 6 Aug. 1830, the Prince Regent 120, bearing the flag at the Nore of Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood – and, 27 June, 1832, the Champion 18, in which sloop he appears to have been employed for two years on the Mediterranean station. Since the date of his Post-promotion, 24 Oct. 1834, he has not been afloat.

Capt. Duncombe is representative in Parliament for the borough of East Retford, and a Groom in Waiting to Her Majesty. He married, 14 July, 1836, Delia, youngest daughter and co-heir of John Wilmer Field, Esq., of Heaton Hall, co. York, and has issue three sons and one daughter. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



DUNDAS. (Captain, 1825. f-p., 18; h-p., 16.)

Henry Dundas entered the Royal Naval College 4 Feb. 1813; and embarked, 15 Sept. 1815, as a Volunteer, on board the Niger 38, Capt. Sam. Jackson, on the North American station. He there became Admiralty-Midshipman, 8 July, 1817, of the Leander 50, bearing the flag of Sir David Milne; and, after a twelvemonths’ subsequent attachment to the Liffey 50, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 7 Dec. 1819. In the latter capacity we find him successively appointed, 24 Jan. 1820, and 20 Oct. 1821, to the Glasgow 50, and Euryalus 42, Capts. Hon. Anthony Maitland and Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford, both employed in the Mediterranean, where he officially assumed command, 16 May, 1823, of the Rose 18. As a Post Captain, to which rank he was elevated 9 Feb. 1825, Capt. Dundas commanded the Dartmouth 42, and Sapphire 28, on the Jamaica and South American stations. His appointment to the former ship took place on the day of his promotion; and to the Sapphire 20 Dec. 1826. He has been on half-pay since 1830.

Capt. Dundas married, in 1836, Robina Mary, sister of the present Sir David Dundas, Bart., of Beechwood, co. Mid-Lothian, and of Dunira, co. Perth. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



DUNDAS, formerly Deans, C.B., M.P. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1841 . f-p., 18; h-p., 30.)

James Whitley Deans Dundas, born 4 Dec. 1785, is son of Jas. Deans, Esq., M.D., of Calcutta, by Janet, daughter of Thos. Dundas, Esq., M.P., of Fingask; great-grandson of Charles, sixth Earl of Lauderdale; and nephew of Thos. Dundas, a general officer of distinction, who died 3 June, 1794. He assumed his present surname on the occasion of his marriage.

This officer entered the Navy, 19 March, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Kent 74, Capt. Wm. Johnstone Hope, bearing the flags, in succession, of Lord Duncan and Sir Rich. Bickerton; in which

  1. Vide Gaz. 1840, p. 2611.