338
ELTON—ELVY—ELWIN.
Ceres frigate, Capt. Thos. Hamilton. On 8 Oct. following he was confirmed to a Lieutenancy in the Lord Mulgrave hired armed ship, Capts. Robt. Rolles and John Smith. After serving for nearly three years under those officers in the North Sea and Channel, Mr. Elsmere was next employed in command, from Oct. 1797, until May, 1802, of the William and James and Alexandria tenders, and of the Speaker gun-brig, on the Irish station. His last appointment was, in Sept. 1805, to the Sea Fencibles at Carrickfergus, where he remamed until 1810. He became a Retired Commander on the Junior List 26 Nov. 1830, and on the Senior 9 Dec. 1831. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
ELTON. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 16; h-p., 33.)
Henry Elton is third son of the late Rev. Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Alderman Sir John Durbin, Kt., an opulent merchant of Bristol; brother of the present Sir Chas. Abraham Elton, Bart, and of Lieut.-Colonel Wm. Elton, of the Dragoon Guards; and brother-in-law of Henry Hallam, Esq., F.R.S., the eminent historian.
This officer entered the Navy, in Feb. 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Centaur 74, Capts. John Markham and Bendall Robt. Littlehales; under the former of whom, after witnessing the surrender of Minorca, he assisted at the destruction, 16 March, 1799, of the Spanish frigate El Guadaloupe of 40 guns. In the course of 1802-3 he successively joined, as Midshipman, the Latona frigate, William store-ship, and Orestes 14, Capts. Frank Sotheron and Thos. Brown; and in 1804 he sailed for the East Indies in the Culloden 74, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew. On his arrival on that station Mr. Elton became Acting-Lieutenant of the Cornwallis 50, Capt. Chas. Jas. Johnston, in which ship, on 11 Nov. 1806, we find him participating in an attack upon the French shipping, in St. Paul’s Bay, Ile Bourbon. Being confirmed in his new rank by commission dated 6 March, 1807, he subsequently rejoined Sir Edw. Pellew, with whom, in the Culloden, after having officiated for some time as Flag-Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape, he returned to England in 1809. His latter appointments, we find, were – 24 Jan. 1810, and 26 Jan. and 20 Dec. 1811, to the Dreadnought 98, Boyne 98, and Caledonia 120, flag-ships on the Home and Mediterranean stations of Admirals Thos. Sotheby, Sir Harry Burrard Neale, and Sir Edw. Pellew. On the night of 8 Sept. 1810, Mr. Elton commanded one of the boats of the Dreadnought 98, under Lieut. Thos. Pettman, at the re-capture of a Spanish merchantman among the rocks on the west side of Ushant, a service which was not accomplished without a loss to the British of 6 men killed, 31, including the subject of this notice, wounded, and 6 missijig. In the Caledonia he appears to have been present in two partial actions with the French fleet off Toulon, 5 Nov. 1813, and 13 Feb. 1814. Since the date of his last promotion, 7 June, 1814, Commander Elton has been on half-pay.
He married, 20 July, 1816, Mary, daughter of Sir Fras. Ford, Bart., and widow of Peter Touchet, Esq., by whom he has issue three daughters.
ELVY. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 8; h-p., 32.)
George Elvy entered the Navy, 27 March, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Minotaur 74, Capts. Chas. John Moore Mansfield and John Barrett. While in that ship, he assisted at the bombardment of Copenhagen in Sept. 1807, served for some time off Lisbon under the flags of Sir Chas. Cotton and Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, and, on 25 July, 1809, was wounded in the head, while employed, as Midshipman, in the boats of a squadron under Capt. Thos. Forrest, in a long and desperate action with a Russian flotilla, near Fredericksham, in the Gulf of Finland, which, although the British lost 60 men in killed and wounded, terminated in the total defeat of the enemy, of whom 87 met a similar fate.[1] Mr. Elvy was afterwards one of the few who were saved from the Minotaur, when she was lost, on the Haak Sands, at the mouth of the Texel, 22 Dec 1810. From the latter period he remained a prisoner of war at Verdun until May, 1814, when, hostilities being at an end, he was allowed to return to England. He obtained his commission 4 March, 1815; but has not since been employed.
Lieut. Elvy, we understand, still suffers acutely from the effects of the wound he received in the Baltic.
ELWIN. (Lieut., 1834. f-p., 21; h-p., 19.)
James Elwin, born 1 Oct. 1794, at Dover, is brother of Lieut. Joseph Elwin, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in Nov. 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Nautilus 18, Capt. Matthew Smith, with whom, and Capts. John Chas. Gawen Roberts and Jas. Nash, he afterwards served, in the Comus 22, Merope 16, Pylades 18, and Impregnable 98, on the Mediterranean, North America, and Home stations, the chief part of the time as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, until April, 1816. From April, 1826, until promoted, at the recommendation of the Board of Customs, to the rank of Lieutenant, 29 Jan. 1834, Mr. Elwin, who had passed his examination 3 Aug. 1815, was further employed, as Chief Mate, in the Nimble, Eagle, and Scout Revenue-cutters. His next appointment was, 5 July, 1836, to the Coast Guard, in which service he continued until 31 March, 1841. Since that period he has been on half-pay. Lieut. Elwin is a widower. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
ELWIN. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 38; h-p., 5.)
Joseph Elwin is brother of Lieut. Jas. Elwin, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 July, 1804, as Midshipman, on board the Tigress gun-brig, Lieut.Commander Edw. Nathaniel Greensword, from which vessel he removed, in Dec. 1805, to the Pompée 74, bearing the flag of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith. In that ship, while actively employed on the coast of Italy, he had the misfortune to lose a hand by the explosion of some arms taken from the enemy. After serving, in 1807, at the passage of the Dardanells, the destruction of the Turkish squadron at Point Pesquies, and the siege of Copenhagen, Mr. Elwin accompanied Sir W. S. Smith into the Foudroyant 80. On his return from a visit to South America he became attached, in May, 1809, to the Dryad 36, Capt. Edw. Galwey; and while under that officer he appears to have been much engaged in co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain, where he landed with the naval brigade, and assisted, in 1810, in destroying all the batteries (with the exception of Castro) from St. Sebastian to St. Andero, on which were found altogether about 100 pieces of heavy cannon. Rejoining Sir W. S. Smith, afterwards, in the Hibernia 120, Mr. Elwin, on 18 Aug. 1813, served in the boats of that ship, and of a small squadron under Capt. Thos. Ussher, in a very gallant attack on the batteries at Cassis, where, after sustaining a loss of 4 men killed and 16 wounded, the British in four hours succeeded in capturing 3 heavy gun-boats, and 26 vessels laden with merchandise. On 24 March, 1814, he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Scipion 74, Capt. Henry Heathcote. Being officially promoted 2 Aug. following, he was subsequently appointed – 6 May, 1815, to the command of the Telegraph at Barham Downs, where he continued for about twelve months – in March, 1820, to the Coast Guard – in Oct. 1825, to the Hound Revenue-cruizer – 18 April, 1831, again to the Coast Guard – 30 Dec. 1839, and 23 Aug. 1843, to the Sprightly and Active, also Revenue-vessels – 1 April, 1845, a third time to the Coast Guard – and 27 June, 1846, to be Agent in a contract mail steam-vessel, in which capacity he was but for a short time employed.
For his frequent exertions in saving life from shipwreck, Lieut. Elwin has elicited the expressed
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1346.
