397
GILL.
brigade of seamen attached to the army at the reduction of the islands of Guadeloupe, St. Martin’s, and St. Eustatius – was employed for four months with the flotilla at the defence of Cadiz, during which he appears to have been engaged upwards of forty times with the enemy’s batteries and forces, and to have received two flesh-wounds in the right leg – and assisted in removing the dead and wounded after the battle of Barrosa. In April, 1811, he removed with Capt. Watson to the Implacable 74, attached to the fleet off Toulon, and during the last two years of the war he served in the Impétueux, Stately, and Rodney, flag-ships of Vice-Admiral Geo. Martin, on the Lisbon station. Having passed his examination 19 June, 1811, he was at length promoted to his present rank by commission dated 3 Feb. 1815; since which period he has not been afloat.
Lieut. Giles married first, 25 Nov. 1817, Sarah, daughter of Thos. Rosewell, Esq., of Emsworth, co. Hants; and, secondly, 13 April, 1843, Sarah, daughter of Mr. John Rogers, of Everton, near Lymington, in the same county. He has issue by both marriages.
GILL. (Lieutenant, 1828.)
Harry Gill entered the Navy, 5 Sept. 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Raisonnable 64, lying at Sheerness, and during the latter part of the war served on the North American and West India stations in the Albion and Sceptre 74’s, both commanded by Capt. John Ferris Devonshire, and Araxes 38, Capt. Geo. Miller Bligh. In 1816 he joined the Bulwark 74, flag-Ship of Sir Chas. Rowley at Chatham; and from 1819, in which year he passed his examination, be was next employed, until the date of his promotion, 11 Sept. 1828, as Mate, on the West India, Halifax, Cape of Good Hope, East India, and Home stations, of the Salisbury 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admirals Donald Campbell and Wm. Chas. Fahie, Samarang 28, Capt. David Dunn, Java 52, and Boadicea 46, both commanded by Capt. John Wilson, and Lightning steamer, Capt. Geo. Evans. He has had charge, since 8 Nov. 1836, of a station in the Coast Guard.
He married, 27 Oct. 1842, Sarah Jane, eldest daughter of Lieut. Wm. Coleman, R.N.
GILL. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 18; h-p., 24.)
Joseph Collings Gill has lost several near relatives in the service.
This officer entered the Navy, 31 March, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Achille 74, Capts. Rich. King, John Hayes, Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and Aiskew Paffard Hollis; with whom, successively, he continued to serve, latterly as Lieutenant (commission dated 21 March, 1812) until Jan. 1814. During that period he fought, as Midshipman, at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805; was with a squadron under Sir Sam. Hood at the capture of four French frigates off Rochefort, 25 Sept. 1806; commanded the second boat that effected a landing on the island of Walcheren during the hostile operations of 1809; and, for upwards of eight months, in 1810-11, was day and night employed with the flotilla at the defence of Cadiz. He also took part in a variety of other hazardous services; and being intrusted, in 1813, at a period when the plague was raging at Malta, with the charge of the shore duty on that island, contracted a disease which nearly terminated his existence. Lieut. Gill’s subsequent appointments were – 3 May, 1814, as Senior, to the Goldfinch 10, Capt. Edm. Waller, in the Channel – 7 Oct. 1815, to the Rochfort 80, Capt. Sir Arch. Collingwood Dickson, at Portsmouth, where he was paid off 26 Aug. 1818 – 29 Oct. 1823, and 2 April, 1824, to the command of the Kite and Vandeleur Revenue-vessels – 31 Aug. 1837, as First, to the President 52, flag-ship in the Pacific of Rear-Admiral Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross – 1 July, 1839, in a similar capacity, to the Electra 20, Capt. Edw. R, P. Mainwaring, on the same station – l Wov. 1839, to the command there of the Basilisk 6 – and, 27 Nov. 1841, again to the President, in which he returned home and was paid off 14 May, 1842. During the period of his servitude in the Pacific Mr. Gill appears to have been the oldest Lieutenant employed in a sea-going ship. He conducted, while in the Basilisk, various services of secrecy and importance; and during the revolution he received the thanks of the French Consul, who placed himself and the French marine under his protection. Since his last promotion, 19 Aug. 1842, Commander Gill has been on half-pay.
GILL. (Captain, 1837. f-p., 16; h-p., 37.)
Thomas Gill, born 19 Feb. 1782, is descended in a direct line from the Rev. Alex. Gill, D.D., who flourished at the commencement of the sixteenth century.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 Jan. 1794, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Swan 18, Capt. Hugh Pigot, under whom he assisted, among other services, at the ensuing capture of Port-au-Prince, St. Domingo. Until the peace of Amiens he was further employed on the West India and Home stations, a great part of the time as Midshipman, in the Success 28, Capt. H. Pigot, Royal William, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, Conquest gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander W. Green, Magnanime 44, Capt. W. Taylor, and Cambridge 80, Capt. C. H. Lane. He then joined the Racoon 18, Capt. Austin Bissell; and in the early part of July, 1803, succeeded, while in command, as prize-master, of a merchant schooner, having on board 2 six-pounders and only 6 men, in capturing, after a gallant struggle of 10 minutes, a French national cutter, armed also with 2 six-pounders, besides swivels, musketry, &c., and manned with 33 able-bodied seamen, in addition to whom were a Lieut.-Colonel, two subalterns, several soldiers, and other passengers. On 11 of the same month, having rejoined the Racoon, Mr. Gill, whom we find his Captain officially describing as “a very worthy promising young man,” took part in a very warm action of 40 minutes, which terminated in the capture, in Leogane Roads, of the French corvette Le Lodi, of 10 guns and 61 men.[1] On that occasion, although the only person hurt, he lost his left arm close to the shoulder; he had previously been deprived of a finger, and had received three other very painful wounds, but had heroically refused to leave his quarters. On 17 of the following Aug. we discover the Racoon effecting the destruction, off the island of Cuba, of the national brig La Mutine, of 18 guns; after which, on 14 Oct. with but 42 men on board, she most gallantly brought to action, and compelled to strike their colours, in spite of a desperate resistance, a French gun-brig, cutter, and schooner, carrying altogether between 300 and 400 men. For his conduct on the latter occasion Mr. Gill, whose wounds were still open, but who did not quit the deck for 27 hours, was presented with 50 guineas by the Patriotic Society, and was a few days afterwards promoted by the Commander-in-Chief to a Lieutenancy in the Créole 38, to which frigate his Captain had also been transferred. We had almost neglected to record that, having been sent in the preceding March to demand from the Spaniards at Truxillo, on the Spanish Main, the restoration of a merchant-vessel which had been unlawfully detained, Mr. Gill had been seized and confined for twenty days on board a ship in the harbour, whence he was only rescued by a signal effort of judgment and valour, first in contriving to despatch a boat during a dark night to the Racoon, which vessel was at the time at Honduras, and then by keeping the enemy at bay until her arrival. To return to the Créole. That ship, being shortly afterwards ordered to England, unfortunately foundered on her passage, and would inevitably have consigned all on board to a watery grave, had not the Cumberland 74, miraculously hove in sight at the eleventh hour, and with great difficulty effected their rescue. Mr. Gill
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1803, p. 1229.
