Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/444

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430

GREGORY—GRENFELL—GRESHAM.

Midshipman, until wrecked, while on his passage home, on the Needles Point, 14 Oct. 1811. During his servitude with the last-mentioned officer, he appears, independently of a participation in many cutting-out aftairs, to have assisted, in company with the Unité 36, and Scout 18, at the destruction, on 1 May, 181 1, after a gallant action of an hour and a half in Sagone Bay, where the Pomone incurred a loss of 2 men killed and 19 wounded, ot the two armed store-ships Giraffe and Nourrice each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and protected by a 5-gun battery, a martello-tower, and a body of about 200 regular troops. In Dec. 1811, Mr. Gregory joined the Cephalus 18, Capt. Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford; and in the course of the following year we find him engaged, in company with the Euryalus frigate and Pilot brig, in a five hours’ attempt to destroy a convoy and some land batteries on the coast of Calabria, on which occasion the Cephalus had her First-Lieutenant, Mr. Jenkins, killed, and 19 men wounded, besides suffering considerably in her masts and rigging. In consequence of this event he was for a short time invested with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant. Until officially promoted 8 Feb. 1815, he afterwards served, on the Mediterranean, Channel, and Cork stations, in the Ajax 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie, Horatio 38, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart, Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew, and Bonne Citoyenne 20, Capt. A. W. J. Clifford, under whom he again officiated as Acting-Lieutenant. He has not since been afloat.

Lieut. Gregory married, 17 Oct. 1840, Louisa, daughter of the late Rev. T. Sheepshanks, of Wimpole, co. Cambridge. Agent – Frederick Dufaur.



GREGORY. (Retired Commander, 1845. f.p., 17; h-p., 35.)

John Gregory was born 28 Sept. 1774, at Bideford, co. Devon.

This officer entered the Navy, 18 April, 1795, as A.B., on board the Defiance 74, Capts. Geo. Keppel. Sir Geo. Home, and Theophilus Jones, of which ship, employed in the North Sea and Channel, he became Midshipman 15 June following. On removing, in April 1797, to the Royal William, he had the honour of acting as Aide-de-camp to Admirals Earl Howe and Sir Peter Parker on the occasion of the meeting held on board that ship with the delegates from the mutinous fleet at Spithead. From the following July, until captured, 13 Feb. 1801, by a French squadron under M. Ganteaume, we find him serving, on the Channel, Irish, and Mediterranean stations, in the Success 32, Capts. Philip Wilkinson and Shuldham Peard; under the latter of whom he assisted at the blockade of Malta, and the capture, 18 Feb. and 24 Aug. 1800, of the French 74-gun ship Le Généreux, and 40-gun frigate La Diane, He also, during his continuance in the Success, commanded one of her boats at the cutting out, 9 June 1799, from under the fire of a battery and musketry in the port of Seva, of the Bella Aurora Spanish polacre, of 10 guns and 113 men, a vessel whose desperate resistance occasioned the British a loss of 3 men killed and 10 badly wounded. In June, 1801, on his release from captivity, Mr. Gregory joined the Mermaid 32, Capt. Robt. Dudley Oliver, and he afterwards, until paid off in July, 1802, served with Lord Keith on board the Foudroyant 80. Re-embarking, 7 May, 1805, as Master’s-Mate, in the Weasel 18, Capts. Peter Parker, John Clavell, and Henry Prescott, he again sailed for the Mediterranean, and thence proceeded to the Adriatic, where, among other operations, he contributed, in 1807, to the reduction of one of the enemy’s forts. On 16 April, 1808, Mr. Gregory, who appears for some months to have discharged the duties of Acting-Lieutenant in the last-named vessel, was officially promoted, from the Ocean 98, bearing the flag of Lord Collingwood, to a death-vacancy in the Royal Sovereign 100, flag-ship off Toulon of Vice-Admiral Edw. Thornbrough. He invalided from the Mediterranean July 1811. He was subsequently, from 28 Oct. 1813 until June 1814, employed in a prison-ship at Portsmouth, and from 6 July, 1820, until 1823, In the Ordinary at Plymouth. He accepted his present rank 18 Jan. 1845. Agent – J. Chippendale.



GREGORY. (Commander, 1833. f-p., 21; h-p., 23.)

Thomas Gregory entered the Navy, 1 July, 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Texel 64, Capt. Hon. Geo. Byng, with whom he continued to serve, in the same ship, and in the Malabar 50, and Belliqueux 64, on the Home and East India stations, latterly as Lieutenant (commission dated 20 July, 1810), until Aug. 1811. During his attachment to the Belliqueux we find him assisting at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope in Jan. 1806; the capture and destruction, on 27 Nov. following, of a Dutch frigate, seven brigs of war, and about 20 armed and other vessels, lying in Batavia roads; and the occupation, in 1809, of the Island of Rodriguez. His subsequent appointments were – 30 Sept. 1811, to the Dauntless sloop, Capt. Daniel Barber, on the Cork station – 13 Sept. 1813 to the Nymphen 36, Capts. John Hancock and Matthew Smith, employed, until 28 Aug. 1815, in the North Sea and Channel – in Aug. 1818, to the Révolutionnaire 46, Capt. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, with whom he served in the Mediterranean until paid off about June, 1822 – 13 Dec. 1824, and 14 May, 1826, to the Rose 18, and Cambrian 48, Capts. Hon. Chas. Abbot and Gawen Wm. Hamilton, on the same station, where he commanded the boats of the latter ship at the capture of a piratical vessel – and, 22 Nov. 1830, after three years of half-pay, as First, to the Sapphire 28, Capts. Hon. Wm. Wellesley and Hon. Geo. Rolle Walpole Trefusis, attached to the force in the West Indies. Since the attainment of his present rank, 7 Jan. 1833, Commander Gregory has not held any official employment. He is the Senior officer of his rank on the List of 1833. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



GRENFELL. (Commander, 1840.)

Sidney Grenfell entered the Navy 25 June, 1822; passed his examination in 1828; and obtained his first commission 20 May 1833. His appointments, as Lieutenant, were – 18 Dec. 1833, to the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings – 27 Feb. 1835, as Additional, to the Winchester 52, flag-ship in the East Indies of Sir Thos. Bladen Capel – 19 Aug. 1835, to the Thalia 46, commanded at the Cape of Good Hope by Capt. Robt. Wauchope – 23 April, 1839, again to the Excellent – and, 26 Nov. in the same year, as Senior, to the Cyclops steam-vessel, Capt. Horatio Thos. Austin, For his services on the coast of Syria, where his name was officially mentioned In connection with the bombardment of the strong castle of Gebail and the storming of Sidon, Mr. Grenfell was advanced to his present rank by commission dated 5 Nov. 1840. On the former occasion he had gone back with a seaman (when the British had in the first instance been compelled to retire), and had rescued, amidst the cheers of the ships, an English flag which had been accidentally left on a gardenwall, under a most destructive fire; and on the latter he had again landed in command of the boats, and had effected the capture of 36 bags of barley and of four camels, on their way from Sidon to Beyrout.[1] He has been employed, since 15 July, 1842, as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



GRESHAM. (Lieut., 1843. f-p., 11; h-p., 0.)

Thomas Gresham is only surviving son of Thos. Gresham, Esq., of Doncaster, co. York, a lineal descendant of Sir Thos. Gresham, the celebrated founder of the Royal Exchange. One of his sisters is married to a son of the late General Skelton, E.I.C.S.

This officer entered the Navy 29 July, 1836; passed his examination 7 May, 1843; and obtained his commission 7 June following. His appointments have since been – 1 Sept. 1843, to the Formidable 84, Capt. Sir Chas. Sullivan, flag-ship afterwards of

  1. Vide Gaz. 1840, pp. 2252, 2608.