Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/447

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433

GRIFFIN—GRIFFITH.

turning to the Kite in the following Sept., he continued to serve in that vessel, under the command of Capt. Chas. Lydiard, on the same station as before, until Jan. 1801, at which period he became attached to the Leda 38, Capt. Geo. Hope. We subsequently find him, in 1802, 3, and 4, joining the Pique 36, Capt. Wm. Cumberland, Utrecht 64, and Prince of Orange 74, both commanded by Capt. Thos. Rogers, and Dart 28, Capt. Wm. Brownrigg, all on the Home station; and, on being next removed to the Defence 74, Capt. Geo. Hope, particularly distinguishing himself by his exertions at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805. When in the Leda Mr. Grieve appears, in consequence of an accident, to have had several of his teeth knocked out, and to have lost some large pieces of his jaw; and, when in the Dart, to have officiated as Acting-Master in an operation against the enemy off Calais. On his eventual return from a voyage to the Cape, whither he had gone with Capt. Hope in the Theseus 74, he was promoted, 30 June, 1807, to a Lieutenancy in the Elizabeth 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Curzon. His subsequent appointments were – 17 Aug. 1808, to the Sparrow 16, Capt. Edw. Burt, in the West Indies – 18 Sept. 1810, to the Abercromby 74, Capt. Wm. Chas. Fahie, off Lisbon – and, 17 April, 1812, to the command of a Signal station on the island of Alderney. He went on half-pay 4 June, 1814, and, unable from the state of his health to seek further employment, accepted the rank of Retired Commander 6 April, 1843.

Commander Grieve married, 22 July, 1811, Miss Elizabeth Terrell, and by that lady has left issue two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Adam John Geo. Grieve, commands the Rob Roy Revenue-vessel.



GRIFFIN. (Captain, 1842. f-p., 25; h-p., 10.)

William Griffin is son of W. Griffin, Esq., of Norwich, co. Norfolk; and brother of Commander Chas. Wm. Griffith Griffin (1843), who died 15 Aug. 1844.

This officer entered the Navy, 23 Aug. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Horatio 38, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart, employed in the North Sea, where he was taken prisoner by the French in 1813, while engaged on a detached service. Rejoining the same nobleman, as Midshipman, in March 1814, on board the Newcastle 50, he proceeded to the coast of North America, on which station, during the continuance of the war with the United States, he bore a part in many active operations. After an attachment of some months in 1815-16 to the Queen Charlotte 100, and Boyne 98, flag-ships at Portsmouth of Sir Edw. Thornbrough, Mr. Griffin, on 12 July in the latter year, removed to the Minden 74, Capt. Wm. Paterson, with whom, after sharing in the battle of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816, he proceeded to the East Indies, and there served, until Nov. 1820, part of the time as Master’s Mate, under the flag of Sir Rich. King. Wo next find him (having passed his examination in Aug. 1818) employed as Admiralty-Midshipman, again at Portsmouth, on board the Impregnable 104, and Britannia 120, flag-ships of Sir Alex. Cochrane. In Feb. 1824 he became Master’s Mate of the Maidstone 42, bearing the broad pendant on the coast of Africa of the present Sir Chas. Bullen; and on 12 Jan. 1825 he was confirmed a Lieutenant in the same ship. Returning home in Dec. 1825, he was next appointed – 4 Aug. 1827, to the command, for a period of nearly three months, of the Eclipse, a Falmouth packet – 1 Aug. 1829, to the Gloucester 74, Capt. Henry Stuart, in the Mediterranean – 28 June, 1831, to the Talavera 74, Capts. David Colby, Thos. Brown, and Edw. Chatham, of which ship, on again proceeding to the latter station, he became First Lieutenant – and, 15 Sept. 1835, to the Astraea, another Falmouth packet, Capt. John Clavell. He was promoted from that vessel to the rank of Commander 28 June, 1838; and on 26 of the ensuing Oct. was appointed Second Captain of the Ganges 84, Capt. Barrington Reynolds, in which ship, during the year 1840, he served on the coast of Syria and at the blockade of Alexandria. Capt. Griffin, who was paid off from the Ganges 18 April, 1842, and who has not since been employed, was rewarded for his Syrian services by a Post-commission dated 18 Oct. in the same year.

He married, 26 Sept. 1842, Mrs. Borlase, daughter of T. Gryles, Esq., of Bosahan, co. Cornwall. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



GRIFFITH. (Lieut., 1826. f-p., 16; h-p., 20.)

Henry Allan Griffith is fourth son of the late Rich. Griffith, Esq., of Millecent, co. Kildare, M.P. for Askeaton during the Irish Parliament, by Mary, third daughter of the late Lord Chief Baron Hussey Burg, of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland.

This officer entered the Navy, 2 Sept. 1811, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Aquilon 32, Capt. Wm. Bowles, in which ship, previously to sailing for South America, he served at the blockade of the Texel, and escorted Lord Cathcart as Ambassador to St. Petersburg, besides being occasionally employed in boat affairs in the North Sea and Baltic. In 1814, on his return to England with Capt. Bowles in the Ceres frigate, he became Midshipman of the Tiber 38, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres; and he afterwards joined in succession the Havannah 36, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, Rivoli 74, Capt. Sir Chas. Ogle, and Grecian schooner, Lieut.-Commander Henry Jewry – the two latter vessels employed at Portsmouth. During his servitude in the Havannah Mr. Griffith contributed, in the boats of that ship and a squadron, to the cutting-out, 18 July, 1815, of a convoy and several armed vessels lying under the protection of a fort at Corrijou, near Brest; and he next proceeded in her to St. Helena, in escort of Napoleon Buonaparte. From Nov. 1817, in the course of .which month he passed his examination, until 1820, he appears to have been employed in the East and West India merchant-service. He then rejoined the Navy by becoming Mate of the Cambrian 48, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, under whom, with the exception of 18 months spent in the Hind 20, Capt. Lord John Churchill, he continued to be employed, on the Mediterranean station, latterly as Acting-Lieutenant, until his removal in that capacity, in March, 1826, to the Sybille 48, Capt. Sam. John Brooke Pechell. While in the Hind, in 1824, Mr. Griffith volunteered into H.M.S. Meteor, for the purpose of co-operating in the attack then meditated upon Algiers. Shortly after his confirmation to the Sybille, which took place 5 June, 1826, we find him participating in a desperate action with some pirates off Candia, where the British sustained a loss of 12 men killed and 29 wounded. The Sybille being paid off in Nov. following, he subsequently joined – 24 July, 1827, the Prince Regent 120, flagship at the Nore of Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood – 30 Nov. in the same year (through the recommendation of the latter officer, and with a promise from the Lord High Admiral of promotion), to the Mersey 26, Capt. Alex. Barclay Branch, fitting for the West Indies – 11 Jan. 1829, to the Magnificent receiving-ship at Port Royal, Capts. Abraham Crawford and Jas. Thome – next, to the command of the Nimble schooner, which vessel, although incomplete in her rigging, and destitute of stores, provisions, and ammunition, he contrived, on a sudden emergency, to place in a sea-going state in the space of one night – and, subsequently (after having successfully cruized in suppression of the slave-trade), to the Victor and Sparrowhawk sloops, Capts. Keane and Gill. He has been on half-pay since July, 1830.

Lieut. Griffith married, in Nov. 1830, Mary, third daughter of the Rev. Dr. Buck, Rector of Clono. and Demtereat, co. Tyrone.



GRIFFITH. (Lieut., 1823. f-p., 32; h-p., 3.)

Smyth Griffith entered the Navy, 6 Nov 1812 as Third-cl. Boy, on board the Malta 84, Capt. Sam. Hood Inglefield, bearing the flag in the Medi-