Capt. John Temple, lying in the Downs, where, in the following Aug., he accompanied the same officer, as Midshipman, into the Utrecht 64. He was afterwards employed for several years in the Mediterranean; on board the Glatton 50, Capt. Thos. Seccombe, and Spider, Lieut.-Commander Wm. Olliver. With the latter and another officer he further served, from Dec. 1811 to Sept. 1812, in the Marshal 12, on the Channel station. He then sailed for the West Indies in the Ister 36, commanded by the present Sir Josiah Coghill Coghill, and, until his return to England in the summer of 1815, was there employed, as Master’s Mate and Acting-Lieutenant. On the paying off of the Ister at the latter period, he took up a commission bearing date 24 Feb. 1815; but he has not been since afloat. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
HOLBECH. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 13; h-p., 28.)
George Holbech, born 24 Dec. 1793, is son of the late Wm. Holbech, Esq., of Mollington, M.P. for Banbury from 1792 to 1796, by Anne, daughter of Wm. Woodhouse, Esq., M.D., of Lichfield; and uncle of the present Sir John Mordaunt, Bart., M.P., of Walton, near Stratford-on-Avon. One of his brothers, Edward, is an officer in the Army.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 Aug. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Spencer 74, Captain (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Hon. Robt. Stopford. In Aug. 1807, on his return from the Cape of Good Hope, he accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen; and from Jan. 1809 (11 months previously to which period he had attained the rating of Midshipman) until Nov. of the same year we find him stationed off the north coast of Spain in the Amazon 38, Capt. Wm. Parker. He then rejoined Rear-Admiral Stopford on board the Scipion 74, and, continuing to serve with that officer for upwards of three years in the same ship, and in the Lion 64, and President 38, was present with him, in the former, at the reduction of Java in 1811. From July, 1813, until Aug. 1814, he was further employed on board the Stately 64, and Rodney 74, bearing each the flag of Vice-Admiral Geo. Martin on the Lisbon station, where he was created a Lieutenant of the last-mentioned ship by commission dated 16 June, 1814. His succeeding appointments were – in Oct. 1814, to the Clorinde 40, Capt. Sam. Geo. Pechell, fitting for the purpose of attending the Princess of Wales during her visit to the Mediterranean, whence he returned in July, 1816 – and, 9 Nov. 1823, to the Menai 26, Capt. Houston Stewart, with whom he served on the Halifax station until paid off; about Jan. 1827. He assumed his present rank 22 July, 1830, but has not been since afloat.
Commander Holbech married, 2 June, 1846, Ellen Catherine, eldest daughter of Chas. M. Bicketts, Esq., of Alverton, Stratford-on-Avon.
HOLBERTON. (Lieutenant, 1816.)
John Holberton entered the Navy, 16 Dec. 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Implacable 74, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, lying at Plymouth. In Feb. 1810 he joined the Scipion 74, bearing the flag of lion. Robt. Stopford, with whom, after sharing in the reduction of Java, he removed as Midshipman, in Jan. 1812, to the Lion 64. From 1813 to July, 1816, he was employed on board the Ajax 74, Capts. Robt. Waller Otway and Geo. Mundy; and he assisted, during that period, at the siege of St. Sebastian, also at the capture of L’Alcyon corvette, of 16 guns and 120 men, and in many active operations in the Mediterranean, where he visited Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, for the purpose of obtaining the liberation of the Christian slaves in bondage at those places. For his subsequent conduct at the battle of Algiers in the Impregnable 104, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral David Milne, Mr. Holberton was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by commission dated 16 Sept. 1816; but, with the exception of some time passed in the Coast Blockade as a Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, he has since been on half-pay.
HOLBROOK. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 19; h-p., 22.)
Charles Holbrook, born in 1795, is brother of Commander Thos. Holbrook, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Aug. 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Vestal 28, Capt. Edwards Lloyd Graham, with whom, after witnessing the first trial made with the Congreve rockets against the Boulogne flotilla, and being very actively employed on the Home and Newfoundland stations, he removed, in May, 1810, to the Pallas 32, commanded subsequently by Capt. Geo. Paris Monke. Previously, however, to joining that frigate we find him assisting, in particular, at the capture, 19 Nov. 1809, of L’Intrepide, French brig-of-war, pierced for 20 guns. He afterwards, during a cruize off the Naze of Norway, contributed, in the boats of the Pallas, to the capture of four Danish privateers. Of one of these, which had offered a spirited resistance, Mr. Holbrook was constituted Prize-Master, and sent with her into Leith. On his passage he encountered a severe gale, and, as his vessel was minus an anchor, he found himself under the necessity, when in the Frith of Forth, of supplying its place with two of her guns. The Pallas being wrecked off St. Abb’s Head, 18 Dec. 1810, he was next, in Jan. and Feb. 1811, received on board the Southampton 32, and Alcmène 38, commanded by his friend Capt. Graham. On arriving in the Adriatic Mr. Holbrook there saw much detached service; and on one occasion, 22 May, 1812, he was present in a most gallant but sanguinary attabk made by four boats under Lieut. Edw. Saurin upon an enemy’s convoy, the result of which was the capture of one of their principal vessels, after nearly the whole of the crew had been either killed or wounded. The slaughter on the part of the British was likewise dreadful – the pinnace alone sustaining a loss of at least 20 officers and men killed and wounded. Among the latter was Mr. Holbrook, who received a shot through the body, and suffered in consequence a protracted illness of four months. On being eventually transferred with Capt. Graham to the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Lord Exmouth, he shared in the partial action fought with the French fleet off Toulon 13 Feb. 1814; and during the ensuing siege of Genoa he was employed with a battering-party on shore. After serving for a few months at Plymouth on board the Prince Frederick receiving-ship, and Malta 84, Capts. Rich. Pridham and Wm. Chas. Fahie, he was presented with a commission dated 16 Feb. 1815. In the summer of 1827 Lieut. Holbrook joined the Blonde 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Gordon, from which frigate, after cruizing for a short time in the Atlantic, he was transferred to the command of the Cockburn schooner, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Robt. Barrie on the Canadian Lakes where he continued for the long period of seven years, during 18 months of which, owing to the absence of the latter officer in England, he had the supreme direction of naval affairs. He ultimately in Sept. 1834, returned home, in consequence of the establishment on the lakes being broken up; but it was not until after a lapse of another seven years namely, on 7 Feb. 1842, that he succeeded in obtaining the rank of Commander. During the three years immediately preceding that event he had been further employed on board the San Josef 110 bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Fred. Warren, Admiral-Superintendent at Plymouth. In 1839, during the conflagration which broke out in the dockyard at that place, his exertions proved of pre-eminent utility – the preservation, indeed, of two line-of-battle ships, the Minden and Canopus, being alone attributable, as officially asserted to. the energetic conduct he displayed, and to the judgement with which he placed and used the engines of which he had charge. His promotion was at length conferred upon him in consideration of his having
