Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/655

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LEARY—LEATHART—LECHMERE.
641

with La Loire of 46 guns (part of a force originally under the orders of Commodore Bompart, and destined for the invasion of Ireland), previously to the surrender of that ship to the Kangaroo and her consort the Anson 44. He continued in the same vessel until the close of 1800; and in Sept. 1804, after an intermediate servitude in the Channel and North Sea on board the Clyde 38, Capts. Chas. Cunningham and John Larmour, he joined, as Midshipman, the Camel store-ship, Capts. Thos. Garth and John Joyce, under the latter of whom, having first visited the Mediterranean and Cape of Good Hope, he commanded a gun-boat during the unfortunate attempt made to recover Buenos Ayree in July, 1807. In the course of 1808 Mr. Lean became in succession Master’s Mate, on the Home station, of the Invincible 74, Capt. Ross Donnelly, and.Redpole 10, Capts. John Joyce and Colin M‘Donald. While in the latter of those vessels we find him serving in the Zephyr fire-ship on the occasion of Lord Cochrane’s memorable attack on the enemy’s squadron in Aix Roads in April, 1809; and, among other services, commanding a boat on the river Scheldt during the siege of Flushing. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 4 Jan. 1810, he served from that period until Dec. 1813 in the Thracian 18, Capts. Jas. Grant, John Lawson, Henry Hart, Joseph Symes, and John Carter, on the Channel and Baltic stations. His next appointment was, 4 Sept. 1826, to the Coast Blockade, in which service he continued for two years as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye.

Lieut. Lean at present holds the appointment of Emigration Agent in London.



LEARY. (Lieut., 1821. f-p., 21; h-p., 17.)

George Alexander Leary died 31 Jan. 1845, a victim to the climate of Sierra Leone.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Aug. 1807, as Schoolmaster, on board the Dictator 64, Capt. Donald Campbell; on accompanying whom, after he had attended the expedition to Copenhagen, into the Audacious 74, he took part, as Midshipman, in the operations of 1809 against Walcheren. From the period of his quitting the latter ship, in Dec. 1811, until May, 1814, Mr. Leary, with the exception of four months passed in 1813 on board the Redwing 18, Capt. Sir John Gordon Sinclair, served continuously with Capt. John Erskine Douglas in the Prince of Wales 98, on the Mediterranean station, where he beheld Sir Edw. Fellow’s two partial actions with the Toulon fleet, and the fall, in April of the latter year, of Genoa. During the short period of his attachment to the Redwing, Mr. Leary, besides sharing in a hostile operation under the batteries of Morgean, near Marseilles, assisted, we understand, in capturing, beneath those of Cassis, a convoy of 26 sail, together with 2 heavy gun-boats, after an opposition had been encountered which occasioned the British a loss of 4 men killed and 16 wounded. Removing, in May, 1814, to the Furieuse 36, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, he served during the next 15 months in that frigate on the coast of North America; after which we find him, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 19 July, 1821, employed on the West India, Mediterranean, and Home stations, in the Primrose 18, Capt. Chas. Geo. Rodney Phillott, Landrail 4, Master-Commander Anthony De Mayne (under whom he was for a considerable time occupied among the Bahama Islands as Assistant-Surveying Master), Salisbury 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Donald Campbell, Fly 18, Capt. Jas. Tomkinson, Rochfort 80, bearing the flag of Sir Graham Moore, Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, Queen Charlotte 100, Capt. John Baker Hay, and Rose 18, Capt. Thos. Ball Clowes. His subsequent appointments were – 8 Oct. 1830, for six months, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Talavera 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot – 31 May, 1831, to the Coast Guard, which he left at the close of 1832-16 Aug. 1837, to the Hercules 74, Capt. John Toup Nicolas, off Lisbon – 16 Juno, 1838, to the command of the Bullfrog schooner on the Lakes of Canada – next, as Senior, to the Niagara 20, commanded there by Capt. Williams Sandom, under whom he assisted, 16 Nov. 1838, in defeating a band of rebels, on which occasion he was sent with a flag of truce, and induced them to surrender – 13 Jan. 1840 (having been superseded from the latter ship in the previous Oct.), to the command of the Asp, a Portpatrick steamer, wherein he remained until May, 1841 – and 28 Jan. 1843, to the office (which he retained until his death) of Agent on board the Glen Huntley emigration transport.



LEATHART. (Lieut., 1833. f-p., 13; h-p., 11.)

Alfred Leathart entered the Navy, 13 June, 1823, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Windsor Castle 74, Capts. Chas. Dashwood, Hugh Downman, and Edw. Durnford King, employed at first in the Channel and off Lisbon, and then as a guard-ship at Plymouth. In July, 1827 (he had attained the rating of Midshipman in 1824) he removed to the Vigilant 10, Lieut.-Commander Meredith; and he was next, between July and Aug. 1828, employed, again in the Windsor Castle, Capt. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie, on the Mediterranean station; where, in the Downs, and on the coast of Portugal during the Pedro and Miguel disputes, he further, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 27 Aug. 1833, served on board the Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, and Caledonia 120, Capts. Hugh Pigot, David Colby, and Thos. Brown. Mr. Leathart, who had passed his examination 7 Oct. 1829, was subsequently appointed – 21 Feb. 1834, to the Coast Guard – and (on leaving the latter service) 13 Oct. 1836, to the Wolverene 16, Capt. Hon. Edw. Howard. He invalided home from the Mediterranean about June, 1837, and has since been on half-pay. Agents – Coplands and Burnett.



LECHMERE. (Lieutenant, 1815.)

Edmund Lechmere died 30 Jan. 1841, at Hereford. He was a relative of the present Lieut. John Lechmere, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Prince 98, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, stationed off Cadiz. Removing, in the following Dec, to the Acasta 40, Capt. Philip Beaver, he was for nearly three years employed in that ship on the West India station, where, in Feb. 1809, he witnessed the reduction of Martinique. After a short servitude in the Basque Roads on board the Scipion 74, flag-ship of Hon. Robt. Stopford, he rejoined Capt. Beaver, in May, 1810, in the {{sc|Nisus} 38, and in the following Dec. was present, as Master’s Mate, at the capture of the Isle of France, as also, in 1811, in the operations against Java. Quitting the {{sc|Nisus}, which had been latterly commanded by Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg, in May, 1813, Mr. Lechmere next, for a few months in 1814, served off Lisbon in the Rodney 74, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Geo. Martin. He attained the rank of Lieutenant 3 Feb. 1815, and was lastly, from April in that year until July, 1816, and from April, 1828, until March, 1829, employed in the Mediterranean in the Spartan 38, Capt. Phipps Hornby, and in the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot.




LECHMERE. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 11; h-p., 31.)

John Lechmere, born 9 Jan. 1793, is eldest surviving son of the late Vice-Admiral Wm. Lechmere, of Steeple Aston, co. Wilts, by Elizabeth Dashwood, youngest daughter of Sir John Dashwood King, Bart., of West Wycombe, co. Bucks; younger brother of Commander Chas. Lechmere, R.N. (1815), who died on board H.M.S. Leven 9 Nov. 1822; brother-in-law of the present Lord de Saumarez; and a distant cousin of the late Lieut. Edm. Lechmere, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1805, as Midshipman, on board the Thunderer 74, com-