with her prize. In Nov. 1810 he was again ordered to perform Midshipman’s duty in the Dragon 74, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Laforey. He was, however, confirmed a Lieutenant 2 Feb. 1811, in the Rosamund sloop, Capt. Dan. Campbell, also in the West Indies, whence, on being appointed, 3 May following, to the Castor 32, Capt. Chas. Dilkes, he proceeded to the Mediterranean. On 23 June, 1813, being off the coast of Catalonia, Lieut. Loveless took command of the Castor’s boats, in conjunction with the present Sir Edwyn Fras. Stanhope, and, after having had 4 of his men lulled and 9 wounded, succeeded in bringing out from under the Castle of Mongat the French privateer La Fortune, of 2 guns, 2 swivels, and 48 men. The vessel had been moored in a very strong manner to the shore, and, when attacked, was lying within pistol-shot distance of a 5-gun battery, of another mounting 2 howitzers, and of a body of about 200 soldiers drawn up on the beach for her protection. On 15 Jan. 1814 Lieut. Loveless succeeded in the large cutter with 15 men in making prize, off Barcelona, and close under the guns of Monjui, of L’Heureux privateer, of 1 12-pounder and 25 men. In this affair, however, besides having 1 of his men mortally wounded, he had the misfortune to lose an arm at the shoulder-joint,[1] and he was in consequence obliged to invalid. Owing to an unsound cure he was for four years subjected to severe suffering, and was under the necessity of submitting to three painful operations. Being compelled to retire from active service, he was appointed, 8 May, 1844, to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich. In addition to a pension from Government of 91l. 5s., the Patriotic Society voted him a gratuity.
The benevolent and humane exertions of Lieut. Loveless in allaying the ravages of cholera at Swansea in 1832 were acknowledged in the presentation to him of a piece of plate by the inhabitants.
LOVELESS. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 21; h-p., 22.)
James Loveless was born 12 Nov. 1791, at Portsmouth.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 Nov. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the St. George 98, Capts. Hon. Mich. De Courcy, Thos. Bertie, and Edw. Sneyd Clay; in which ship he went, as Midshipman, to the West. Indies in pursuit of a French squadron, and on his return to Europe, after having been all but lost in a hurricane, was employed, until July, 1808, on the Channel station. While attached, from the latter date until March, 1811, to the Tonnant 80, commanded during that period by various officers, he assisted in embarking the army after the battle of Corunna, was engaged in numerous cutting-out affairs under the enemy’s batteries on the coast of France, twice returned to Plymouth in the capacity of Prize-Master, served for a month on board the Nettuno Spanish block-ship at the siege of Cadiz (where he nearly lost his right eye by the bursting of a shell while voluntarily assisting on shore at the defence of Fort Matagorda, and where he was afterwards employed in a gun-boat), and had charge, we believe, of the ship’s pinnace in the river Tagus for about two months prior to the departure of the French from Santarem. After serving for nine months, as Master’s Mate, in the Vestal troop-ship, Capts. Maurice Fred. Fitzhardinge Berkeley and Sam. Bartlett Deeckar (by the former of whom he was recommended for promotion, and on one occasion sent in charge of an American brig into Portsmouth), and for a short period, as a Supernumerary, in the Royal William, Capt. Robt. Hall, Mr. Loveless, in Feb. 1812, joined the Vigo 74, Capts. Henry Manaton Ommanney and Thos. White. During the period of his stay in that ship we find him escorting a Russian squadron to England; and, on his return to the Baltic, intrusted with the personal conveyance of despatches from Malmo to Gottenborg. Previously to quitting her in April, 1813, he joined, further, in an attack on Elsineur castle, and accompanied an immense fleet of merchantmen through the Sound. He then returned to England on board the Courageux 74, Capt. Philip Wilkinson; and was next, from June, 1813, until Sept. 1814, actively employed in the Albion and Sceptre 74’s, Capts. John Ferris Devonshire and Wm. Waller, chiefly on the North American station, where he assisted in blockading the U.S. frigate President in Rhode Island, and was again invested with the charge of a captured vessel. At the period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 8 Feb. 1815, Mr. Loveless had been for upwards of four months a Supernumerary of the Namur 74, guard-ship at the Nore. His next appointment being, 13 Aug. 1827, to the Ramillies Coast Blockade ship, Capt. Hugh Pigot, he was allowed, until paid off in March, 1830, to command the Antelope tender, for the purpose of raising volunteers for the service, and for the suppression of smuggling. He rejoined the Blockade Service 26 Nov. 1830, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant, for a few months, of the Talavera 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot; and, with the omission of an interval between Oct. 1839 and April, 1842, has been employed in the Coast Guard since 26 Aug. 1834.
Lieut. Loveless married, first, in Oct. 1815, Miss Osborn, of Deptford, who died in Jan. 1829; and, secondly, Mrs. Quik, widow, of Gloucester. By his former marriage he has issue a son and two daughters.
LOVELL, formerly Badcock, K.H. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 16; h-p., 32.)
William Stanhope Lovell, born about 1788, is second son of the late Thos. Stanhope Badcock, Esq., of Little Missenden and Maplethorpe Halls, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant, and formerly High Sheriff, for co. Buckingham, by Anne, daughter of Wm. Buckle, Esq., of the Mythe House, Tewkesbury, co. Gloucester; and brother of Lieut.-Colonel Benj. Lovell, commanding the 15th Hussars, an officer who served with distinction in the 14th Dragoons in France, Spain, and Portugal, and was wounded at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor. His father was a Lieutenant in the 6th Regt. of Foot during the war between Great Britain and her colonies, and served as such in America and the West Indies; he afterwards held a commission in the Royal Bucks Militia, and was with that corps in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798. Capt. Lovell, who is brother-in-law of Major-General Sir Jasper Nicolls, K.C.B., assumed his present surname, in lieu of his patronymic, in 1840. He is a descendant of Sir Salathiel Lovell, one of the Barons of the Exchequer.
This officer entered the Navy in May, 1799, on board the Royal William, Capt. Fras. Pickmore, lying at Spithead; and in the following Oct. joined the Renown 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Borlase Warren. Continuing in that ship until 1804, he saw much active service on the Home and Mediterranean stations, particularly in 1800; in June and July of which year he assisted in the boats of a squadron at the capture and destruction of La Thérèse national ship of 20 giins, seven other armed vessels, nine sail of merchantmen laden with government supplies, three land-batteries, and the same number of magazines. On the night of 29 Aug. following he further (after having attended the expedition to Ferrol) contributed in the boats, 20 in number, commanded by Lieut. Henry Burke, to the cutting-out, close to the batteries in Vigo Bay, of La Guêpe privateer, of 18 guns and 161 men, which vessel, 25 of whose people were killed and 40 wounded, was in 15 minutes boarded and carried, with a loss to the British of 3 seamen and 1 marine killed, 3 Lieutenants, 12 seamen, and 5 marines wounded, and 1 seaman missing. On leaving the Renown, Mr. Lovell (as we shall for convenience name him) successively joined the Kent 74, Capt. John Chambers White, and Barfleur and Neptune 98’s, Capts. Geo. Martin and Thos. Fras. Fremantle. On 2 Nov. 1805, 12 days after the battle of Trafalgar, in which he had had the fortune
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 483.
