delphia Stephens, daughter of Thos. Josling, Esq., of Lisbon, by whom, who died 23 Oct. 1845, he had issue one daughter. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
MATSON. (Admiral of the Blue, 1847. f-p., 21; h-p., 43.)
Richard Matson is son of the late John Matson, Esq., Chief Justice and Governor of Dominica; uncle of Commander Henry Jas. Matson, R.N.; and cousin of Commander Geo. Wm. Matson, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 March, 1783, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Irresistible 74, bearing the broad pendant at Chatham of Sir Andrew Snape Hamond; and was afterwards, between 1786 and* Jan. 1793, employed, in the capacities of Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Solebay 32, Capt. John Holloway, Jupiter 50, Commodore Wm. Parker, Solebay again, Capt. Wm. Squire, and Hermione 32, Capt. John Hills, on the West India and Home stations. He then joined the Britannia 100, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Wm. Hotham in the Mediterranean; where, in the course of the same and the following year, he served on shore at the occupation ot Toulon, was publicly thanked by Sir Wm. Sidney Smith for his conduct at the destruction of the arsenal and fleet in the harbour of that place,[1] and was present at the sieges of St. Fiorenza and Bastia. Being made Lieutenant, 15 Oct. 1794, into the Bedford 74, Capts. Davidge Gould and Augustus Montgomery, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing, under the former of those officers, in Hotham’s partial actions of 14 March and 13 July, 1795. After a servitude of nearly two years on the Lisbon, Mediterranean, Cape of Good Hope, and West India stations, in the Sybille and Daphne frigates, Capts. Edw. Cooke and Jas. Brisbane, Tamar 38, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, and Prince of Wales 98, flagship of Vice-Admiral Henry Harvey, he was promoted, 22 Sept. 1797, to the command of the Beaver sloop, also in the West Indies; where he removed, in May, 1798, to the Cyane 18, and was posted, 22 March, 1799, into the Daphne 20. He returned to England in April, 1802; and was subsequently appointed – 2 Sept. 1807 and 9 April, 1808, to the San Ysidoro and Braave 40, lying at Plymouth – and 16 June, 1808, to the Sea Fencible service between North Shields and St. Abb’s Head. He has been on half-pay since Feb. 1810. He became a Rear-Admiral 27 May, 1825; a Vice-Admiral 10 Jan. 1837; and a full Admiral 26 June, 1847. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
MATTHEWS. (Commander, 1822. f-p., 15; h-p., 29.)
Alfred Matthews, born 26 Jan. 1792, is fifth son of the late John Matthews, Esq., of Belmont, co. Hereford, Colonel of the Local Militia, and several years M.P. for that shire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Arthur Ellis, of Much Marcle. He is brother of the present John Holder Matthews, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Hereford; also of the Rev. Arthur Matthews, Canon of Hereford and Vicar of Linton, who died in Sept. 1842; and of Henry Matthews, Esq., author of the well known ‘Diary of an Invalid,’ who died soon after his elevation to the Bench in the island of Ceylon.
This officer entered the Navy, 31 Jan. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Culloden 74, Capts. Chas. Henry Lane and Bartholomew Dacres, flagship for some time, in the Channel, of Rear-Admiral Geo. Campbell; whom, in the course of the same year, he accompanied to the Mediterranean in the Canopus 80. Removing as Midshipman, in April, 1804, to the Tigre 80, Capt. Bery. Hallowell, Mr. Matthews, who continued in that ship until Feb. 1808, was for a long period employed at the blockade of Cadiz, and, besides accompanying Lord Nelson to the West Indies and back in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain, served throughout the second Egyptian campaign, from the capture of Alexandria to its evacuation. In June, 1808, we find him joining the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Henry Lambert, under whom, after making a voyage to Quebec, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope station, where he witnessed the conquest of Ile de Bourbon in July, 1810, and, in the course of the following month, assumed a share in a series of gallant but unfortunate operations, which, by the 28th, terminated in the self-destruction of the British frigates, Sirius, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Sam. Pym, and Magicienne, the capture of the Nériéide, and the surrender to a powerful French squadron of the Iphigenia herself, after incurring an individual loss of at least 5 men killed and 13 wounded, at the entrance of Port Sud-Est, Isle of France. He remained in consequence in captivity until released at the reduction of the Mauritius, when he was again placed on board the Iphigenia, under the orders of Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild. He next, between July and Oct. 1811, served in the Scipion 74, flag-ship of Hon. Robt. Stopford at the Cape; and on 11 Feb. 1812 he was there made Lieutenant into the Astrea frigate, Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg. He returned to England in Sept. 1813; and was subsequently appointed – 18 April, 1814, to the Hermes 20, Capt. Hon. Henry Wm. Percy, which vessel, after 25 of her men had been killed and 24 wounded, in an unsuccessful attack upon Fort Bowyer, Mobile, was set on fire and destroyed in order to prevent her falling into the hands of the Americans, 15 Sept. 1814[2] – 10 June, 1816, as Senior, to the Alert sloop, Capt. John Smith, stationed in the North Sea, where, in one of the vessel’s galleys, he captured a smuggling lugger – and, 24 April, 1817, to the command of the Drake revenue cruizer, in which he appears to have been for three years very actively and successfully employed off the Land’s End and Scilly. He attained the rank of Commander 19 July, 1822, and between that period and April, 1823, was employed on the Jamaica station in the Surinam and Icarus sloops. He has since been on half-pay.
He married, 26 Oct. 1833, Emily Rosetta, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Jas. Bernard, Rector of Combe Flory, co. Somerset.
MATTHEWS. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 17; h-p., 31.)
Michael Matthews is son of F. Matthews, Esq., formerly in the Ordnance Department at Portsmouth.
This officer entered the Navy, in Aug. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Sans Pareil 80, Capts. Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, Jas. Katon, and Wm. Essington, successive flag-ship of Admirals Lord Hugh Seymour and Robt. Montagu in the Channel and West Indies, where he served until Sept. 1802, latterly in the capacity of Midshipman. In Feb. 1 803, he joined the Venerable 74, bearing the flag, on the former station, of the late Lord Collingwood; whom, in the course of 1804, he followed into the Colossus and Culloden 74’s, and Prince and St. George 98’s. He was made Lieutenant, 15 Oct. 1806, into the Prince of Wales 98, Capt. Wm. Bedford, flag-ship for some time of Sir Jas. Saumarez in the Baltic; and he was next, between Aug. 1807, and July, 1813, employed, on the latter and on the West and East India stations, in the Captain 74, Capt. Isaac Wolley, Melville sloop, Capt. Hon. Jas. Wm. King, Cornelia frigate, Capt. Henry Folkes Edgell, Russel 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Wm. O’Brien Drury, and Minden 74, Capts. Edw. Wallis Hoare, Alex. Skene, and Jos. Prior, flag-ship latterly of Sir Sam. Hood. In the Russel he took part in the earlier portion of the operations that preceded the fall of the Isle of France; and in the Minden he saw much active service on the coast of Java. On leaving that ship he was nominated Lieutenant-Governor of the Na-
