and contributed to the capture, 28 Jan. and 9 April, 1801, of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse, and national corvette Le Général Brune of 14 guns. He attained the rank of Lieutenant 29 April, 1802; and was subsequently appointed 16 Nov. 1803, to the Scourge sloop, Capt. Wm. Wooldridge, stationed in the Channel – 23 Oct. 1804, and 21 Aug. 1806, to the Harrier 18, and Macassar 36, Capts. W. Wooldridge, Edw. Ratsey, Edw. Thos. Troubridge, and Wm. Wilbraham, both in the East Indies, whence he returned in Sept. 1807 – in the course of 1809, to the Zebra bomb, Capt. Geo. Barne Trollope, Helder 36, Capt. John Serrell, and Salsette 36, Capts. Walter Bathurst, John Hollinworth, and Henry Hope, all on the Home station – and 14 July, 1813, to the Ajax 74, Capts. Robt. Waller Otway and Geo. Mundy, with whom he served, part of the time in the Mediterranean, until paid off in July, 1816. When Senior of the Harrier, and in company with the Phaeton 38, Lieut. Mitchell was present, 2 Aug. 1805, in a severe action of two hours and a half with the French 36-gun frigate Sémillante, and several batteries, at the entrance of the Straits of St. Bernardino, Philippine Islands; on which occasion the Harrier, besides being much cut up, sustained a loss of 2 men wounded. He was afterwards mentioned for the great assistance he afforded his Captain (Troubridge) in an action of an hour with a Butch squadron, which terminated in the surrender, near Java, 26 July, 1806, of the 36-gun frigate Pallas, and armed ships Vittoria and Batavia, to the Harrier, and her consort the Greyhound 32.[1] During his servitude in the Salsette, of which he was also First-Lieutenant, we find him, while attached to the Walcheren expedition, commanding two divisions of boats in an attack on 13 of the enemy’s gun-vessels; and presented in consequence with the thanks of the late Admiral Sir Rich. Keats. He accepted the rank of Commander on the Retired List 25 March, 1834.
MITCHELL. (Lieut., 1829. f-p.,30; h-p., 9.)
William Mitchell, born 19 Oct. 1799, is son of Lieut.-Col. Thos. Mitchell, R.M., who died in Oct. 1829.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 May, 1808, as Sec.-cl. Boy, on board the Warspite 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, with whom he served in the Mediterranean until Oct. 1812 – the greater part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman. He reembarked, 12 June, 1818, on board the Ister 42, Capt. Thos. Forrest; and on 26 Oct. 1820, after he had been for rather more than three years employed on the Newfoundland station, in the Sir Francis Drake frigate, Capt. John Bowker, Carnation 18, Capt. Wm. Nugent Glascock, and Drake 10, Capt. Octavius Vernon Harcourt, he passed his examination. During the next eight years and a half we find him serving as Admiralty Midshipman, Mate, and Admiralty Mate, in the Severn 40, and Ramillies 74, both commanded by Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch. Rainbow 28, Capt. Hon. Henry John Rous, Larne 20, Capt. Wm. Burdett Dobson, Prince Regent 120, Capt. Constantine Rich. Moorsom, and Isis 50, Commodore Sir Thos. Staines, on the Downs, East India, Chatham, and Mediterranean stations. He was then, 25 Aug. 1829, promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Samarang 28, Capt. Wm. Fanshawe Martin, also in the Mediterranean; whence, in Nov. 1830, he returned to England in the Rifleman 18, Capt. Rich. Shepheard Triscott. He has been in command, since 18 March, 1834, of a station in the Coast Guard.
Lieut. Mitchell married, 18 Aug. 1842, Frances Heassey, eldest daughter of Lieut. W. Ashby, R.N., then of Bexhill.
MITFORD. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 18; h-p., 35.)
Robert Mitford, born 26 Jan. 1781, is second son of the late Bertram Mitford. Esq., of Mitford Castle, co. Northumberland, by Tabitha, daughter of Fras. Johnson, Esq., M.D., of Newcastle. The Rear-Admiral, who belongs to an old baronial family celebrated in earlier days as border chieftains, is uncle of Lieut. B. M. Atherton, R.N., and a relative of Miss Mary Russell Mitford, the admired authoress of ‘Our Village.’
This officer entered the Navy, 8 Oct. 1794, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the San Fiorenzo of 42 guns, Capts. Sir Harry Burrard Neale and Wm. Chas. Paterson. While in that ship, besides being much in attendance on the King off Weymouth, he assisted, in company with La Nymphe 36, at the capture of La Résistance of 48 and La Constance of 24 guns, 9 March, 1797 – passed, soon afterwards, through the mutinous fleet at the Nore – took part in a very warm action of nearly two hours, which terminated in the defeat, by the San Fiorenzo, and her consort the Amelia 38, of a French squadron, consisting of three frigates and a gun-vessel, 9 April, 1799 – and, we believe, was present, 2 July following, in an attack made by Rear-Admiral Chas. Morice Pole on a Spanish squadron lying in Aix Roads. After serving for some time with Capt. Philip Chas. Durham in the Anson and Endymion frigates, and with Capt. Bendall Robt. Littlehales in the Centaur 74, he was promoted, 13 Jan. 1802, to a Lieutenancy in the Resistance 36, Capts. Henry Digby and Hon. Philip Wodehouse. Invaliding from that ship in the ensuing Sept., he was next, 28 Jan. 1804 and 30 Oct. 1806, appointed to the Cerberus 32 and Indefatigable 44, Capts. Wm. Selby and John Tremayne Rodd, both employed, as had been the other ships, on the Home station. On 16 Feb. 1807 he was advanced to the command of the Duchess of Bedford armed ship; and on 24 May, 1808, after having been attached to the force off Cadiz and Gibraltar, he assumed that of the Espoir 18. In that sloop we find him, in June, 1809, assisting at the capture of the islands of Ischia and Procida and of 18 gun-boats;[2] and on 25 April, 1810, uniting with the Spartan and Success frigates in an attack upon the enemy at Terracina; on which occasion, previously to the bringing off of several vessels by the boats of the three ships, he distinguished himself by his great energy and judgment in running in and sounding under the various batteries. He was nominated, 2 Feb. 1813, Acting-Captain of the Minstrel 24, and, in that vessel, to which he was confirmed 31 March following, he continued employed, still in the Mediterranean, until Aug. 1814, when he invalided. He accepted his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
Rear-Admiral Mitford married, in Dec. 1830, Margaret, daughter of Jas. Dunsmure, Esq., of Edinburgh, by whom he has issue one daughter.
MOBERLY. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 14; h-p., 32.)
John Moberly entered the Navy, 20 Aug. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Triumph 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Barlow. After rather more than three years’ servitude in that ship in the Mediterranean, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, he became in succession attached, between Dec. 1804 and his attainment of the rank of Lieutenant, 14 Oct. 1807, to the Barfleur 98, Capt. Geo. Martin, Triumph 74, Capt. Henry Inman (part of the force engaged in Sir Robt. Calder’s action, 22 July, 1805), London and Barfleur 98’s, both commanded by Sir Robt. Barlow, Edgar 74, flag-ship of Lord Keith, Namur 74, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, and Elizabeth 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Curzon – all on the Home station. In July, 1808, having been intermediately employed in the Cumberland 74, Capt. Hon. Philip Wodehouse, and as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir John Borlase Warren, in the Swiftsure 74, in the North Sea and North America, he obtained an appointment to the Melampus 36, Capt. Edw. Hawker. In that frigate, besides assisting in making prize of
