MOLESWORTH. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 18; h-p., 29.)
John Molesworth, born in July, 1789, is second son of the late Rich. Molesworth, Esq. (brother of the fifth Viscount Molesworth, and many years Accountant in the Army Pay Office), by Catherine, daughter of Fras. Cobb, Esq., of Twickenham; and is grandson of Capt. Wm. Molesworth, who figured in the wars with Spain, and was afterwards M.P. for Philipstown, and a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations. The Commander (a brother of the present Viscount Molesworth and of Capt. Anthony Oliver Molesworth, R.A.) is uncle of Lieut. Bartholomew Jeffery, R.N., and second-cousin of Commander Bourchier Molesworth, R.N. His cousin, the sixth Viscount Molesworth, a Major-General in the Army, and Lieut.-Colonel of H.M.’s 9th Regiment, was lost in the Armston transport, near the Cape of Good Hope, 30 May, 1815.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Plover 18, Capts. Edw. Galwey and Matthew Forster, with whom he served in the Channel and West Indies until Sept. 1802, latterly in the capacity of Midshipman. In July, 1803, after he had been for six months attached to the Culloden 74, Capts. Chas. Henry Lane, John Conn, and Bartholomew Dacres, he joined the Canopus 80; in which ship, bearing the successive flags of Rear-Admirals Geo. Campbell, Sir Thos. Louis, and Geo. Martin, he continued until Feb. 1808; assisting during that period in the action off St. Domingo, at the capture of the French frigate Le Président, in the passage of the Dardanells, and in the expedition to Egypt. On 7 March, 1808, he was promoted, from the Ocean 98, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood, to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the Malta 80, Capt. Wm. Shield; and on 24 of the ensuing month he was confirmed into the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Lord Cochrane. On 28 Jan. 1809, while in charge of a prize belonging to the latter frigate, he landed near Tarragona, in ignorance of the proximity of the French, by whom he was unfortunately taken prisoner. In Sept. of the same year, having regained his liberty, he joined the Partridge sloop, Capts. Wm. Williams Foote and John Miller Adye, under whom he continued employed in the Channel, West Indies, and North Sea, until May, 1811. While next attached, from 26 Aug. in the latter year until 8 Oct. 1814, to the America 74, commanded by the late Sir Josias Rowley, it was his fortune to see much service in the Mediterranean; where, on 19 May, 1812, he creditably aided, in the boats of that ship and of the Leviathan 74 and Éclair sloop, at the capture of 16 and destruction of two deeply laden vessels, which had taken shelter under the town and batteries of Languelia, on the coast of Italy, and had been secured by various contrivances to the houses and beach – an exploit that occasioned the British a loss of 16 men killed and 20 wounded.[1] Besides enacting a part in the operations against Leghorn and Genoa, he aided in reducing the enemy’s defences in the Gulf of Spezia, and was in particular commended for the manner in which he directed the batteries at the siege of the fortress of Santa Maria.[2] His last appointments were – 27 March, 18 15, to the Impregnable 104, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Sir Josias Rowley, with whom he remained for a period of eight months, part of the time as Signal-Lieutenant – and, 6 May, 1818, again as Flag-Lieutenant to the same officer at Cork. He was advanced to his present rank on the Admiral striking his flag, 14 Dec. 1821; and has not been since afloat.
Commander Molesworth married, 6 Feb. 1828, Louisa, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Tomkyns, of Buckenhill Park, co. Hereford, by whom he has Issue a son and two daughters.
MOLYNEUX. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
Thomas Howard Molyneux passed his examination 9 Oct. 1843; and at the period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 23 June, 1846, had been serving for a considerable time as Mate in the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capts. Sir Thos. Hastings and Henry Ducie Chads. He has been employed, since 27 July, 1846, in the Spartan 22, Capt. Thos. Matthew Chas. Symonds, on the Mediterranean station.
MOLYNEUX. (Commander, 1833. f-p., 16; h-p., 19.)
William Molyneux died 18 July, 1847. He was third son of the late Lieut.-General Sir Thos. Molyneux, Bart., by Elizabeth, daughter of Thos. Perrin, Esq.; and brother-in-law of Lord Wm. G. Henry Somerset.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 Aug. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Norge 74, Capts. John Sprat Rainier and Chas. Dashwood, under the latter of whom, on proceeding to North America, he served as Midshipman (a rating he had attained in Nov. 1812) in the expedition of 1814 against New Orleans. Joining, in Nov. 1815, the Lyra 10, Capt. Basil Hall, he accompanied Lord Amherst in the ensuing year in his embassy to China. He returned to England in Nov. 1817; and was next, between March, 1818, and Oct. 1821, employed on the Home and West India stations, in the Spencer 74, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, Tonnant 80, and Windsor Castle 74, both commanded by Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, Raleigh 18, Capt. Wm. Augustus Baumgardt, Salisbury 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Wm. Chas. Fahie, and Pyramus 42, Capt. Fras. Newcombe. He was then nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Falmouth 20, Capt. Edw. Purcell; in which vessel (being confirmed to her by commission dated 21 Feb. 1822) he continued employed, still in the West Indies, until 11 July, 1823. His succeeding appointments were, on the Jamaica station – 15 May, 1824, to the Dartmouth 42, Capt. Hon. Jas. Ashley Maude – 7 Jan. and 9 March, 1826, to the Serapis and Magnificent convalescent and store-ships, Capts. Chas. ElUot, Jas. Cooper Bennett, and Geo. Mansel – 23 March, 1829, to the Barham 50, bearing the flag of Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming – and, 10 March, 1830, to the acting-command of the Fairy sloop. He returned to England in the following June; but was not officially promoted until 12 March, 1833. He did not again go afloat.
MOLYNEUX. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 15; h-p., 21.)
William Hargraves Molyneux entered the Navy, 23 Nov. 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Daphne 20, Capts. Philip Pipon and Jas. Green, fitting for the Baltic, where he served at the siege of Danzig, and came into boat-contact with the enemy’s privateers off the island of Rugen. Rejoining Capt. Pipon, in Sept. 1813, on board the Tagus 38, he assisted, on 6 of the ensuing Jan., while cruizing among the Cape de Verde Islands, in company with the Niger 38, at the capture of the French 40-gnn frigate Cérès; and he subsequently, on visiting the Pacific, fell in with Pitcairn’s Island – the first time it had been touched at since settled on by the mutineers of the Bounty. In the early part of 1816 we find him sailing in the Magicienne 36, Capt. John Brett Purvis, for the East Indies, with the flag of Sir Rich. King, whom he there followed, in Oct. 1817, into the Minden 74. He was promoted, on his return home, to the rank of Lieutenant, by commission dated 31 Oct. 1820; and was subsequently appointed – 7 Nov. 1822, to the Jupiter 60, Capt. Geo. Augustus Westphal, under whom he escorted Lord Amherst, Governor-General of India, to Bengal – 4 June, 1824 (six months after the latter ship had been paid off), to the Niemen 28 Capts. Provo Wm. Parry Wallis, Wm. Pitt Canning, and Chas. Simeon, in which vessel he was for three years employed on the Halifax station – 19 Jan. 1836 as First, to the Minden [errata 1] 74, fitting for the flag of Sir Peter Halkett, Commander-in-Chief in North America and the West Indies, whence he returned to
