Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/834

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NORCOCK—NORCOTT—NORIE.

days in Dec. 1S17, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. John Gedge, lying at Sheerness – and, 19 March, 1822, to the command, which he retained until 5 March, 1827, of the Signal station on Kingston Hill. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 9 July, 1842.

Lieut. Nops is at present employed in the Excise service. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.



NORCOCK. (Lieutenant, 1841.)

George Lowcay Norcock entered the Navy 10 May, 1830; passed his examination in 1836; and, on the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 15 March, 1841, was appointed to the command of the Forester brigantine, on the coast of Africa. His next appointments were – 23 Dec. 1841, to the Warspite 50, Capt. Lord John Hay, employed on particular service – 23 Oct. 1843, to the St. Vincent 120, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Rowley at Portsmouth – 22 Jan. 1846, as Senior, to the Ringdove 16, Capt. Sir Wm. Hoste, on the East India station – and, 28 Aug. following, to the Vestal 26, Capt. Chas. Talbot, with whom he returned to England and was paid off in July, 1847. During an expedition conducted, in July, 1846, by Rear-Admiral Sir Thos. John Cochrane against the Sultan of Borneo, we find him commanding the 7th company of small-arm men, together with half the men belonging to the Royalist brig, and assisting at the capture and destruction, on 8 of that month, of the enemy’s forts and batteries on the river Brune. On the ensuing ascent of a branch of the latter stream by a force under Capt. Geo. Rodney Mundy, and its debarkation, after struggling for many hours against an almost impenetrable navigation, at the village of Mallout, Mr. Norcock, while the main body marched on to Damuan, in the hope of there capturing the Sultan’s person, was left in partial charge of a flotilla of seven gun-boats, and was mentioned for the cheerful assistance he afforded on the occasion.[1]

He married, 4 Nov. 1843, Isabella, daughter of the late Major Jenkins, of the 11th Hussars. Agents – Case and Loudonsack.



NORCOCK. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 23; h-p., 3.)

John Henry Norcock was born 1 Feb. 1809. This officer entered the Navy, 30 Dec. 1821, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Liffey 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Chas. Grant in the East Indies; where, in May, 1824, while engaged in the expedition to Ava, he was discharged as Midshipman into the Larne 20, Capts. Fred. Marryat and John Kingcome. On 8 Aug. in the same year we find him assisting, with a detachment of 400 men under Lieut.-Col. Kelly, at the capture of two strong stockades in the Dallah creek, an enterprise of great gallantry, in which the British sustained a loss of 4 men killed, and 15, including himself slightly, wounded.[2] He also, 6 Feb. 1825, united with a force under Lieut.-Col. Godwin and Capt. Henry Ducie Chads, R.N., in effecting the reduction of a 36-gun stockade at Than-ta-bain, on the Lyne river, garrisoned by 2000 fighting men, together with the destruction of an immense number of fire-rafts and canoes filled with combustibles; and, in the course of the following month, having accompanied, in the Satellite transport, an armament under the orders of Capt. Marryat and Major Sale up the Bassein river, he contributed, in a manner that obtained him high commendation, to the capture of the town of Thingang and the village of Pumkayi.[3] Removing in Aug. 1826 to the Warspite 76, he served in that ship, at first under the broad pendant of Sir Jas. Brisbane, and next under Capts. Hon. Rich. Saunders Dundas and Wm. Parker, on the East India, South American, Lisbon, Mediterranean, and Home stations, until Jan. 1829. Having passed his examination 21 April, 1828, he was then appointed Mate of the Kent 78, Capt. John Ferris Devonshire, lying at Plymouth. He was subsequently, from Nov. in the latter year until paid off in Nov. 1833, employed in North America and the West Indies on board the Winchester 50, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Griffith Colpoys, Columbine 18, Capt. Thos. Metcalfe Currie, Winchester again. Racehorse 18, Capt. Fras. Vere Cotton, and Blanche 46, Commodore Sir Arthur Farquhar; and in the early part of 1835, after a servitude of 14 months at Portsmouth in the Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Thos. Hastings, he returned to the East Indies in the Rattlesnake 28, Capt.Wm. Hobson. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 10 Jan. 1837, he was next appointed – 28 Nov. following to the Vestal 26, Capts. Thos. Wren Carter and John Parker, with whom he was for four years and a half employed on the North America and West India station – 15 Nov. 1843 to the Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir David Milne at Plymouth – 17 March, 1845, for a few weeks, to the Melampus 42, Capt. John Norman Campbell, fitting at that port – and, 2 Jan. 1846, as Senior, to the Canopus 80, Capt. Fairfax Moresby, attached to the Channel squadron. He was advanced to his present rank 9 Nov. 1846, and is now on half-pay.

Commander Norcock married, 5 Oct. 1837, Jane Money, eldest daughter of Lieut. Robt. Lowcay, R.N., by whom he has issue. Agents – Case and Loudonsack.



NORCOTT. (Commander, 1838. f-p., 20; h-p., 22)

Edmund Norcott entered the Navy, 15 July, 1805, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Belliqeux 64, commanded by the late Viscount Torrington, in which ship, after witnessing the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope, he assisted, 27 Nov. 1806, at the capture and destruction of a Dutch frigate, seven brigs of war, and about 20 armed and other merchant-vessels, in Batavia Roads. In Aug. 1810, two years after he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he removed to the Sir Francis Drake frigate, Capt. Geo. Harris; and on next joining the Minden 74, Capt. Edw. Wallis Hoare, he co-operated in the reduction of Java, and was wounded in an affray with the Malay pirates. After a short servitude in the Illustrious 74, Commodore Wm. Robt. Broughton, he returned, in Sept. 1812, to England in the Akbar 50, Capt. Henry Drury. Rejoining Lord Torrington in Feb. 1813 on board the Warrior 74, he escorted the Prince of Orange in the following Nov. to Holland, and then sailed for the West Indies; where, in Nov. 1814, at which period he was serving with Rear-Admiral Wm. Brown in the Argo 44, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Arachne 16, Capt. Wm. McKenzie Godfrey. He was confirmed a Lieutenant 10 Feb. 1815, and subsequently appointed – 10 Oct. 1825, to the Albion 74, Capt. John Acworth Ommanney, part of the force engaged at the battle of Navarin, 20 Oct. 1827 – 15 Oct. 1828, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – 20 Nov. 1829, to the Trinculo 18, Capt. Sam. Price, on the Cork station – 30 April, 1831, as Senior, to the Druid 46, Capts. Gawen Wm. Hamilton and Sam. Roberts, with whom he served in South America and off Lisbon until paid off in 1833 – 4 Oct. 1834, to the Coast Guard – and, 21 April, 1835, to the command of the Curlew 10, on the coast of Africa, whence he returned soon after his promotion to the rank of Commander, 28 June, 1838.

He was nominated Governor of the settlements on the Gambia 20 Nov. 1843. Agents – Messrs. Chard.



NORIE. (Retired Commander, 1840. f-p., 20; h-p., 33.)

Evelyn Norie is brother of Mr. John Wm. Norie, author of ‘The Naval Gazetteer,’ ‘A Complete Epitome of Practical Navigation,’ &c., and late of the firm of J. W. Norie and Wilson, Publishers, of 157, Leadenhall Street, London.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 June, 1794, as

  1. Vide Gaz. 1846, pp. 3442, 3446.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1825, p. 1494.
  3. Vide Gaz. 1825, p. 2278.