Congress of Peru having ordered a forced contribution on the commerce of Lima, the British proportion of which amounted to nearly 200,000 dollars, he not only remonstrated, but took, such decided and effectual measures that the iniquitous exaction was abandoned. As a mark of their respect and gratitude for his exertions the British merchants at Lima voted the sum of 1500 dollars for the purpose of purchasing him a testimonial. In Feb. 1825 he returned with a large freight to England, and was paid off. He attained his present rank 24 April, 1847; was selected shortly afterwards to fill a seat at the Board of Admiralty; and since 15 Dec. in the same year has been employed as Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth. He had been nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; and awarded the Captain’s Good Service Pension 1 April, 1844.
Rear-Admiral Prescott was appointed, in Sept. 1834, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Newfoundland and its dependencies. He retained the post until 1841. He married, 5 July, 1815, Mary Anne Charlotte, eldest daughter of Vice-Admiral D’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, and sister-in-law of Capt. John Geo. Aplin, R.N. His eldest son, the Rev. J. P. Prescott, is married to a daughter of the late Capt. Parke, R.N.
PRESCOTT. (Retired Commander, 1839.)
Thomas Lennox Prescott is son of Thos Prescott, Esq. (son of Sir G. Prescott, Kt.), by Augusta, daughter of Sir Chas. Frederick, K.B., Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, whose wife, Lucy, was the eldest daughter of Hugh, first Viscount Falmouth, and sister of the Hon. Admiral Boscawen. He is related, thus, to the ducal houses of Marlborough, Sutherland, and Beaufort; and is a nephew of the late Rear-Admiral Thos. Lennox Frederick.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1791, as Midshipman, on board the Romulus 36, commanded in the Channel by his uncle, Capt. T. L. Frederick; removed, in the course of the same year, to the Hector 74, Capt. Geo. Montagu, lying at Portsmouth; and, from 1792 until 1796, was employed in the West Indies in the Blanche of 38 guns, Capts. Christ. Parker, Jonathan Faulknor, and Chas. Sawyer. In the early part of 1794 he assisted at the reduction of the French West India islands; and on 30 Dec. in the same year he was wounded in the boats under the late Sir David Milne, at the cutting out of an armed schooner of 8 guns from beneath a destructive fire from a fort and a body of troops, not 50 yards distant, in the island of Deseada. Previously to the latter affair he had escorted H.R.H. the Duke of Kent to Halifax. He was subsequently, 5 Jan. 1795, present at the capture of the French frigate La Pique of 38 guns and about 279 men, after a deadly action of nearly four hours and a half, attended with a loss to the enemy of 76 killed and 110 wounded, and to the British, out of 198 men, of 8, including Capt. Faulknor, killed and 21 wounded. During the unfortunate attack made by General Stewart and Capt. Sawyer upon the island of Ste. Lucie, Mr. Prescott landed and was intrusted with the command of a fort. He was made Lieutenant, 12 July, 1797, into the Chapman 24, Capt. Keene, on the Channel station; and next appointed – 13 Nov. in the same year and 27 Aug. 1798, to the Blenheim and Princess Royal 98’s, flag-ships of Rear-Admiral T. L. Frederick off Lisbon and Cadiz – and, about 1800, to the command, for a few months, of a 10-gun brig off Boulogne. In command of the boats of the Princess Royal he boarded and carried a Swedish armed ship under the guns of Cadiz, and had several men wounded. During the whole of the late war he was detained a prisoner in France. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 13 June, 1820; and awarded his present rank 27 April, 1839. He is married and has had issue.
PRESTON. (Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 22; h-p., 44.)
D’Arcy Preston died 21 Jan. 1847, at Askam Bryam, co. York, aged 82. He was son of the Rev. John Preston, by Jane Consitt, his wife.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 May, 1781, as a Volunteer, on board the Portland, Capt. Luttrell, flag-ship at Newfoundland of Rear-Admirals Edwards and Campbell. From Sept. 1782 until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 4 Nov. 1790, he served on the North American, Home, Mediterranean; and again on the Newfoundland stations, in the Thorn sloop, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, and Portland, Bulldog, Sphynx, Phaeton, Bedford, and Salisbury – the latter bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Milbanke. His next appointments were – to the Orestes sloop, Capt. Sir Harry Burrard, and Royal Sovereign 100 and Boyne 98, bearing the flags of Admirals Graves and Sir John Jervis. In March, 1794, he commanded the seamen of the Boyne at the storming of Fort Royal, Martinique; and in the following April he co-operated in the reduction of Ste. Lucie. While engaged on the latter service he was promoted to the rank of Commander by commission bearing date 4 April, 1794, and appointed to the Rattlesnake sloop-of-war; in which vessel he returned to England with the officers who were charged with the official accounts of the conquest. After nearly two years of half-pay Capt, Preston assumed command, 17 May, 1796, of the Termagant sloop, lying in the river Thames. Attaining Post-rank 13 June, 1796, he was next, from that period until June, 1798, employed on the Home and Mediterranean stations in the Queen 98, Mignonne 32, Blanche of similar force, and Dido 28. On the night of 19 Dec. 1796, being at the time in the Blanche of 38 guns, and in company with La Minerve, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Nelson, he fell in with the two Spanish 40-gun frigates Sabina and Ceres. The latter ship he engaged and compelled to surrender, with the loss of 7 of her people killed and 15 wounded; hut before he could obtain possession of her, the approach of a Spanish 3-decker and two other frigates compelled him to wear and make sail in the direction of his consort, who, in the meanwhile, had effected the capture, although she was soon afterwards retaken, of the Sabina[1] From 4 July, 1803, until 28 Feb. 1810, Capt. Preston commanded the Sea Fencibles between Flamborough and the Tees; and from 9 Nov. 1813 until July, 1814, we find him officiating, in the Bravo, as Commodore of a division of prison-ships at Plymouth. He became a Rear-Admiral 24 Aug. 1819, a Vice-Admiral 12 Nov. 1840, and a full Admiral 23 Nov. 1841.
Admiral Preston was a Deputy-Lieutenant for the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. He married, 29 June, 1792, Sophia, fourth daughter of the late Hon. Sir Geo. Nares, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and sister of Dr. Nares, Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, by whom he had issue five sons and two daughters. His eldest son, the Rev. John D’Arcy Jervis Preston, is the father of Mr. D’Arcy Spence Preston, Mate R.N.; his second, Edward, died in the service; his third, William, is now a Captain R.N.; and his fourth, Charles, is an officer in the Army.
PRESTON. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 13- h-p., 33.)
Henry Preston is second and youngest son of Sir Robt. Preston, Bart., by his cousin, Euphemia, daughter of John Preston, Esq., of Gorton. His brother, Robert, is an officer of rank in the Army. This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Invincible 74, Capt. John Rennie, which ship, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thos. Totty, struck on 16 of the same month, on the Hasborough Sand, near Yarmouth, and was lost with about 400 of her crew. With Rear-Admiral Totty Mr. Preston continued em-
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1787, pp. 201-2.
