Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/949

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PROBYN—PROCTOR.
935

to take charge of a suspected person to the Governor of New Providence, and proceed with him to Nassau. On his return to the Havana he experienced a severe attack of yellow fever. Unable, after he left the Queen Charlotte, to procure employment, he accepted, 18 Jan. 1845, the rank he now holds. Agent – J. Hinxman.



PROBYN. (Retired Captain, 1840. f-p., 15;[1] h-p., 51.)

Henry Probyn died, 31 Jan. 1845, at Instow, co. Devon.

This officer entered the Navy, 21 April, 1779, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Firebrand, Capt. Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, under whom he continued employed in the Fairy sloop, Vestal 28, Recovery 32, and Pégase, until 1783 – the latter part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman. In the Fairy he assisted at the capture, on the Newfoundland station, of nine privateers, her equals in force; in the Vestal he was present, in 1781, at the relief of Gibraltar, and at the destruction of two gun-boats under the fortress of Ceuta; and in the Recovery he took part in Admiral Harrington’s action with the French fleet, 20 April, 1782. From 1783 until Aug. 1785 he served on the coast of Africa and in the West Indies on board the Grampus 50, Commodore Thompson, and Rattler, Capt. Collingwood. He next, in the course of 1788, joined the Aquilon 32, Capt. Robt. Montagu, and Trusty 50. Of the latter ship, which bore at first the broad pendant of Commodore Cosby at Gibraltar, and subsequently the flag of Sir John Laforey in the West Indies, he was created a Lieutenant 2 Feb. 1789. He left her in July, 1793, and was afterwards appointed – 15 Oct. in the same year, to the Squirrel 20, Capt. Israel Pellew, with whom he served in the Channel and Baltic until compelled by ill-health to invalid in June, 1794 – 11 Feb. 1795, to the Venus 32, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, employed in the Downs and North Sea – 5 July following, after three months of half-pay, to the Majestic 74, flag-ship of Sir John Laforey in the West Indies – and 8 Dec. 1795, to the acting-command, on that station, of the Woolwich 44. He returned to England in May, 1796; and on 18 Aug. ensuing was officially promoted to the rank of Commander. At the renewal of hostilities in 1803, he obtained an appointment in the Sea Fencibles; and from Feb. 1805 to April, 1806, and from Sept. 1808 to May, 1809, he commanded the Bonetta and Blossom ship-sloops, on the Home, Baltic, and African stations. He accepted the rank of Captain on the Retired List 10 Sept. 1840.



PROBYN. (Lieutenant, 1841.)

Henry Probyn entered the Navy 14 Dec. 1827; passed his examination in 1834; and obtained his commission 15 March, 1841. His succeeding appointments were – 17 March, 1841, as Additional-Lieutenant, to the Winchester 50, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Harvey in North America and the West Indies – 16 Sept. 1841, to the Isis 44, Capt. Sir John Marshall, fitting for the Cape of Good Hope, whence he returned at the close of 1843 – 20 May, 1844, to the Coast Guard – and 18 Dec. 1844, to the Lily 16, Capt. Chas. Jas. Franklin Newton, equipping at Portsmouth, where he was shortly afterwards superseded. He has since been on half-pay.



PROCTOR. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 14; h-p., 4.)

Edward Halhed Beauchamp Proctor is son of Geo. Edw. Beauchamp Proctor, Esq. (brother of Rear-Admiral Sir Wm. Beauchamp Proctor, Bart.), by Ellen Louisa, daughter of Robt. Halhed, Esq. This officer entered the Navy, 8 Nov. 1829, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Winchester 52, Capts. Chas. John Austen, Henry Griffith Colpoys, Lord Wm. Paget, and Hon. Wm. Wellesley, in which ship, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Griffith Colpoys in North America and the West Indies, he continued employed as Midshipman until June, 1833. From the following Sept. until April, 1836, he served in the Favorite 18, Capt. Geo. Rodney Mundy, on the Mediterranean station, whither, in the spring of the following year, he returned as Mate (he had passed his examination 1 June, 1836) in the Princess Charlotte 104, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Robt. Stopford. In Nov. 1839, after having been for six months unemployed, he joined the Britannia 120, hearing the flag of Sir Edw. Codrington at Portsmouth; and in Feb. 1840 he there removed to the Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings. On 27 June, 1841, at which period he had been again for several months serving in the Mediterranean in the Howe 120, Capts. Sir Watkin Owen Pell and Robt. Smart, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. His succeeding appointments were – 16 Aug. 1841, to the Cyclops steam-frigate, Capt. Horatio Thos. Austin, also in the Mediterranean, whence he returned in May, 1843 – for a short time in the after part of that year, again to the Cyclops, commanded as before, and to the Stromboli steamer, Capt. Hon. Edw. Plunkett, both in the Channel – and, 14 Feb. and 26 Nov. 1845, to the command, on the Home and South American stations, of the Dwarf and Harpy steamers. For his services in the river Parana, particularly on 11 May, 1846, he was advanced, 11 Nov. following, to the rank of Commander. The Harpy on the occasion was exposed for more than an hour, within a distance of about 60 yards, to a galling fire from the forts of San Lorenzo, in the possession of General Rosas, and was greatly cut up; and he himself, the only person hurt, wounded by a round shot in the fleshy part of the right arm.[2]



PROCTOR, Bart. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1841. f-p., 15; h-p., 38.)

Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, born 14 Oct. 1781, at Langley Park, Norfolk, is eldest son of the late Sir Thos. Beauchamp Proctor, Bart., by Mary, second daughter of Robt. Palmer, Esq., of Sunning, Berks, and brother (with the present Lieut.-Colonel Rich. Beauchamp Proctor) of Capt. Robt. Beauchamp Proctor, of the Madras Artillery, who died 23 May, 1813. His nephew, Edw. Halhed Beauchamp Proctor, is a Commander R.N. He succeeded his father as third Baronet 29 June, 1827.

This officer entered the Navy, 4 Sept. 1794, as A.B., on board the Stag 32, Capt. Jos. Sydney Yorke, and on 22 Aug. 1795 assisted as Midshipman at the capture, on the coast of Norway, of the Batavian frigate Alliance of 36 guns and 240 men, after an action of about an hour, in which the enemy sustained a loss of between 40 and 50 killed and wounded, and the British of 4 killed, and 13, including himself, wounded. He continued actively employed in the Stag, on the Home station, until Jan. 1798, and then joined the London 98, Capt. John Child Purvis, off Lisbon. In the following July he removed to the Flora frigate, Capt. Robt. Gambier Middleton, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, where, it appears, he was lent for short periods to the Alcmène and Minerve frigates, Capts. Henry Digby and Geo. Cockburn. Being received on promotion, in Aug. 1800, on board the Foudroyant 80, flag-ship of Lord Keith, he was nominated, 22 Oct. ensuing, Acting-Lieutenant of La Diane frigate, Capt. Thos. Stephenson. In that ship, to which the Admiralty confirmed him 25 Feb. 1801, he obtained the Turkish gold medal for his services in Egypt. He was advanced to the rank of Commander 29 April, 1802; and in April, 1803, and Aug. 1804, he was appointed in that capacity to the Zebra bomb and Saracen 18. In the former vessel he gained the admiration of his senior officer, Capt. Robt. Dudley Oliver, by his meritorious conduct at the bombardment of Havre in July and Aug. 1804.[3] After cruizing for six months in the Channel in the Saracen, Capt. Proctor, in March, 1805, sailed on promotion for the

  1. Apart from the period of his servitude in the Sea Fencibles.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1846, pp. 3201, 3211.
  3. Vide Gaz. 1804, pp. 898, 938.