Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/135

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EDWARD GRIFFITH C0LPOYS, ESQ.
559

the Court of Common Pleas. His eldest daughter married, Jan. 8, 1818, Captain Charles C. Johnson, of the 85th regiment of foot, third son of Sir John Johnson, Bart., of Montreal, Upper Canada.




EDWARD JAMES FOOTE, Esq
Vice-Admiral of the Blue.


This officer is the youngest son of the Rev. Francis Hender Foote, of Charlton Place, Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury, by Miss Mann, daughter of Robert Mann, of Linton, co. Kent, Esq., (who was a great contractor for clothing the army, in the time of Sir Robert Walpole,) and sister of the late Sir Horatio Mann, Bart, and K.B., many years Minister at Florence[1]. He was born about the year 1767; and in 1791, we find him serving in the East Indies as Commander of the Atalante sloop, from which vessel he exchanged into the Ariel, and returned to England in the month of Aug. 1792. At the commencement of the war with the French republic, he was appointed to the Thorn, of 16 guns; and on the 7th June, 1794, promoted to the rank of Post-Captain.

Towards the latter end of the same year, Captain Foote obtained the command of the Niger, of 32 guns, in which ship he assisted at the capture of a French convoy, May 9, 1795[2]. On the 12th April, 1796, he destroyed l’Ecurieul, of 18 guns and 105 men, near the Penmarks. The Niger afterwards proceeded to the Mediterranean, and was present at the battle off Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797[3]. In October following, Captain Foote was appointed to the Seahorse, of 46 guns and 281 men, in which frigate he cruized for some time on the coast of Ireland, where he assisted at the capture of la Belliqueux, a French privateer, of 18 guns and 120 men. He subsequently returned to the Mediterranean station; and on the 27th June, 1798, after a chase of twelve hours, and a close action of eight minutes, off the island of Pantellaria, captured la Sensible, a French frigate of 36 guns and 300

  1. Vice-Admiral Foote’s grandfather was a Barrister, and it is said, sat in Parliament for a Cornish borough.
  2. See p. 287.
  3. See p. 21, et seq.