spoken of by the late Sir Charles Penrose, and have been briefly noticed at p. 287 et seq. of Suppl. Part II.
Commander Hext married, in Sept. 1812, Barbara, youngest daughter of the late James Read, M.D., of Tremeare, near Bodmin, and sister to Lieutenant John Read, R.M., who was killed at the attack upon Cayenne by Sir James Lucas Yeo, in 1809. His eldest and only surviving brother, the Rev. F. J. Hext, is rector of Helland, near Bodmin. The next, Samuel, a major of the 83d regiment, who served with great credit in Egypt, under Abercrombie; throughout the peninsular war, under Wellington: and subsequently at the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon; died after entering the River Thames, on his return home, in 1822. His youngest brother, Lieutenant George Hext, of H.M.S. Barrosa, a most promising young officer, was shot by a rifleman while leading the boats of that frigate to the attack of some American vessels. His eldest sister married the late Rev. C. Kendall, of Pelyn, near Lostwithiel, brother to the late Captain Edward Kendall, R.N.
THOMAS OLIVER, Esq.
[Commander.]
Obtained his first commission, and commanded the Berbice schooner, at the Leeward Islands, in 1793; was wounded while serving as a lieutenant of the Leyden 68, at the unsuccessful attack made by Lord Nelson upon the Boulogne flotilla, in the night of Aug 15th, 1801; promoted to his present rank in Jan. 1806; and appointed to the command of the Apelles sloop, on the North Sea station, about Sept. 1808. He was attached to the expedition against Walcheren, in 1809; and we subsequently find him capturing a French privateer, of 18 guns and 56 men.
Mr. James, in his Naval History, Vol. III. p. 187, gives this officer the credit of having performed a “noble exploit,” at Mariel, in the island of Cuba, April 5th, 1805; and follows up his error, by observing, in the succeeding page, that “the name of Thomas Oliver among the commanders of the year
