Page:A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry Vol 2.djvu/50

 432 BURKE'S COLONIAL GENTRY. ILincaae. The Maeryat fnmil_v trace their descent from one of three kniglits, wlio came out of Hrittany at the period of the Conquest, and settU'd in Eughmd, where their name is frequently to be found mentioned, spelt ill many Tarious ways since that time. Thomas de SIaertat, who, under John Cliampernon, joined a band of one hundred gentlemen, raised by permission of Queen Kltzabeth, to serve Tith the Huguenots under Admiral Colignj He escaped the massacre of St. Biirtholoincw, 24th August, 1572, by taking refuge in the house of Lord Whitworth, the English Ambassador. Thomas de Maeryat fought in the battle of Ivry, 1590, which destroyed the Catholic League, and on this occasion Henby IV of France allowed all the officers who fought that day under liis banner the right to bear on their arms — a canton charged with a fleur- de-lis. On his return to England, Thomas de Marryat settled in Suffolk. He m. Anne, daughter of Daniel Lake, by whom he had a son, John Marryat, who m. a daughter of Sir Thomas Style and left a son, Obadiah Marryat, barrister-at-law and Government Commissioner, who was b. in 1G51, and d. in 1709, leriving issue, Zephani.h Marryat, D.D., who was h. in 1685, and n'. in 1754. His son, Thomas M.^rryat, M.D., was b. in 1730, and il. in 1792. He practised in Lothbury, London, and at Bristol, and was the author of a work entitled Therapeutics, or the Art of Healing. He had issue, Samuel, King's Counsel, and Joseph Marryat, of Wimbledon House, CO. Surrey, M.F. for the borough of Sand- wich, chairman of the committee at Lloyd's, chief in the banking-house of Marryat, Kaye, I'rice and Co., and colonial agent for the Islands of Grrenada and Trmidad, who was b. 1757; m. 1789, Charlotte, third daughter of Frederic von Geyer, of Boston, U.S., a distinguished American loyalist, who suffered scTcrely in the great struggle nhich ended in the establishment of American independence, and by her (who d. in 1854) left nine children, of whom were, I. Joseph, M.r. for Sandwich, b. 1789, author of a popular Treatise on Potiertf and Forcelaine-, m. Mary, daughter of Lindsay, of Balcarres. II. Frederick, post captain E.N., C.B., F.B.S., F.L.S., (second son), b. in London, 10th July, 1792; entered the navy 23rd September, 180S, as a volunteer, on board the " Imperievise " ; promoted to the rank of lieuteniint, 26th I)ecember, 1812 ; commander, IMth June, 1815; and post captain 25th July, 1825. This distinguished officer was particularly mentioned for his conduct at the defence of Trini- dad Castle, attached to the fortress of Rosas, against a whole French army, 1,000 of whose picked men were com- pletely repulsed by eighty of the British, supported by an equal number of Spaniards, on the occasion of an assault made by the former, 30th November, 1808 '(vide Gazette, 1809, p. 307). He was present in the memorable attack made upon the French shipping in Aix Roads, 11th April, 1809. On 3Cth September, 1811, we find him earning the general admiration of the ship's comjiany, and the high approv.al of his captain, for his courageous conduct, when no other person would attempt it, in leading the way aloft during a tremendous gale from the south-east, which had laid his vessel, the "iEolus,"on her beam- ends, and had literally blown away lier topmasts and mizen-mast, for the purpose of cutting away the main- yard, as the only means left of saving the mainmast and righting the ship. On the morning after the decease of the Emperor Napoleon, at St. Helena, 6lh May, 1821, he formed one of the three naval captains admitted to view the body of that monarch. In May, ii2i. Captain Marryat joined in the hostilities against Ava, and for a. time officiated as senior naval (■fficcr in co- operation with the expedition under Major-General Sir Archibald Camp- bell, K.C.B., and in 1825 he com- manded an armament sent in conjunc- tion with a military force under Major Sale up the Bassein River. His con- duet from first to last was such that it procured for him thiMvpcated ackuow- ledgmeiits of the Supreme Govern- ment and other high authorities in India, and was the means of his being included in a vote of thanks from both Houses of Parliament. No less than five times between 1807 and 1813 did Captain M;irryat hazard his existmce for the preservation of others from drowning. His gallant exertions elicited the warmest thanks of the Royal Humane Society, with whose medal he was subsequently pre- set ted for his invention of a lifeboat, described in that Society's 47th report. In addition to the productions which have reridered him famous as a novelist. Captain JIarryat was the author of a work, published in 1822, entitled Suggestions for the Abolition of the Present Si/stem of Impressment in the Naval Service. He had pre- viously invented a code of signals for vessels in the merchant service, includ- ing a cij^hcr for secret correspondence, now in general use by our own and all foreign navies. On their being trans- lated into Frerch, and supplied by ordonnance to the French marine and merchant service, the king of the French sent him the Croix d'Offieierof