Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1284

1270 WEST. 

was born 12 Jan. 1806, and died 6 March, 1845, while belonging, as stated beneath, to the 50. He was second son of Gilbert Harvey West, Esq., late of Her Majesty’s Treasury, by Fanny Mary, eldest daughter of Sir Martin Browne Folkes, Bart., M.P.; nephew of the late Capt. Henry West, R.N., of Sir Edw. West, Kt., Recorder of Bombay, and of John Martin West, Esq., who married Lady Maria Walpole, daughter of Horatio, second Earl of Orford; and cousin of Among his ancestors was the famous Sir Fras. Drake. He was a connexion, also, of the late Admiral Sir W. T. Lake, K.C.B.

This officer entered the Navy, 31 July, 1819, as Midshipman, on board the 18, in which vessel, commanded at first by his relative, Capt. Chas. Nelson, and next by Capt. Wm. Rochfort, he was for four years and a half chiefly employed on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. He then served for rather more than three years as Midshipman and Mate (he passed his examination 27 Oct. 1825) in the 26, Capt. Houston Stewart, at Halifax and at Woolwich; and on joining, at the end of that period, the  bomb, Capt. Wm. Edw. Parry, he sailed on a voyage of discovery to the Polar regions. In Nov. 1827, having returned to England, he was appointed to the 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Gordon, employed on particular service. From her he removed, in Aug. 1828, to the 46, Capts. Arthur Batt Bingham and Sam. Burgess, of which frigate he was Acting-Lieutenant when she struck on a rock, near Cape Frio, and was wrecked 5 Dec. 1830. On that occasion, by jumping, with the gunner and three or four men, on the rock, after many had perished in the attempt, he proved instrumental in saving the lives of the Captain, the officers, and upwards of 200 of the crew. For his conduct he received a letter of thanks from the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Thos. Baker, and was presented, immediately after the court-martial, with a commission bearing date 28 April, 1831. His succeeding appointments were – 20 July, 1832, to the 18, Capts. Wm. Hargood, Hon. Geo. Grey, and Wm. Holt, in the Mediterranean – 4 Nov. 1835, as Senior Lieutenant, to the 18, Capt. Wm. Henry Hallowell Carew, fitting for South America, where he was superseded in Dec. 1836 – 10 April, 1839, as Second, to the 72, Capt. Houston Stewart, of which ship, part of the force employed in 1840 on the coast of Syria and at the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre, he became First-Lieutenant – and, 16 July, 1842, in the capacity last mentioned, after a few weeks of half-pay, to the  24, Capt. Rich. Laird Warren, again in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to the rank of Commander 14 Sept. 1843; and in the early part of 1845 he was nominated Second Captain of the 50, fitting for the flag of Sir Fras. Wm. Austen, Commander-in-Chief on the North America and West India station.

 WEST. 

was born in 1788. One of his brothers, a Midshipman of the 74, Capt. Henry Edw. Reginald Baker, was drowned with 12 men in a boat belonging to that ship in the Downs in 1813; another, Matthew Thomas, a Lieutenant R.N. (1814), died in 1841.

This officer entered the Navy, 25 March, 1800 (under the auspices of the late Commissioner Geo. Henry Towry), as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 38, Capt. H. E. R. Baker, with whom, after sharing in the operations connected with the expedition to Egypt, he removed as Midshipman, in Dec. 1801, to the  64, armée en flûte. That ship being paid off in Sept. 1802, he joined next, in April, 1803, the 74, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield. On 28 May following he witnessed the capture of the French 44-gun frigate La Franchise; and, after serving for some months at the blockade of Brest and Cadiz, be fought, as Signal Midshipman, at the battle of Trafalgar. In 1807 he sailed, under Rear-Admiral Wm. Essington, with the expedition against Copenhagen. While there, having passed his examination in Dec. 1806, he was received, 23 Aug. 1807, on board the 98, bearing the flag of Admiral Gambier; and nominated, 13 Sept. ensuing, Sub-Lieutenant of the  gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Price, whom he succeeded in the command, as Acting-Lieutenant, in Dec. of the same year. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, 9 Feb. 1808, into the bomb, Capt. John Sanderson Gibson, stationed on the coast of Jutland. His next appointment was, 24 March, 1809, to the 74, Capt. Edw. Codrington, in a boat belonging to which ship he was the means, while in company with the schooner, of saving one of the crew of the latter vessel, which, with the rest of her people, foundered. During the ensuing operations in the Scheldt, the, bearing the flag at the time of Lord Gardner, grounded under the batteries of Flushing, and suffered, in the course of an engagement with the enemy of two hours and three quarters, a loss of 2 men killed and 9 wounded, besides being twice set on fire. While at Cadiz, in 1810, she was charged with the removal to Minorca of four Spanish line-of-battle ships, the whole of which, although old and leaky, destitute of men to navigate them, only half-provisioned, and crowded with refugee passengers, were ultimately anchored in safety at Fort Mahon, after a distressing passage of 38 days. On returning to the coast of Spain, Mr. West, who had been placed on board one of the Spanish ships, assisted at the defence of Tarragona and in other operations connected with the patriot cause. He had been previously, when at Cadiz, employed in a gun-boat. An attack of pleurisy obliging him to leave the in July, 1811, he was not again employed until appointed, in Nov. 1812, Flag-Lieutenant, in the  32, to Rear-Admiral Thos. Surridge, Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. He had the honour subsequently of steering and attending on the Duke of Clarence during a visit made by H.R.H. to the Russian fleet sent over to England for safety. A few days after Rear-Admiral Surridge had struck his flag, Mr. West, through the strong recommendation made in his favour by that officer to the First Lord of the Admiralty, was promoted to the rank of Commander 4 June, 1814. He has since been on half-pay.

He married, in 1815, Miss Sarah Ware, of Camden Town, London, and has issue four sons and two daughters. – Messrs. Ommanney,

 WEST. 

is second son of the late Rev. Edw. Matthew West, Rector of Clifton Mabank, and Vicar of Bradford-Abbas and Haydon, co. Dorset, by Anne, daughter of the late Rev. Edw. Cotes, Vicar of Sherborne and Caundle-Bishops, both in Dorsetshire, and many years chaplain to his great-uncle, William, Lord Digby.

This officer entered the Navy, 22 May, 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 38, Capts. Henry Digby and Hon. Philip Wodehouse; in which frigate he continued, we are told, until, after having cruized in the Channel, and visited Quebec and Lisbon, she was wrecked, near Cape St. Vincent, 31 May, 1803. He then, in the course of the latter year, joined in succession (he had attained the rating of Midshipman in Aug. 1801) the 100, flag-ship of Lord Nelson,  sloop, Capt. Robt. Pettet, and 32, Capt. Sam. Sutton. In the he assisted at the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth, off Cape St. Mary, 5 Oct. 1804, and accompanied Lord Nelson in