Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1322

1308 Robt. Campbell, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thos. Lennox Frederick off Cadiz, where he was frequently employed at night in rowing guard. He continued to serve with Capt. Campbell in the 74 and  36 until 1802. While in the latter ship he witnessed the surrender of Malta; during the siege of which island we again find him engaged in rowing guard. He assisted also in cutting out different vessels from the coast of France; and on 8 and 21 March, 1801, was present at the landing of the troops in Egypt and at the battle fought near Alexandria, in which Sir Ralph Abercromby was mortally wounded. On leaving the he joined first the  38, Capt. Sam. Sutton, and then, as Master’s Mate, the 36, Capt. John Wm. Taylor Dixon; under whom he was wrecked on the coast of Portugal 1 April, 1804. After serving as Midshipman and Acting-Lieutenant in the 18, Capt. Valentine Collard, off Boulogne, where he contributed to the capture, 24 April, 1805, of seven schuyts, carrying in the whole 18 guns, 1 brass howitzer, and 168 men, he was nominated, 3 Sept. in the same year, Sub-Lieutenant of the  18, Capt. Matthew Barton Bradby. He was made full Lieutenant, 22 Jan. 1806, into the 74, Capt. John Clarke Searle, in the Channel; he invalided from that ship in the following Sept.; and he was appointed subsequently – 13 May, 1807, to the  74, Capt. Hon. John Colville, part of the force employed in the expedition against Copenhagen, where he landed and was one of those selected to construct intrenchments under Sir Home Popham – 14 May, 1808 (after six months of half-pay), to the  74, Capts. V. Collard, Matthew Forster, and Thos. Harvey, stationed in the North Sea and Baltic, at first under the flag of Vice-Admiral Thos. Macnamara Russell – 3 Feb. 1810, as Senior-Lieutenant (a post he had latterly filled on board the ), to the 18, Capt. Martin White, off Guernsey – 24 Oct. 1814, in a similar capacity (ill health had obliged him to quit the  in Aug. 1810), to the  14, Capt. Alex. M‘Vicar, at Leith – 28 Dec. 1815, again as First (the had been paid off 1 Sept. preceding), to the  24, Capts. Hew Steuart and Wm. Hill, fitting for the East Indies, whence he invalided in Aug. 1818 – 17 Nov. 1823, to the receiving-ship off the Tower, Capt. Jas. Couch – and, 30 July, 1825, to the Sussex Coast Blockade. He remained in the latter service as Supernumerary and First Lieutenant of the 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, until promoted to the rank of Commander 18 Sept. 1828. He has since been on half-pay. – Hallett and Robinson.

 WILSON. 

is son of the late Retired Rear-Admiral Alex. Wilson.

This officer entered the Navy 4 June, 1813; passed his examination in 1820; and was made Lieutenant, 10 Jan. 1825, into the 24, surveying-vessel, Capt. Wm. Fitzwilliam Owen, on the coast of Africa. He returned to England in the course of the same year; and was afterwards, from 14 April, 1826, until 1 March, 1827, and from 3 June, 1831, until 18 Nov. 1834, employed in charge of the Semaphore stations on Cooper’s Hill and Putney Heath, and for a short time in 1837 in the Coast Guard. – Joseph Woodhead.

 WILSON. 

(b) is only son of Sir John Wilson, Kt., one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and for some time one of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal.

This officer entered the Navy, 2 Oct. 1801, as a Boy, on board the, Lieut.-Commander Harrison, in which vessel he served for 10 months on the Plymouth station. In Aug. 1803, at which period he had been for 12 months employed at Portsmouth and in the Channel, in the 98, Capt. Philip Turner Bover,  74, Capt. Sir Rich. John Strachan, 98, Capt. Wm. O’Brien Drury, and 74, Capt. Wm. Henry Jervis, he became Midshipman of the 74, Capt. Edw. Griffith Colpoys, under whom we find him present in Sir Robt. Calder’s action with the combined fleets off Cape Finisterre 22 July, 1805. In the following Oct. he removed to the 38, Capts. Robt. Dudley Oliver and Peter Parker, on the Mediterranean station; where, after he had again served for 10 months with Capt. Griffith as Master’s Mate in the 74, he was nominated, 1 Oct. 1808, Acting-Lieutenant of the  20, Capt. John Rich. Lumley. In that ship, to which he was confirmed 16 May, 1809, he remained until July, 1810. His next appointments were – 7 Feb. 1811, for two years, to the 98, bearing the flag of Sir Harry Burrard Neale in the Channel – 19 Jan. 1814, to the  58, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart, with whom, after having conveyed Louis XVIII. from England to France, he sailed for the coast of North America – 23 and 30 Sept. ensuing, to the 50 and  80, flag-ships there of Admirals E. Griffith and Sir Alex. Cochrane, under the latter of whom he served as Signal-Lieutenant in the expedition against New Orleans – and, in April, 1815, to the 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Griffith. On 6 June, 1815, he was made Commander into the sloop; and on that vessel being laid up at Halifax, he was removed, 1 May, 1816, to the  14. Her he paid off in the following Aug. His succeeding appointments appear to have been – 4 Aug. 1818, to the 58, fitting for the flag of Rear-Admiral Campbell, Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies – 28 Dec. 1825, to the  52, lying at Plymouth – and, 14 May, 1828, to the  104, bearing the flag of Sir Robt. Stopford at Portsmouth, where he continued until paid off in May, 1830. He has not been since afloat. His Post-commission bears date 22 Oct. 1830.

Capt. Wilson married Dorothy, daughter of Chas. Gibson, Esq., of Quernmore Park and Myerscough House, Colonel-Commandant of the Lancaster Regt. of Volunteers, and a Deputy-Lieutenant for the co. – Joseph Woodhead.

 WILSON. 

(a) entered the Navy, 9 March, 1806, as A.B., on board the bomb, commanded in the Downs by Capt. Gustavus Stupart; with whom and with Capt. Wm. Howe Mulcaster we find him serving, from Aug. in the same year until wrecked on Sable Island 3 Aug. 1812, as Master’s Mate and Acting-Master in the 18, on the Home, West India, and North American stations. He assisted during that period in beating off, when in the neighbourhood of Puerto Rico, 9 Nov. 1809, a French frigate mounting 32 guns, after an action, fought within pistol-shot, of an hour and 40 minutes, in which the was out to pieces and sustained a loss of 10 killed and 20 wounded; and on 26 Aug. 1811 and 30 July, 1812, he contributed to the capture of L’Adèle French letter-of-marque laden with cotton, and the Gossamer American privateer of 14 guns and 100 men. He continued to act as Master in another vessel called the and in the  18, both commanded by Capt. Wm. M‘Kenzie Godfrey, in the West