Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1342

1328 Sir Rich. John Strachan, on the Mediterranean, Home, and Halifax stations, in the Donegal and 74’s,  80,  74, and  again. In the he assisted, 25 Nov. 1804, at the capture, near Cadiz, of the Spanish frigate Amfitrite of 44 guns; and on removing from the  to the  he fought, 4 Nov. 1805, in the action which rendered prize to the British the four French ships-of-the-line that had escaped from the battle of Trafalgar under Rear-Admiral Dumanoir Le Pelley. On 22 of the month last mentioned (the date of his first commission) Mr. Wriford was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to Sir E. J. Strachan. In that capacity he continued to officiate until Oct. 1808; in the course of which month he became Senior of the, then bearing the flag of Hon. Robt. Stopford; under whom (previously to witnessing the attack made by Lord Cochrane upon the French shipping in Basque Roads) we find him present, 24 Feb. 1809, at the destruction, beneath the powerful batteries of Sable d’Olonne, of the 40-gun frigates Italienne, Calypso, and Cybèle. He subsequently accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren, and was for some time stationed on the coast of Portugal under the command of Capt. Wm. Granger. From 17 June, 1811, until 26 July, 1812, from 23 Nov. 1812 until 22 Aug. 1814, and from 7 Feb. 1815 until a few weeks after his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 10 Oct. following, he was employed in succession, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as First-Lieutenant, in the and  74’s and  80, Capts. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, Jas. Brisbane, and Wm. Chas. Fahie. He beheld, in the, the destruction of a convoy under the guns of Porto Maurizio and the fall of Genoa; and he co-operated, in the Malta, in the reduction of Gaeta. His last appointments were – 5 Sept. 1843 and 22 May, 1845, to the 110 and  120, Capts. Fred. Wm. Burgoyne and Manley Hall Dixon, both at Devonport, where he remained until Dec. 1846.

Commander Wriford married, in June, 1822, Mary, second daughter of the late Mr. Peter Goodman Glubb, of Liskeard, co. Cornwall, by whom he has issue.

 WRIGHT. 

entered the Navy, 12 Jan. 1808, on board the 74, Capt. Peter Puget, stationed in the Baltic. He served afterwards, between the close of the latter year and May, 1821, in the Channel, Mediterranean, and East Indies, in the and  sloops, Capts. Spelman Swaine, Gardiner Henry Guion, and Chas. Shaw, and  frigates, Capts. G. H. Guion and Andrew King, again and  38, Capts. C. Shaw and Jas. Hanway Plumridge, 50, Capt. Fras. Aug. Collier, and frigate, Capt. John Rich. Lumley. In the Liverpool he accompanied an expedition sent in 1819 to act against the pirates of the Gulf, where Ras-al-Khyma, the head-quarters of the freebooters, was taken, its fortifications destroyed, and all the vessels found there burnt or sunk. After he left the Mr. Wright (he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 21 Oct. 1820) was appointed – 24 Aug. 1825, and again (after about two years of half-pay) 13 May, 18.30, as a Supernumerary, to the  42, Coast Blockade-ship, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – 5 April, 1831, to the Coast Guard – 17 Dec. following, as Senior, to the 18, Capt. Spencer Lambart Hunter Vassall, fitting for the East Indies, where he was actively employed in the suppression of piracy in the Straits of Malacca – 18 March, 1836, in a similar capacity (the  had been paid off in July, 1835), to the  80, Capts. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie and Sir Thos. Fellowes, under whom he was for about four years stationed in the Mediterranean – and 27 Oct. 1840, also as First-Lieutenant, to the 104, Capt. Thos. Forrest, at Plymouth. He attained the rank of Commander 23 Nov. 1841; served as such in the 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore John Brett Purvis on the south-east coast of America, from 22 May, 1842, until paid off in Aug. 1845; and was advanced to his present rank 9 Nov. 1846.

 WRIGHT. 

was upset and drowned with 8 men, while in pursuit of a slaver, in a boat belonging to the, in an attempt to cross over the bar on the Benguela station, about Oct. 1846.

This officer passed his examination 3 Nov. 1837; served as Mate, on the Mediterranean and Home stations, in the 74, Capt. Edw. Harvey, steamer, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Jenkin, 8, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Geo. Butler, and 120, and  110, flag-ships of Sir David Milne and Sir John West; attained the rank of Lieutenant 1 Sept. 1845; was nominated, 15 of the same month, Additional of the  steam-frigate, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Wm. Jones on the coast of Africa; and on 21 Jan. 1846 was there appointed to the 10, Capt. Geo. Sumner Hand.

 WRIGHT. 

was born 10 Feb. 1812. His father, a member of the legal profession, was the representative of an old Cheshire family, the Wrights of Brewer’s Hall. This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1825, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Hoste, lying at Portsmouth. In the following June he removed to the 74, Capt. Joshua Sydney Horton, at Sheerness; he there, in March, 1826, attained the rating of Midshipman; and from Dec. in the latter year until his return to England in the summer of 1831 in the  74, he was employed in the Mediterranean, the last few months as Mate, in the  84, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Codrington (under whom he fought at the battle of Navarin), 10, Capt. Sir Thos. Pasley, and 18, Capt. Joseph Gape. He proceeded subsequently, in the 18, Capt. Peter M‘Quhae, to the West Indies; was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 9 May, 1832; and was subsequently appointed, on the station last named – 25 July, 1832, to the  16, Capts. Mark Halpen Sweny and John Balfour Maxwell – 13 Jan. 1837, for about four months, to the 18, Capt. Sir Jas. Everard Home – 28 Nov. 1837, to the 26, Capt. Thos. Wren Carter – and 31 Aug. 1839, to the command of the schooner of 5 guns. In the latter vessel he made prize, 30 Nov. 1839, of the, an armed Portuguese brigantine, manned with a crew of 150 men, and having on board as many as 535 slaves. In March, 1841, he was at his own request, from the state of his health, superseded in the command of the. He had been, at that period, nearly nine years employed in the West Indies. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 WRIGHT. 

passed his examination 29 Sept. 1847; was then nominated Acting-Mate of the 104, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Parker in the Mediterranean; and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 30 Sept. 1848.

 WRIGHT. 

was born 14 Feb. 1794, and died about the early part of 1848. He was son of the late Sam. Wright, Esq., of Cheshire, a Major in the Army, who, at the breaking out of the Irish rebellion in 1798, assisted in raising the Loyal Lancashire Fencibles, commanded by the late Earl of Wilton. His brother, Peter, a Lieutenant in the Royal 