Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1345

Rh have been in possession of Clifton Hall since the days of Edward III.

This officer entered the Navy, 6 Sept. or Oct. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Edw. Rotheram, bearing the flag in the Channel of the late Sir Albemarle Bertie; with whom, in 1808, he sailed, as Midshipman, in the 50, for the Cape of Good Hope; where he continued employed until 1810 in the  18, Capt. Wm. Fisher, 18, Capts. Wm. Gordon and Henry Thompson, 38, Capt. Josias Rowley, and  38, flag-ship again of Admiral Bertie. In June, 1811, he rejoined Capt. Rowley on board the 74, in the Mediterranean; and on 19 April, 1814, after having taken part in the unsuccessful attack upon Leghorn and in the reduction of Genoa, he was there nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the  98, Capt. John Erskine Douglas. To that ship he was confirmed 18 May following. He left her in July of the same year; and was afterwards employed – from Sept. 1814 until Nov. 1815 in the 10, Capt. Wm. Rush Jackson,, on the river Clyde – and from 15 April, 1820, until advanced (on being paid off) to the rank of Commander 31 March, 1824, part of the time as Flag-Lieutenant, in the 80, bearing the flag of Sir Graham Moore in the Mediterranean. These were his last appointments.

Commander Wybergh married, in 1828, Jane, second daughter of the late Archibald Tod, Esq., of Drygrange, co. Roxburgh, by whom he has left issue three sons and four daughters.

 WYBORN. 

died in 1846.

This officer entered the Navy, 23 Feb. 1794, on board the 74, Capts. Henry Harvey, Sir Rich. Bickerton, Bartholomew Sam. Rowley, and Rich. Grindall; in which ship he fought in Lord Howe’s action and continued employed as Midshipman in the West Indies, North Sea, and Channel until 1799, when he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in the 64, flag-ship of Sir Roger Curtis. In 1800 he suffered great privations and narrowly escaped being devoured by the Caffres on the east coast of Africa, while engaged in conducting a prize from the Mauritius to the Cape. He was nominated, 14 Jan. 1801, Acting-Lieutenant of the 50, Capts. Hon. Chas. Elphinstone and Sam. Mottley; was confirmed to that ship 19 Nov. following; and was appointed next – 3 June, 1802, and 24 Jan. 1805, as Senior, to the 18, Capts. John Le Gros and John Cramer (now Coghill), and 74, Capt. Joseph Bingham, both in the East Indies – 13 Oct. 1808 (the  had been paid off in the preceding July), to the  36, Capt. Sam. Pym, fitting at Chatham – and 9 March, 1809, again to the, Capts. Joseph Bingham and Volant Vashon Ballard. For his subsequent conduct in a battery during the siege of Flushing he was earnestly recommended to notice; and for the prompt measures he adopted in destroying the batteries at Anse la Barque, in the island of Guadeloupe, and the assistance he afforded at the destruction of two heavy French frigates lying under their protection, he was promoted to the rank of Commander by a commission dated back to the day of the action, 18 Dec. 1809. After the conquest of Guadeloupe he returned home a passenger in the store-ship. In March, 1819, he obtained an appointment in the Ordinary at sheerness; and from 6 April, 1829, until the spring of 1832, he was employed in the Coast Guard. He was placed on the List of Retired Captains 10 Sept. 1840.

 WYKE. 

was born in 1805 in Somersetshire, and died in 1840.

This officer entered the Navy 20 Sept. 1822, as Midshipman, on board the 28, Capts. Thos. Alexander and Henry Ducie Chads, stationed in the East Indies, where he took an active part in the hostile operations against the Burmese, and suffered much from constant boat-service on the river Irawady. Immediately prior to a successful attack made, 5 Feb. 1825, upon a formidable stockade at Than-ta-bain, mounting 36 guns, with the hope of getting on shore before any of his companions, he jumped overboard from the ’s launch, holding his sword, by the becket, in his mouth. The strong tide and great depth of water rendered his situation extremely dangerous; but he fortunately succeeded in getting hold of an oar, thrown to him by a brother Midshipman, Mr. Valentine Pickey, and was rescued in time to enable him to enter the stockade among the foremost of the assailants. While he was resting on the oar, the loom of it was carried away by one of the enemy’s shot. In Jan. 1826 he commanded a cutter at the capture of Melloone, the defences of which place were considered a chef-d’oeuvre of Burman fortification. In Feb. 1827, having returned to England with a constitution much impaired, he was received on board the 74, Capt. Joshua Sydney Horton, lying at Sheerness; and in the following July he joined the  50, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines. On 18 Dec. in the same year, being at the time in the Mediterranean, he jumped from the taffrail of the latter ship and saved the life of a valuable seaman, although the wind was blowing strong, the weather cold, and the ship in stays. He was subsequently, 31 Jan. 1828, present in an attack made by a squadron under Sir T. Staines on a fort and several vessels in possession of the pirates at Carabusa. In the summer of the same year he returned home in the 50, Capt. Hon. Jas. Ashley Maude; he then went back for a short time to the Gloucester; and on 10 Feb. 1829 he passed his examination. He was employed afterwards as Mate – from 23 Sept. 1830 until 4 Feb. 1832, in the 28, Capt. Sir John Franklin, in the Mediterranean – from 3 April, 1834, until 1 Feb. 1835, in the  16, Capt. John Balfour Maxwell, in the West Indies, – and from March, 1840, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 4 Nov. following, in the  76, Capt. Hon. Wm. Waldegrave. In 1841 he was appointed to the 120, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Mason in the Mediterranean; where he was lent to the surveying-vessel, Capt. Thos. Graves. Symptoms of consumption, induced by the nature of his services, caused him, about May, 1842, to invalid. – Joseph Woodhead.

 WYLDE. 

entered the Navy, 1 Aug. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 110, bearing the flag of Earl St. Vincent off Lisbon and in the Channel. From March, 1807, until Nov. 1811, he served on the latter and on the Cork and Cape of Good Hope stations, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the 36, Capt. Fred. Lewis Maitland; he then joined the Curaçoa 36, Capt. John Tower, in the Mediterranean; and on 14 Jan. 1814 he was there nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the 74, Capts. John Erskine Douglas and Wm. Henry Webley Parry. On 13 March, 1808, he shared in a very gallant attempt made by the boats of the to cut out from Vivero Harbour the French corvette L’Apropos of 20 guns and 70 men; and in April, 1809, he was present in the same frigate at the destruction of the enemy’s shipping in Aix Roads. Being confirmed a Lieutenant in the 16 March, 1814, he continued to serve in that ship in the West Indies and on the coast of France until Aug. 1815. His subsequent appointments were – 28 May, 1828, as Senior, to the 74, Capt. F. L. Maitland, in the Mediterranean – 10 June, 1831, for about 18 months, to the Coast Guard – 15 Dec. 1841, to the post of Admiralty  on board a contract mail 