Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/279

DAVENHILL—DAVENPORT. Domett, bearing the flag at Newfoundland of Vice-Admiral Milbanke. In 1793 he proceeded to the Mediterranean in the 64, Capt. Andrew Sutherland; and on there joining, as Midshipman, the  74, he was present in that vessel, under Capt. Adam Littlejohn, who was killed, when she was taken, after a brave defence, by the French fleet, 7 March, 1795. On 14 of the same month he chanced, as a prisoner in the enemy’s ship Languedoc to be an eye-witness of Vice-Admiral Hotham’s first partial action. Being restored to liberty in the following Aug., Mr. Dathan immediately joined the 80, Capt. Chas. Dudley Pater, which ship was accidentally burnt, in St. Fiorenza Bay, 11 April, 1796. Mr. Dathan, who on that occasion only saved himself by jumping naked overboard, next became Master’s Mate of the 32, Capts. Ralph Willett Miller, Chas. Stewart, and Edw. Hamilton, on the Newfoundland station; and, on 2 July, 1798, was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the, of 24 or 26 guns, Capts. Wm. Butterfield and Rich. John Neve. On 12 Aug. following he assisted, and acquitted himself much to the satisfaction of his Captain, at the capture, off the coast of Ireland, of Le Neptune French national ship, of 20 guns, having on borad 270 troops, which did not surrender until after an obstinate conflict of an hour and fifty minutes, in which the enemy had upwards of 20 men killed and wounded, and the British only 6 men wounded. This prize, with all the prisoners, Mr. Dathan, aided by 20 of the ,’s crew, conducted into Cork; which place, however, in consequence of her shattered state, he was eight days in reaching. The, being paid off in June, 1802, he was lastly, from Aug. 1803, to July, 1810, and from Sept. 1811, until Aug. 1814, employed in the Impress service at North Shields, and also in London. He accepted his present rank 12 Oct. 1841.

Commander Dathan, whose wounds have nearly deprived him of sight, was admitted, 29 April, 1833, to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital. He is married, and has issue eight children. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.

 DAVENHILL. 

– who had previously served for eight months in the sloop, Capt. Williams – joined, on 4 Sept. 1796, the  18, Capt. David Lloyd, with whom he served, in the North Sea, as Midshipman, until June, 1798. He next officiated for three years as Master’s Mate of the 28, Capts. Robt. Winthrop and Isaac Woolley; and during that period attended the expedition to the in Aug. 1799. In April, 1801, he became attached to the 80, flagship at Jamaica of Lord Hugh Seymour; after which he rejoined Capt. Wolley in the, in Jan. 1802; and from June, 1803, until the receipt of his Lieutenant’s commission, 22 Jan. 1806, further served, a great part of the time as Master’s Mate, on board the , , and  frigates, commanded on the Mediterranean, Channel, and Irish stations, by Capts. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett, and Robt. Winthrop. He was subsequently appointed – 17 March, 1806, to the sloop, Capt. Robt. Yarker, in the West Indies – 15 March, 1810, to the 16, Capt. Joseph Packwood, at Leith – and, 10 Dec. 1810, to the  sloop, off the coast of Ireland. After being 40 years on half-pay, Commander Davenhill was at length invested with the rank he now holds 8 Jan. 1842.

He was awarded the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 11 Dec. 1841. – Fred. Dufaur.

 DAVENPORT, formerly Humphreys, Kt., C.B., K.C.H.

was born, 24 Nov. 1778, at Clungunford Rectory, near Ludlow, and died, 17 Nov. 1845, at Cheltenham. He was third son of the Rev. Evan Humphreys, Rector of Montgomery and of Clungunford, by Mary, daughter, and coheir, with her sister, of the Rev. Salusbury Pryce, D.D.; and brother of the late Rev. Dr. Trevor, Prebendary of Chester. Sir Salusbury assumed the surname of Davenport in 1838, on succeeding, through his wife, to the Davenport estates of Bramall, in Cheshire. This officer entered the Navy, 1 July, 1790, as Midshipman, on board the 64, Capt. Jas. Vashon; served next in the West Indies, with Sir John Laforey and Capts. Matthew Squire and Fras. Laforey, in the 50,  32, and  sloop; escorted Lord Dorchester, in 1794, to Quebec in the  44, Capt. Paul Minchin; and, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 27 Jan. 1797, further served, in the Leeward Islands, under the latter officer and his successor, Capt. Matthew Henry Scott, on board the  38. Mr. Humphreys, who subsequently co-operated in the reduction of Ste. Lucie, returned to England, in April, 1797, in the, which sloop had been appointed to bring home the despatches relative to the unsuccessful attack on Puerto Rico. While next attached to the 32, he took command, 12 Aug. 1799, of the, a schuyt armed with 2 24-pounder carronades, which he had recently cut out; and, assisted by the  gun-boat, and by the launches of the  and , took a 6-gun battery at Schiermonikoog, on the coast of Holland, where he also brought out 13 of the enemy’s vessels, and caused the destruction of the Vengeance schooner, of 6 guns and 70 men. After the ensuing occupation of the Helder, Lieut. Humphreys joined the 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Mitchell, whom he accompanied up the Zuyder Zee in the  of 20 guns. On his removal to the cutter, we next find him, on the night of 7 July, 1800, supporting Capt. Henry Inman in an attempt to destroy four French frigates in Dunkerque, on which occasion La Désirée, of 40 guns and 350 men, fell into the hands of the British. He was afterwards, while serving with Sir Andrew Mitchell in the 74, promoted to the rank of Commander, 29 April, 1802; and posted, while commanding the  bomb, at Portsmouth, 8 May, 1804. In May, 1806, Capt. Humphreys was appointed to the 50, on the Halifax station, where, shortly after his arrival, he removed to the, of similar force, flag-ship of the Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, who, however, chiefly resided on shore. On 22 June, 1807, being off Cape Henry, he fell in with the American frigate Chesapeake of 46 guns; and, pursuant to the orders of his Commander-in-Chief, proceeded to search that vessel for deserters. The attempt meeting with resistance, Capt. Humphreys, finding it impossible otherwise to fulfil the instructions he had received, eventually fired three broadsides, which killed 3 and wounded 18 of the Chesapeake’s people; whereupon the latter ship struck her colours. The search was then carried into effect, and four of the runaway seamen discovered and identified; after which the made sail, and returned to the squadron she had recently left. Capt. Humphreys’ conduct throughout the whole transaction met with the warm approval of Vice-Admiral Berkeley; but that officer, in order to propitiate the Americans, to whom the affair had given the utmost offence, was recalled in 1808. The subject of this memoir was at the same time placed on half-pay, and not afterwards employed. He attained Flag-rank 17 Aug. 1840.

The Rear-Admiral, who acted as magistrate for the counties of Buckingham, Chester, Derby, Lancaster and Gloucester, was nominated a C.B. 26 Sept. 1831, and on 21 Feb. 1834, received the honour of Knighthood and the Insignia of a K.C.H. He married first, in 1805, Jane Elizabeth, eldest daughter and heir of John Tirel Morin, Esq., of Weedon Lodge, Bucks. That lady dying in 1808, he wedded, secondly, 31 May, 1810, Maria, daughter and heir of Wm. Davenport, Esq., of Bramall Hall. By the former marriage he had issue one son, now