Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/371

FiNCH—FINEMORE—FINLAISON—FINLAYSON. Irish stations, latterly as Acting-Lieutenant, in the 28, Capts. Philip Wodehouse and Adam Mackenzie, 20, Capts. Henry Hill and Bridges Watkinson Taylor, 74, flagship of Rear-Admiral Rich. Dacres, and again, Capt. Robt. Barrie. In Jan. 1806, Mr. Figg became Acting-Sub-Lieutenant of the gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander John Debenham. Being advanced to the full rank of Lieutenant, 30 Aug. 1806, he was subsequently appointed – 3 March, 1807, to the 18, Capt. Joseph Pearce, lying at Sheerness – 24 July, 1807, as First, to the  18, Capt. Thos. Young, under whom he assisted at the capture of two batteries on the coast of Finmark in 1809 – 20 Feb. 1810, to the 16, Capt. Jas. Boxer, on the Downs station – and, 22 April, 1812, to the command of the schooner, of 12 guns. In which vessel, when off Scilly, he assisted the sloop and several small craft in beating off,, the French 40-gun frigate La Gloire. Lieut. Figg, who during the war was repeatedly engaged on boat-service and in action with the enemy’s batteries, left the 26 Aug. 1815, and from that period remained on half-pay until the close of 1820, when he successively assumed command of the  and  Revenue-cutters. Since quitting the latter vessel he has not been employed. His acceptance of his present rank took place 21 April, 1840.

Commander Figg married, 23 June, 1821, and has issue five children. – Joseph Woodhead.

 FINCH. 

entered the Navy 11 May, 1811; and passed his examination in 1817. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 5 July, 1826, in the ; obtained an appointment in the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, 22 Feb. 1827; and joined the Coast Guard 1 July, 1831. He left the latter service in 1832; and does not appear to have been again employed until 12 July, 1846, when he obtained an appointment to the 104, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Admiral-Superintendent Hyde Parker. Since his advancement to the rank he now holds, which took place 9 Nov. following. Commander Finch has again been on half-pay.

He is married. – Case and Loudonsack.

 FINEMORE. 

was born 19 Aug. 1789. This officer entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield, flag-ship afterwards of Admirals John Child Purvis and Sir Chas. Cotton, in which he served at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, and attended, as Midshipman, the expedition to Copenhagen in Aug. 1807. From Jan. 1808, until May, 1814, he was employed on board the 110,  110, and  100, flag-ships in the Mediterranean and Channel of Sir C. Cotton, Rear-Admiral Fras. Pickmore, and Lord Keith. During that period he witnessed the surrender, when on board the, of the Russian squadron in the Tagus, in Aug. 1808, and was much engaged in blockading the enemy’s ports. On leaving the, Mr. Finemore escorted a body of troops to Canada as Acting-Lieutenant of the 74, Capt. John Chambers White. He was eventually confirmed to the 18, Capt. Jas. Hanway Plumridge, 17 Feb. 1815, from which sloop, on his return from a visit to the East Indies, he was paid off 9 Dec. 1816. His appointments have since been – 3 Nov. 1825, to the Coast Blockade, in which service, with the interruption of a year and nine months in 1826-7, he continued, as Supernumerary-Licutenant of the 42, and  and  74’s, Capts. Wm. Jas. Mingaye and Hugh Pigot, until Dec. 1830 – and 26 Aug. 1834, to the command of a station in the Coast Guard, a post he still holds.

He is married, and has issue. – Messrs. Chard.

 FINLAISON. 

entered the Navy, 7 Oct. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the sloop, Capts. John Burn, Geo. Digby, and Fras. Newcombe, on the Mediterranean station, where, from June, 1807, until Oct. 1809, he served, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the 38, Capt. Geo. Mundy, 18, Capt. Edw. Harvey, and, Capt. Peter Fisher. On 7 Aug. 1807, when in the, he assisted in her boats, under Lieut. Edw. O’Brien Drury, at the cutting out, after an hour’s cannonade, of three armed vessels from the harbour of Begu, on the coast of Catalonia, although opposed by a galling fire from the shore as well as from the shipping, whose force, in the whole, consisted of 32 guns and 210 men. Proceeding to the West Indies in 1809, Mr. Finlaison there served, until Aug. 1812, on board the 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, 36, Capts. Robt. Preston and Hugh Pigot, 74, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Laforey, and 16, Capt. Alex. Kennedy – of which latter vessel he appears to have been confirmed a Lieutenant 8 April, 1811. He then joined the 16, Capts. Nath. Mitchell, Vincent Newton, and Geo. Hilton, on the North American station, where he continued until Feb. 1815. Being next appointed, 4 Nov. 1819, to the frigate. Commodore Sir Geo. Ralph Collier, he proceeded to the coast of Africa, and was there nominated Acting-Commander, 26 May, 1820, of the sloop. While in that vessel, to which he was confirmed 9 Sept. 1820, he received a letter of thanks from the merchants of the English colony on the river Gambia, for the able manner in which he brought to an amicable conclusion the differences between the native chiefs and the British interests. He invalided home in 1822; was afterwards employed in the Coast Guard from 30 June, 1834, until the summer of 1837; and, during the year 1844, was Governor of Ascension and Commander of the store-ship. He has since been unemployed. – Joseph Woodhead.

 FINLAYSON. 

, born 21 Nov. 1786, is of Scotch extraction.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 June, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 98, Capt. John Holloway, bearing the flags afterwards of Lord Nelson and Sir Chas. Morice Pole, of which ship he was Signal-Midshipman in the action off Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801. During that memorable conflict he went on board the and other ships of the fleet, and eventually took possession of the, a captured 64. In April, 1803, having been unemployed, except in the merchant service, for a period of 16 months, he re-embarked, as Master’s Mate, on board the 36, Capts. Willoughby Thos. Lake and Anselm John Griffiths, with whom, successively, he continued on the Irish station until March, 1807, when he sailed for the West Indies in the 32, Capt. Fred. Warren, where, after an intermediate attachment to the and  74’s, bearing each the flag of Sir Alex. Cochrane, he became Acting-Lieutenant, in Nov. 1807, of the 44, Capts. Christopher John Williams Nesham and Wm. Maude. While in the latter ship, his appointment to which received official sanction 9 April, 1808, Mr. Finlayson landed as second in command of a detachment of seamen and marines under Lieut. Gore, and, after storming a strong battery, the guns of which (16 24-pounders) he destroyed, sustained, on his way back to the boats, several assaults from the enemy’s troops, and received a musket-ball in the left leg. He also, in March, 1808, assisted at the capture of Marie-galante, and, when that island was