Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/781

Rh and contributed to the capture, 28 Jan. and 9 April, 1801, of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse, and national corvette Le Général Brune of 14 guns. He attained the rank of Lieutenant 29 April, 1802; and was subsequently appointed 16 Nov. 1803, to the sloop, Capt. Wm. Wooldridge, stationed in the Channel – 23 Oct. 1804, and 21 Aug. 1806, to the 18, and  36, Capts. W. Wooldridge, Edw. Ratsey, Edw. Thos. Troubridge, and Wm. Wilbraham, both in the East Indies, whence he returned in Sept. 1807 – in the course of 1809, to the bomb, Capt. Geo. Barne Trollope, 36, Capt. John Serrell, and  36, Capts. Walter Bathurst, John Hollinworth, and Henry Hope, all on the Home station – and 14 July, 1813, to the 74, Capts. Robt. Waller Otway and Geo. Mundy, with whom he served, part of the time in the Mediterranean, until paid off in July, 1816. When Senior of the, and in company with the 38, Lieut. Mitchell was present, 2 Aug. 1805, in a severe action of two hours and a half with the French 36-gun frigate Sémillante, and several batteries, at the entrance of the Straits of St. Bernardino, Philippine Islands; on which occasion the, besides being much cut up, sustained a loss of 2 men wounded. He was afterwards mentioned for the great assistance he afforded his Captain (Troubridge) in an action of an hour with a Butch squadron, which terminated in the surrender, near Java, 26 July, 1806, of the 36-gun frigate Pallas, and armed ships Vittoria and Batavia, to the, and her consort the 32. During his servitude in the, of which he was also First-Lieutenant, we find him, while attached to the Walcheren expedition, commanding two divisions of boats in an attack on 13 of the enemy’s gun-vessels; and presented in consequence with the thanks of the late Admiral Sir Rich. Keats. He accepted the rank of Commander on the Retired List 25 March, 1834.

 MITCHELL. 

, born 19 Oct. 1799, is son of Lieut.-Col. Thos. Mitchell, R.M., who died in Oct. 1829.

This officer entered the Navy, 4 May, 1808, as Sec.-cl. Boy, on board the 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, with whom he served in the Mediterranean until Oct. 1812 – the greater part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman. He reembarked, 12 June, 1818, on board the 42, Capt. Thos. Forrest; and on 26 Oct. 1820, after he had been for rather more than three years employed on the Newfoundland station, in the frigate, Capt. John Bowker,  18, Capt. Wm. Nugent Glascock, and 10, Capt. Octavius  Harcourt, he passed his examination. During the next eight years and a half we find him serving as Admiralty Midshipman, Mate, and Admiralty Mate, in the 40, and  74, both commanded by Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch. 28, Capt. Hon. Henry John Rous, 20, Capt. Wm. Burdett Dobson, 120, Capt. Constantine Rich. Moorsom, and 50, Commodore Sir Thos. Staines, on the Downs, East India, Chatham, and Mediterranean stations. He was then, 25 Aug. 1829, promoted to a Lieutenancy in the 28, Capt. Wm. Fanshawe Martin, also in the Mediterranean; whence, in Nov. 1830, he returned to England in the 18, Capt. Rich. Shepheard Triscott. He has been in command, since 18 March, 1834, of a station in the Coast Guard.

Lieut. Mitchell married, 18 Aug. 1842, Frances Heassey, eldest daughter of Lieut. W. Ashby, R.N., then of Bexhill.

 MITFORD. 

, born 26 Jan. 1781, is second son of the late Bertram Mitford. Esq., of Mitford Castle, co. Northumberland, by Tabitha, daughter of Fras. Johnson, Esq., M.D., of Newcastle. The Rear-Admiral, who belongs to an old baronial family celebrated in earlier days as border chieftains, is uncle of, and a relative of Miss Mary Russell Mitford, the admired authoress of ‘Our Village.’

This officer entered the Navy, 8 Oct. 1794, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the of 42 guns, Capts. Sir Harry Burrard Neale and Wm. Chas. Paterson. While in that ship, besides being much in attendance on the King off Weymouth, he assisted, in company with 36, at the capture of La Résistance of 48 and La Constance of 24 guns, 9 March, 1797 – passed, soon afterwards, through the mutinous fleet at the Nore – took part in a very warm action of nearly two hours, which terminated in the defeat, by the, and her consort the  38, of a French squadron, consisting of three frigates and a gun-vessel, 9 April, 1799 – and, we believe, was present, 2 July following, in an attack made by Rear-Admiral Chas. Morice Pole on a Spanish squadron lying in Aix Roads. After serving for some time with Capt. Philip Chas. Durham in the and  frigates, and with Capt. Bendall Robt. Littlehales in the 74, he was promoted, 13 Jan. 1802, to a Lieutenancy in the  36, Capts. Henry Digby and Hon. Philip Wodehouse. Invaliding from that ship in the ensuing Sept., he was next, 28 Jan. 1804 and 30 Oct. 1806, appointed to the 32 and  44, Capts. Wm. Selby and John Tremayne Rodd, both employed, as had been the other ships, on the Home station. On 16 Feb. 1807 he was advanced to the command of the armed ship; and on 24 May, 1808, after having been attached to the force off Cadiz and Gibraltar, he assumed that of the  18. In that sloop we find him, in June, 1809, assisting at the capture of the islands of Ischia and Procida and of 18 gun-boats; and on 25 April, 1810, uniting with the and  frigates in an attack upon the enemy at Terracina; on which occasion, previously to the bringing off of several vessels by the boats of the three ships, he distinguished himself by his great energy and judgment in running in and sounding under the various batteries. He was nominated, 2 Feb. 1813, Acting-Captain of the 24, and, in that vessel, to which he was confirmed 31 March following, he continued employed, still in the Mediterranean, until Aug. 1814, when he invalided. He accepted his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.

Rear-Admiral Mitford married, in Dec. 1830, Margaret, daughter of Jas. Dunsmure, Esq., of Edinburgh, by whom he has issue one daughter.

 MOBERLY. 

entered the Navy, 20 Aug. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Barlow. After rather more than three years’ servitude in that ship in the Mediterranean, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, he became in succession attached, between Dec. 1804 and his attainment of the rank of Lieutenant, 14 Oct. 1807, to the 98, Capt. Geo. Martin, 74, Capt. Henry Inman (part of the force engaged in Sir Robt. Calder’s action, 22 July, 1805),  and  98’s, both commanded by Sir Robt. Barlow, 74, flag-ship of Lord Keith,  74, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, and 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Curzon – all on the Home station. In July, 1808, having been intermediately employed in the 74, Capt. Hon. Philip Wodehouse, and as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir John Borlase Warren, in the  74, in the North Sea and North America, he obtained an appointment to the  36, Capt. Edw. Hawker. In that frigate, besides assisting in making prize of