Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/904

890 PELHAM. 

, born 20 April, 1812, is second son of the late Earl of Yarborough, by Henrietta Anna Maria Charlotte, second daughter of Hon. John Bridgman Simpson, and grand-daughter of Henry, first Baron Bradford. He is brother-in-law of Sir Joseph Wm. Copley, Bart.

This officer entered the Navy 4 Aug. 1825; served as Midshipman on board the 42, Capt. Thos. Fellowes, at the battle of Navarin, 20 Oct. 1827; obtained his first commission 28 Sept. 1831; and was subsequently appointed – 17 Sept. 1832, to the 28, Capt. Henry Eden, from which vessel, employed on particular service, he was superseded in Feb. 1833 – 7 Nov. in the latter year, to the  46, Capt. Fras. Mason, fitting for South America – and, 21 Aug. 1835, to the 38, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Grey, under whom he accompanied Lord Auckland as Governor-General to India. Attaining the rank of Commander 15 Feb. 1836, he served in that capacity, from 21 Oct. 1837, until superseded in April, 1840, in the 16, in the Mediterranean. He was advanced to the rank he now holds 26 Oct. 1840; and has since been on half-pay.

Capt. Pelham married, 15 Oct. 1839, Madalena, second daughter of Sir John Gordon Sinclair, Bart., Capt., R.N. – Messrs. Ommanney.

 PELHAM, K.S.F.

, born 2 Aug. 1808, is second son of Thomas, second Earl of Chichester (who filled the office of Secretary to Lords Northington and Camden, when Lord-Lieutenants of Ireland, and was afterwards Secretary of State for the Home Department and Postmaster-General) by Henrietta Juliana, daughter of Fras. Godolphin, fifth Duke of Leeds. His brother, the present Earl of Chichester, is married to a sister of the Earl of Cardigan.

This officer entered the Navy 27 June, 1823; and while attached, as Midshipman, to the 48, Capt. Sam. John Pechell, was present in 1826 in an attack on the pirates in the Grecian Archipelago. He passed his examination in 1829; acquired the rank of Lieutenant 22 Feb. 1830; served as First of the 10, Capt. Edw. Wodehouse, on the Mediterranean station, from 28 April following until paid off at the commencement of 1832; and between 2 May in the latter year and the date of his promotion to the rank of Commander, 21 Sept. 1835, was employed on the north coast of Spain in the 36, Capt. Lord John Hay. For services performed while in command, from 17 Jan. 1837 until the autumn of 1838, of the 20, on the Lisbon station, Capt. Pelham was presented, 9 Aug. 1839, with the cross of San Fernando. He attained Post-rank 3 July, 1840; and since 24 May, 1847, has been in command, in the Mediterranean, of the steam-frigate, of 560 horse-power.

He married, in July, 1841, Ellen Kate, daughter of Rowland Mitchell, Esq., of Upper Harley Street, by whom he has issue. – Joseph Woodhead.

 PELL, Kt. 

, born in 1788, is son of Sam. Pell, Esq., of Sywell Hall, co. Northampton, by the daughter of Owen Owen, Esq., of Llaneyher, co. Denbigh.

This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 38, Capt. Jas. Newman Newman; and on 6 Feb. 1800 was deprived of his left leg while assisting, in company with the 20, and, , and  sloops, at the capture of the French 38-gun frigate Pallas, under the heavy fire of a battery on one of the Seven Islands. Being in consequence obliged to leave his ship, he did not again go afloat until Jan. 1802. He then rejoined Capt. Newman, as Midshipman, on board the ; and on 11 Nov. 1806, after a servitude of four years and a half on the Home and West India stations in the 40, Capt. Jas. Athol Wood, 64, and  74, both commanded by Capt. J. N. Newman,  74, Capt. Rich. Dacres, and 38, Capt. Edw. Brace, he was made Lieutenant into the 28, Capts. Chas. Pelly, Jas. Alex. Gordon, and Hon. Henry Duncan, employed at first at Bermuda and Newfoundland, and afterwards in the Mediterranean. On 4 April, 1808, being then First of the, we find him commanding the boats of that vessel, in company with those of the 38, under Lieut. Allen Stewart, at the capture of seven Spanish tartans under the very muzzles of the guns in the batteries at Rota, and in the presence of numerous armed barges and pinnaces sent from Cadiz to assist in their defence. The prizes had formed part of a fleet of merchantmen originally under the protection of 20 gun-boats, whom the, with her consorts, the and  18, had defeated in the teeth of 11 French and Spanish ships-of-the-line. The next exploit recorded of Lieut. Pell was the capture by him in the boats, 1 April, 1809, of a Venetian gunboat, La Leda, of 1 long 24-pounder and 6 large swivels, lying in the harbour of Rovigno, under a very heavy fire of great guns and musketry. “More bravery,” says Capt. Duncan, “I do not think was ever displayed than by the officers, seamen, and marines employed on this occasion. They were commanded and led on in the most gallant manner by the First-Lieutenant, Watkin Owen Pell, who received two severe wounds in boarding, and has before lost a leg in the service of his country.” The wounds alluded to were inflicted, as suggested, while Mr. Pell was endeavouring to get through La Leda’s boarding-nettings – he received the contents of a blunderbuss in his right hand and arm, and had them perforated by not less than seven balls. On the night of 7 Sept. 1809, being off the harbour of Barletta, he again took command of the boats of the, and, in the most gallant style, boarded and carried, near that place, the French schooner-of-war La Pugliése, pierced for 10 guns, but carrying only 5 6-pounders and 2 18’s, commanded by an Enseigne de Vaisseau, and having on board 31 out of a complement of 50 men, who were so prepared for the attack as to be able to fire twice before the boats got alongside, “It gives me sincere pleasure,” Capt. Duncan reports in his official account of the affair, “to add, that this service has been performed without a man being hurt on our side; and as, besides her own means of defence, the vessel was moored with eight cables inside, and almost touching a mole lined with musketry, and within musket-shot of a castle mounting 8 guns, and two armed feluccas, from under which fire she was towed without rudder or sails, I must principally attribute this good fortune to the judicious and prompt manner in which the attack was made, which strongly marks the judgment and gallantry of the First Lieutenant, Pell, who directed it.” For his conduct on the two occasions last mentioned Lieut. Pell had the satisfaction of receiving the thanks of his Commander-in-Chief. In Aug. 1809 he was voted 80l. for the purchase of a sword by the Patriotic Society; he was subsequently presented with one by Capt. Duncan; and on 29 March, 1810, he was promoted to the rank of Commander. Being next, 22 Oct. 1810, appointed to the bomb, Capt. Pell was in that vessel actively employed at the defence of Cadiz from 11 of the following month until 5 Dec. 1811. He was then detached, in company with the 64,  frigate, and several gun-boats, to co-operate with the garrison of Tarifa, then besieged by 10,000 French troops under Marshal Victor. He afterwards resumed his former station before Catalina; and continued to protect Isla de Leon until the whole of the enemy’s works were abandoned in