Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/951

Rh been on half-pay. He attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841.

He married, 7 May, 1840, the Hon. Rachel Emily Irby, eldest daughter of Lord Boston, by whom he has issue two children.

 PRUST. 

entered the Navy, 7 June, 1810, as Third-cl. Vol., on board 36, Capt. Edw. Sneyd Clay, on the Leith station; attained soon afterwards the rating of Midshipman; and from Jan. 1811 until July, 1814, was employed in the Baltic, Channel, North Sea, West Indies, and North America, in the 64, bearing the flags of Rear-Admirals Philip Chas. Durham and Wm. Johnstone Hope, and 74 and  80, flag-ships of Admirals Wm. Brown and Sir Alex. Cochrane. He then joined the 74, in which ship, after serving for a time with Rear-Admiral Hotham on the American coast, he fought under Capt. Chas. Ekins at the battle of Algiers 27 Aug. 1816. He remained in the until Sept. 1818, and was afterwards employed, again in the Mediterranean, in the  46, Capt. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew. As Lieutenant, a rank he attained 25 March, 1822, he served, from 10 July, 1827, until 1831, in the Coast Blockade, with his name on the books of the and  74’s, both commanded by Capt. Hugh Pigot. He has since been on half-pay.

 PRYCE. 

was born 23 June, 1786. He is one of six brothers who were devoted to the service of their country.

This officer entered the Navy, 20 May, 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 98, Capt. Edw. Griffith, bearing the flag of Sir John Colpoys on the Home station, where he removed, in 1799, to the 74 and  98, both commanded by Capt. Jas. Vashon, and continued employed as Midshipman until Jan. 1801. Joining shortly afterwards the 36, Capts. Lord Amelius Beauclerk and John Ferrier, he was on board that frigate in 1802 when she was cast away on the Haak Sand at the entrance of the Texel. After serving for about 12 months in the frigate, Capt. Walter Locke, and  74, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, under whom he took part in the unfortunate attack upon Curaçoa, and shared in a variety of cutting-out affairs, he was nominated, as a reward for his exertions during a hurricane, Acting-Lieutenant, 17 Aug. 1804, of the 18, Capt. Sam. Chambers. He was confirmed, 15 April, 1805, into the 18, Capt. Geo. Adey Creyke, then on the eve of her passage home from the West Indies; and was subsequently appointed – 24 Oct. 1805, to the 36, Capts. John Wm. Spranger and Michael Seymour, on the Irish station – 7 Jan. 1809, as First-Lieutenant (after four months of half-pay), to the 36, Capts. Keith Maxwell and John Hancock, in which ship he accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren (where he assisted in forcing the passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadsand), and was for upwards of four years and a-half employed in the North Sea – 11 Sept. 1813, in a similar capacity, to the 74, Capts. John Chambers White and Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, under the former of whom (prior to sailing for North America and the Cape of Good Hope) he landed at the head of a party of seamen, and aided, in April, 1814, in destroying the enemy’s batteries on the right bank of the Garonne – 2 Dec. 1815, again as Senior, to the 74, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, lying at Plymouth, where he remained until July, 1816 – and, 30 Nov. and 7 Dec. 1818, to the 80 and  74, both commanded by Capt. T. G. Caulfeild on the Home station. He continued in the Windsor Castle, as First-Lieutenant, until promoted to the rank of Commander on the occasion of the coronation of George IV., 19 July, 1821. Since that period he has been at times employed in the Rendezvous service at Liverpool, North and South Shields, Newcastle, Newport, and Bristol, and has raised nearly 5000 men for the fleet.

During the late hostilities in Portugal Commander Pryce, who has commanded two 50-gun frigates, and holds a commission as Captain of a line-of-battle ship in the Portuguese service, fitted out an expedition for the Queen of Portugal, and received from Don Pedro the decoration of the Tower and Sword. He has also had command of some of the finest Indiamen out of the port of London. He married, 11 May, 1816, Eliza Lawrence, daughter of Robt. Keys, Esq., of Southampton, and has issue seven sons and three daughters. – Frederick Dufaur.

 PUCKFORD. 

entered the Navy 10 June, 1810, as Midshipman, on board the 38, Capts. Philip Beaver and Chas. Marsh Schomberg, under the former of whom he assisted at the reduction of the Isles of France and Java. He continued to serve on the Cape station until the early part of 1814; between which period and June, 1822, we find him employed in North America and the Channel, at St. Helena, and in South America in the 50, Capt. John Hancock,  60, bearing the flag of Sir Pulteney Malcolm,  38, Capt. Wm. Henry Shirreff, and 74, Capt. Adam Mackenzie. Of the ship last mentioned he became an acting and a confirmed Lieutenant 22 Feb. and 8 Sept. 1821. His subsequent appointments were – 13 Nov. 1822 to the 26, Capt. Jas. Murray, fitting for the West Indies, whence he returned in June, 1824 – and, 14 Sept. 1824, to the 10, commanded by Capt. Chas. Jas. Hope Johnstone, for a short time by himself as Acting-Commander, and by Capt. John Balfour Maxwell, on the Mediterranean station. He was advanced to his present rank on bis arrival in England 15 Dec. 1827; and has since been on half-pay.

Commander Puckford married, 10 Nov. 1834, Mary, daughter of the Rev. J. F. Muckston, D.D., Prebendary of Lichfield, by whom he has issue one daughter.

 PUGET. 

entered the Navy, 12 Jan. 1813, as a Volunteer, on board the 42, Capt. Brian Hodgson, in which ship and in the  74, Capt. Alex. Skene, and 38, Capt. Thos. Briggs, he served on the East India station, the chief part of the time as Midshipman, until Aug. 1814. He then joined the 64, Capt. Wm. Wilkinson, lying in the Downs; and in Feb. 1815 entered the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, where he remained one year and 10 months. In Dec. 1817 he again embarked on board the frigate, Capt. Wm. Henry Shirreff, lying at Spithead; but he had not been many days in that ship before he removed to the 44, Capt. Chas. Malcolm, and sailed for the West Indies. Returning home in Feb. 1819, he served, from the following May until Oct. 1820, at Plymouth and Portsmouth in the sloop, Capt. Job Hanmer,  46, Capt. Wm. Furlong Wise, and 100, flag-ship of Sir Geo. Campbell. At the end of that period he again proceeded to the West Indies in the under the flag of Sir Chas. Rowley; and on 22 July, 1822, he was there confirmed a Lieutenant (two months after he had been ordered to act as such) in the 10, Capts. Thos. Herbert and Alfred Matthews. He left the in March, 1823; and was subsequently appointed – in Oct. 1824, to the  74, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond, under whom he escorted the present Lord Stuart de Rothesay to the Brazils – 23 Dec. 1825, to the  76, Capt. Fred. Warren, in which ship he was for upwards of four years employed on the