Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/194

P nant of the Cæsar, from which he was moved in 1811 to the Macedonian, and in 1812 to the San Domingo, commanded by his brother, and carrying the flag of his uncle, Sir John Borlase Warren [q. v.], on the North American station. By Warren he was appointed to the acting command of the Colibri brig, and afterwards of the Recruit, in both of which he cruised with some success on the coast of North America. On 30 May 1814 he was promoted to the rank of commander, and in May 1818 commissioned the Bellette for the Halifax station, where he was employed in enforcing the treaty stipulations as to the fisheries. In October 1820 he was appointed by Rear-admiral Griffith to the command of the Tamar frigate, which, being very sickly, had come north from Jamaica, and had lost her captain and a large proportion of her officers and men. The commander-in-chief on the Jamaica station, however, claimed the vacancy, and the matter being referred to the admiralty, all the promotions were disallowed, and Pechell returned to the Bellette. While in the Tamar he had obtained the authority of the Haytian government for putting a stop to piracy committed by vessels pretending to be Haytian, and for searching all suspected vessels. He accordingly captured a large brigantine, with a crew of ninety-eight men, and forged commissions from the different independent states of South America. On 26 Dec. 1822 Pechell was advanced to post rank. In July 1830 he was nominated gentleman-usher of the privy chamber, and in April 1831 equerry to Queen Adelaide. In 1835 he was returned to parliament as member for Brighton, which he continued to represent in the whig interest during his life, taking an active part in public affairs, and especially in all questions relating to the navy, the mercantile marine, or the fisheries. On the death of his brother on 3 Nov. 1849 he succeeded to the baronetcy, and took the additional surname of Brooke; he became a rear-admiral on the retired list on 17 Dec. 1852, and vice-admiral on 5 Jan. 1858. He died at his house in Hill Street, Berkeley Square, on 29 June 1860. He married, in 1826, Katharine Annabella, daughter and coheiress of the twelfth Lord de la Zouche, by whom he had issue a son and two daughters. The son having predeceased him, the baronetcy passed to his cousin.

[O'Byrne's Naval Biogr. Dict.; Times, 30 June 1860.] 

PECHELL, PAUL (1724–1800), first baronet and soldier, second son of Jacob Pechell and of Jane, daughter of John Boyd, was born at Owenstown, co. Kildare, in 1724. His father, Jacob, served in the British army and adopted the war-office spelling, Pechell. His grandfather, Samuel de Péchels (1645–1732), a native of Montauban, was ejected from his estate upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. In a brief narrative (printed in Sussex Archæological Collections, xxvi. 116) he relates how, after the entry of the ‘missionary’ dragoons into Montauban, he was first imprisoned at Cahors, and then in 1687 conveyed to Montpellier, whence he was shipped to the French West Indies. He managed to escape from St. Domingo to Jamaica in 1688, and, after many hardships, reached England in the autumn of that year. In August 1689 he accompanied William III to Ireland as a lieutenant in Schomberg's regiment, and in January 1690 the king granted him a pension. He subsequently acquired the estate of Owenstown, co. Kildare, and, dying at Dublin in 1732, was buried in St. Anne's Church in that city.

Paul himself entered the army as cornet-en-second in the royal regiment of dragoons (1st dragoons), 17 March 1743–4. He was promoted to be captain in Brigadier-general Fleming's regiment (36th foot), now the second battalion Worcestershire regiment, 12 Dec. 1746. At the beginning of 1747 the 36th regiment embarked at Gravesend to join the army of the Duke of Cumberland in Flanders. Pechell was present at operations near the frontiers of Holland, which led to the battle of Laffeld or Val, near Maestricht, 2 July 1747. His regiment lost two officers, two sergeants, and twenty-two rank and file, and he was among the wounded. He received from the Duke of Cumberland ‘the greatest commendation’ (Lond. Gazette, 27 July 1747).

After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 7 Oct. 1748, the establishment of the regiment was reduced on its return to England, and Pechell was gazetted captain in the 3rd dragoon guards, 31 May 1751. In the spring of 1752 this regiment furnished relays of escorts to attend George II to Harwich, where his majesty embarked on his way to Hanover, and for the next three years the regiment was on coast duty to put down the smuggling and highway robbery in Suffolk, Essex, and Devonshire. On 25 Nov. 1754 Pechell was gazetted guidon and captain in the second troop of the horse grenadier guards (now the 2nd lifeguards), lieutenant and captain 5 July 1755, major 7 Feb. 1759, and lieutenant-colonel 20 Jan. 1762.

He retired from the service on 24 June 1768, receiving a lump sum for his commis-