Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/237

 1848 he commanded the Daring on the North American and West Indies station, and on 10 Jan. 1849 was promoted to be captain.

As he was likely to be on half-pay for some time he resolved to explore the interior of Africa, with the hope of doing something to ameliorate the condition of the negro. By way of preparation he devoted himself for some months to the study of Arabic, under the tuition of Joseph Churi, a Maronite educated at Rome, and in September 1850 proposed to Churi to make a short tour to Egypt, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Syria. They left England on 20 Oct., and were back by 20 Feb. 1851. On 20 Aug. following they left on the longer and more serious journey. They went up the Nile, across the desert to Khartoum, and on to El Obeid, where both the travellers had a severe attack of fever and ague. Peel returned to England early in January. He shortly afterwards published an account of the journey, under the title of ‘A Ride through the Nubian Desert’ (8vo, 1852).

In October 1853 Peel commissioned the Diamond frigate, attached to the fleet in the Mediterranean, and afterwards in the Black Sea. When the naval brigade was landed for the siege of Sebastopol, under the command of Captain (1803–1877) [q. v.], Peel was landed with it. In the operations that followed Peel repeatedly distinguished himself by his bravery. On 18 Oct. 1854 he threw a live shell, the fuse still burning, over the parapet of his battery. On 5 Nov., in the battle of Inkerman, he joined the officers of the grenadier guards, and assisted in defending the colours of the regiment. On 18 June 1855 he led the ladder party at the assault on the Redan, himself carrying the first ladder, until severely wounded. For these services he was nominated a C.B. on 5 July, and on the institution of the Victoria Cross he was one of the first to whom it was awarded.

On 13 Sept. 1856 he commissioned the Shannon, a powerful 50-gun steam-frigate, for service in China. She did not sail till the following March. At Singapore she was met by the news of the sepoy mutiny, and, taking Lord Elgin up to Hong Kong, where she arrived on 2 July, sailed again for Calcutta, with Elgin on board, on the 16th. She took also a detachment of marines and soldiers. At Calcutta Peel formed a naval brigade. On 14 Aug. he left the ship with 450 men and ten 8-inch guns. At Allahabad, on 20 Oct., he was reinforced by a party of 120 men; and from that time was present in all the principal operations of the army. The coolness of his bravery was everywhere remarkable, and his formidable battery rendered most efficient service. The huge guns were, under his orders, manœuvred and worked as though they had been light field-pieces. He was nominated a K.C.B. on 21 Jan. 1858. In the second relief of Lucknow on 9 March 1858 he was severely wounded in the thigh by a musket-bullet, which was cut out from the opposite side of the leg. Still very weak, he reached Cawnpore on his way to England, and there, on 20 April, he was attacked by confluent smallpox, of which he died on the 27th.

In announcing his death, the ‘Gazette,’ published at Allahabad on the 30th, said: ‘Sir William Peel's services in the field during the last seven months are well known in India and in England; but it is not so well known how great the value of his presence and example has been wherever during this eventful period his duty has led him.’ ‘He was successful,’ wrote Colonel Malleson, ‘because he was really great; and, dying early, he left a reputation without spot, the best inheritance he could bequeath to his countrymen.’ His portrait, by John Lucas [q. v.], is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. A white marble statue to his memory is in the Eden Gardens at Calcutta.



PEELE, GEORGE (1558?–1597?), dramatist, born about 1558, belonged to a family supposed to have been of Devonshire origin. His father, James Peele, was a citizen and salter of London, and for many years held the office of clerk of Christ's Hospital (cf. State Papers, Dom. Eliz. Addenda, xxiii. 28). At the same time he taught and wrote on book-keeping, and it is claimed for him that he was the first to introduce the Italian system into this country. But it is improbable that he had a knowledge of Italian. His earliest publication was ‘The maner and fourme how to kepe a perfecte reconyng, after the order of the moste worthie and notable accompte, of Debitour and Creditour, set Foorthe in certain tables, with a declaracion thereunto belongyng, verie easie to be learned, and also profitable not onely vnto suche that trade in the facte of Marchaundise, but also vnto any other estate, that will learned the same,’ London, 1553, dedicated to Sir William Denzell, knt., treasurer of the queen's majesty's wards, and governor of the company of Merchant Adventurers. Sixteen years later Peele repub-