A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bedford, Frederick
BEDFORD. (Lieut., 1799. f-p., 10; h-p., 44.)
Frederick Bedford, born 20 Feb. 1779, is son of the late John Bedford, Esq., of Fair Lawn, Acton, co. Middlesex.
This officer entered the Navy, 7 May, 1793, under the patronage of Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, as Captain’s Servant, on board the America 64, Capt. Hon. John Rodney, whom he followed, 12 Feb. 1795, into the Vengeance 74, both employed on Channel service. Joining next the Jason 38, Capt. Chas. Stirling, he assisted, in company with the Pique 36, at the capture, 30 June, 1798, off the coast of France, after an action in which the Jason sustained a loss of 7 men killed and 11 wounded, of the French 40-gun frigate La Seine; and on that occasion he received, as Midshipman, a gun-shot wound in the face, which almost totally deprived him of the sight of the right eye, and produced a contraction of the jaw, which still renders him unable more than partially to open his mouth.[1] The Jason being wrecked in the following Oct. off Brest, Mr. Bedford, with the rest of the crew, fell into the hands of the enemy, and was for several months confined in prison. On his eventual return to England, we find him, in Feb. 1799, obtaining a berth on board the Cambrian 40, Capt. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge; with whom he continued to serve in the Channel, until promoted to a Lieutenancy, 6 Sept. 1799, in La Sophie 18, Capt. Geo. Burdett, on the North American station. After a brief attachment to the Invincible 74, bearing the flag in the North Sea of Rear-Admiral Thos. Totty, he was subsequently appointed, 6 May, 1801, to the Dasher 18, Capt. Geo. Tobin. On 13 June in the same year, the latter vessel having grounded, while in chase of a convoy, near Pointe d’Yeu, on the coast of La Vendée, Lieut. Bedford gallantly volunteered to continue the pursuit in the boats, but, when some miles distant from the Dasher, he received a shot from the stern-chaser of a national schooner which took off his left leg high above the knee, and instantly sank the cutter he was in. In consequence of this disaster, which.deprived him of all hope of future active employment, he was obliged to return home; and, on petitioning Earl St. Vincent for the rank of Commander, obtained, 23 June, 1802, his present appointment to Greenwich Hospital – the salary to be enjoyed independently of any pension for wounds to which he might become entitled. Notwithstanding this express specification, he was, together with Capts. Sam. Arden and Joseph Ellison, both of Greenwich Hospital, excluded from the increased pension granted in 1815 to such officers as had been promoted subsequently to the receipt of their wounds; and he has therefore only the 91l. 5s. per annum, awarded him 9 Dec. 1301.
Lieut. Bedford, who is third on the list of Lieutenants, and the Senior of Greenwich Hospital, married, in 1805, Mary, second daughter of Lieut. Geo. Spearing, R.N. (1757), who died Senior Lieutenant of the Royal Navy in 1825, in his 97th year. By that lady he has had issue five sons and three daughters. Of the former, the eldest, Frederick, died in the West Indies, while serving as Admiralty Mate under Capt. Owen; and three others, – George Augustus, a Commander, – Edward James, a Lieutenant, – and Alfred, a Midshipman, – are all in the naval service of their country. One of the daughters, Maria, is the widow of Lieut. Wm. Mayott, R.N.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 651.