A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Biddulph, Edward
BIDDULPH. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 16; h-p., 28.)
Edward Biddulph entered the Navy, 12 Sept. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Indefatigable 46, Capts. Graham Moore and John Tremayne Rodd, under the former of whom he was present as Midshipman, 5 Oct. 1804, in an action off Cape St. Mary, which terminated in the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth. He removed, in Dec. 1807, to the Foxhound 18, Capt. Pitt Burnaby Greene; and, being next appointed Master’s Mate of the Ville de Paris 110, and Caledonia 120, bearing the flags of Lords Gardner and Gambler, was present in the last-mentioned ship at the destruction, in April, 1809, of the French squadron in Basque Roads. During the ensuing expedition to the Scheldt, Mr. Biddulph, who had been lent to the Sceptre 74, served on shore with a party of seamen at the investment of Flushing. He obtained a commission on 5 Oct. in the same year, and was subsequently appointed – 2 Jan. 1810, to the Onyx 10, Capts. John Parish, Gawen Wm. Hamilton, Chas. Phillips, and Chas. Squire, in which vessel, and in the gun-boat service, he took part in the defence of Cadiz; besides destroying, on the beach of Conil, with the boats of the Onyx and Desperate under his orders, an enemy’s brig, protected at the time by a battery and musketry[1] – 30 Nov. 1813, to the Elephant 74, Capt. Fras. Wm. Austen, at Portsmouth – 14 May, 1814, to the Hebrus 36, Capt. Edmund Palmer, on the coast of North America – 22 July following, to the Florida 20, Capt. Nat. Mitchell, on the same and West India stations, whence he returned home, and was paid off, 5 April, 1815 – and, 6 May, 1819, to the Menai 26, Capt. Fairfax Moresby. In the latter ship Lieut. Biddulph continued until she was placed out of commission in Sept. 1823, and during that period visited St. Helena, assisted, in 1820, in landing a troop of emigrants in Algoa Bay, and was very actively employed in suppressing the slave-traffic on the eastern coast of Africa. He has since been on half-pay.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 1397.