A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Broughton, William
BROUGHTON. (Capt., 1831. f-p., 21; h-p., 9.)
William Broughton, born 23 Oct. 1804, at Doddington Hall, Cheshire, the seat of his maternal grandfather, the Rev. Sir Thos. Delves Broughton, Bart., is eldest son of the late Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, R.N., C.B., Colonel of Royal Marines, who circumnavigated the world under Vancouver, served as Commodore at the reduction of Java in 1811, and died, 12 March, 1821, after 50 years’ servitude of his country; and nephew of the present General Sir John Delves Broughton, Bart.
This officer entered the Navy, in Nov. 1817, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Spencer 76, guard-ship at Plymouth, commanded by his father, and was next, from April, 1818, to March, 1820, a student at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth. He then re-embarked on board the Rochfort 80, flagship of Sir Graham Moore in the Mediterranean, where he was successively lent, until April, 1823, to the Racer cutter, and Rose and Racehorse sloops, Capts. Henry Dundas and Lord Colchester. On the latter date he removed to the Cambrian 46, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, in which ship, after serving at the blockade of Algiers, he returned home and was paid off in June, 1824. He shortly afterwards, on passing his examination, proceeded to the East Indies, as Mate, in the Boadicea 46, Commodore Sir Jas. Brisbane, and under that officer he took an active part in the Burmese war, from Aug. 1825, until its conclusion in the early part of 1826. For four months of that period he commanded, with great credit, though to the severe injury of his health, the Boadicea’s cutter up the river Irawady; and was present in the actions of 1, 2, and 5 Dec. 1825, when the enemy were routed on all sides, and their numerous stockades and breastworks in the neighbourhood of Prome and on the almost inaccessible heights of Napadee carried by assault. After the treaty of Melloone, Mr. Broughton, who had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by commission dated 8 April, 1825, was sent wdth despatches to Rangoon, where he joined, and for some time had charge of, the Alligator 28, Capt. Henry Ducie Chads. He next served, from 8 March, 1827, until 1830, in the Briton 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Gordon, employed on various Particular Services on the North Sea, Lisbon, North America, and West India stations; and, on 20 Feb. in the latter year, was advanced to the command of the Primrose 18, stationed on the coast of Africa. On 7 Sept. following he brought to close action, and in the most gallant style boarded and carried, after a furious resistance of 10 minutes, the Spanish slave-ship Veloz Passagera, mounting 18 long 18-pounders and two 12’s, with a crew (independently of 555 slaves who were on board) of 180 men, of whom 46 were killed and 20 wounded; the loss of the Primrose amounting, out of a complement of 125 men and boys (exclusive of 35 prisoners, who proved a source of great trouble and anxiety), to 3 killed and 13 wounded, including her Commander, who received a desperate pike-wound in the abdomen, the effects of which continue to this day.[1] For his meritorious conduct on this occasion Capt. Broughton, after accomplishing his time in the Pearl 20, employed during the disputes between Don Pedro and Don Miguel in protecting the British interests in the Western Islands, was promoted to Post-rank, 22 Nov. 1832, as was also, to the rank of Commander, his First Lieutenant, Edw. Harris Butterfleld. From that period he remained unemployed until appointed, 25 Oct. 1836, to the Samarang 28, in which we find him serving for some time off the coast of Spain during the Carlist disputes; also, under very trying circumstances, at Bahia, at the period of an insurrection of the black population; and, early in 1839, at Callao during the war between the Chihans and Peruviana, about which epoch he landed a party of men at Istay, and rescued from his rebel pursuers General Santa Cruz, the late Protector of Peru, a service subsequently sanctioned by the approval of the Admiralty. On 31 Oct. following Capt. Broughton was transferred to the President 50, as Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross, with whom he returned home, and was placed out of commission, in May, 1842. He has been in command, since 12 Jan. 1846, of the Curaçoa 24, on the south-east coast of America.
Capt. Broughton married, 3 Jan. 1833, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Perfect, Esq., banker, of Pontefract, and has issue four daughters. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1830, p. 2451.