A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Budgen, John
BUDGEN. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 13; h-p., 30.)
John Budgen, born 18 Jan. 1794, at Frant, co. Sussex, is brother of the present Lieut. Rich. Budgen, R.N., and of the late Lieut. Wm. Budgen, R.N., who, when First of H.M.S. Partridge in 1813, commanded her boats and was seriously wounded at the cutting out of several vessels from under the batteries of Otranto.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 Feb. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Africaine 36, Capt. Thos. Manby, which ship was shortly afterwards struck with lightning in a violent storm off the Texel, and, on reaching Yarmouth Roads, completely dismasted in a sister gale. He next proceeded with a large convoy to the West Indies, and while on that station became successively attached, between Aug. 1805, and Aug. 1806, to the Ethalion 36, Capts. Chas. Stuart and Joseph Spear, Dart 20, Capt. J. Spear, Northumberland 74, bearing the flag of Sir Alex. Cochrane, and Agamemnon 64, and Circe 32, both likewise commanded by Capt. Spear, and all very actively employed in cruizing. He then invalided home, as Midshipman, on board the Alligator 20, Capt. Robt. B. Campbell, and in Oct. of the same year he joined Commodore Sir Sam. Hood in the Centaur 74. During the four years he belonged to that ship, Mr. Budgen attended, in Aug. and Sept. 1807, the expedition to Copenhagen; took part, in Dec. following, in the reduction of Madeira; assisted, in company with the Implacable 74, at the capture, 26 Aug. 1808, in sight of the whole Russian fleet near Rogerswick, of the 74-gun ship Sewolod, after a furious yard-arm-and-yard-arm conflict, in which the Centaur lost 3 killed and 27 wounded, and the enemy 180 killed and wounded; and in Aug. 1809, was engaged, under Capt. Wm. Henry Webley, in the attack upon Walcheren. From Nov. 1810, till March, 1813, he next served in the Mediterranean on board the Hibernia 110, flag-ship in succession of Sir S. Hood, Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats, and Sir Wm. Sidney Smith; and on one occasion, in 1812, he commanded a boat at the cutting out of a vessel in Hières Bay, under the smart fire of a body of troops posted behind some sandbanks on the beach. He passed his examination 13 Feb. 1813; subsequently returned to England in the Ajax 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie; and, after a servitude of a few months in the Thisbe 36, bearing the flag of Sir Chas. Hamilton at Deptford, proceeded in the Acorn 20, Capt. Geo. Henderson, to the East Indies, where he joined, in April, 1814, the Minden 74, flag-ship of his old friend Sir Sam. Hood, at whose funeral, in Dec. following, he was one of the few mourners present. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, in the Minden, on 22 Feb. 1815; assisted, in the ensuing Aug., in quelling an insurrection at Port Louis, Isle of France; was superseded 18 March, 1816; and has not since been afloat.