A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Caulfeild, James
CAULFEILD. (Commander, 1832. f-p., 19; h-p., 19.)
James Caulfeild is third son of the late Wm. Caulfeild, Esq., of Benown, co. Athlone, Col. of the Boscommon Militia, by his first wife, Lucy Sanderson, of Clover Hall, co. Cavan; grandson of the Venerable John Caulfeild, Archdeacon of Kilmore; brother of the present Col. John Caulfeild, of Bloomfield, co. Westmeath, Deputy- Lieutenant for co. Roscommon; nephew of Commodore Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, R.N., who died in 1821, and of the late Commander Robt. Caulfeild, R.N. (1814); and cousin of the present Lieut. Edwin Toby Caulfeild, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 23 June, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Milford 74, Capt. Henry Wm. Bayntun, flag-ship, afterwards, of Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats, under whom he served at the siege of Cadiz, was frequently engaged in boat-collisions with the French flotilla, and assisted in removing the wounded after the battle of Barrosa. On 2 Aug. 1811, he became Midshipman of the Hibernia 110, bearing the flag of the same officer, and next of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, in the Mediterranean; where he was transferred, in Jan. 1813, to the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. In Oct. following we find him serving at the capture of Port d’Anzo, and subsequently employed on the coast of Italy, where he co-operated on shore with the army in the attack upon Leghorn, and was frequently landed on other occasions for the purpose of harassing the enemy. Mr. Caulfeild – who next became attached to the Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. H. Duncan, Centaur 74, Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, and Acorn 20, Capt. Jos. Prior, on the Home and East India stations – passed his examination 15 Aug. 1815; and afterwards joined, in the several capacities of Acting-Lieutenant, Master’s-Mate, and Admiralty-Midshipman – the Cornwallis 74, flag-ship of Sir Geo. Burlton, and Thais 20, Capt. Henry Weir, on the last-named station – the Spencer 74, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, Cyrene 20, Capt. Aaron Tozer, Impregnable 104, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and Tonnant 80, and Windsor Castle 74, Capt. T. G. Caulfeild, lying in Hamoaze – and Leander 60, in which ship, on his return to India with the flag of the Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood, he was made a Lieutenant, 5 Feb. 1821. His subsequent appointments afloat appear to have been – 2 Nov. 1821, and 19 Jan. 1822, as First Lieutenant, to the Liverpool 50,, and Ganges 84, both commanded by Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier, in the East – 8 May, 1826, after an interval of three years and a half, to the Victory 104, bearing the flag of Sir Geo. Martin at Portsmouth – 7 Jan. 1827, to the Menai 26, Capt. Michael Seymour, on the South American station – 8 Dec. 1827, to the Imperial bomb, Capts. Edm. Williams Gilbert and Brunswick Popham, in the Mediterranean – 2 Dec. 1828, and 28 Dec. 1829, as Senior, to the Pelican 18, Capt. Fras. Deane Hutcheson, and Gloucester 74, Capts. Henry Stuart and Fras. Holmes Coffin, on the same station – and, 5 Nov. 1830, to the Melville 74, Capt. Christopher John Williams Nesham, in which he returned to England and was paid off towards the close of 1831. He was advanced to the rank he now holds 27 Aug. 1832; and has not been since employed.
Commander Caulfeild received the thanks of the Navy Board in 1827 for his personal exertions in extinguishing a fire which had broken out in alarming proximity to the Dockyard at Woolwich. He married, first, in 1823, Augusta, daughter of Anne, Baroness Crofton, and sister of Capt. Hon. Geo. Alfred Crofton, R.N., by whom he had one son, now an Ensign in the 66th Regt.; and, secondly, Emilia Olivia, daughter of the late Col. French, of Clooniquin, co. Roscommon.