A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Crofton, George Alfred
CROFTON. (Captain, 1812. f-p., 20; h-p., 29)
The Honourable George Alfred Crofton, born in 1785, is third son of Sir Edw. Crofton, Bart., M.P., Colonel of the Roscommon Militia, by Anne, only daughter and heir of Thos. Croker, Esq., of Baxtogon, co. Kildare, who was created a Baroness in her own right, 1 Dec. 1797. He is brother of Capt. Hon. Wm. Gorges Crofton, of the Coldstream regiment of Foot Guards, who was killed in action at Bayonne, 14 April, 1814; brother-in-law of General Sir Peregrine Maitland, and of Commander Jas. Caulfeild, R.N.; and uncle of the present Lord Crofton.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1798, as a Volunteer, on board the Prince 98, Capt. Thos. Larcom, successively flag-ship in the Mediterranean ond Channel of Sir Roger Curtis and Sir Chas. Cotton. While next serving, as Midshipman, in the Triton and Medusa frigates, both commanded by Capt. John Gore, he took part, between May, 1801, and May, 1804 in an attack made by Lord Nelson on the Boulogne flotilla. Soon after his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 10 Oct. 1804, Mr. Crofton was appointed to the Cambrian 40, Capt. John Poo Beresford, on the Halifax station, in command of the barge belonging to which frigate he distinguished himself at the capture, 13 June, 1805, of the Spanish privateer Maria, of 14 guns and 60 men. He obtained, 24 June, 1806, the acting-command of the Observateur brig, in the West Indies, where, after witnessing the surrender, in the Mulgrave sloop, of the Danish Islands, he was confirmed, 9 Feb. 1808, to the Demerara, another sloop, and appointed, in the course of the same year, to the Fawn 18. in which vessel we find him assisting at the reduction of Marie-galante and Martinique, and taking, 11 Oct. 1810, Le Téméraire privateer, of 10 guns, 6 large swivels, and 35 men. Capt. Crofton, whose Post-commission bears date 1 Feb. 1812, afterwards joined – 11 Aug. 1813, the Dictator troop-ship, in which he participated in the attacks upon Baltimore and New Orleans, and in other operations on the coast of America – 4 Feb. 1815, the Narcissus 32, employed on the same station, whence he returned in May, 1816 – and, 24 July, 1826, the Dryad 42. He came home from the Mediterranean in 1829, and has not since been afloat.
Capt. Crofton, during the war, received an honorary reward from the Patriotic Society.