A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Davies, Henry Thomas
DAVIES. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 17; h-p., 36.)
Henry Thomas Davies entered the Navy, 3 March, 1794, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Triton 28, Capt. John Elphinstone, lying in Portsmouth harbour; and, on soon after removing with the same officer to the Glory 98, bore a part in Lord Howe’s action of the 1st of June. He continued to serve with Capt. Elphinstone – as Midshipman and Master’s Mate of the Barfleur, Monarch, and Queen Charlotte, flag-ships of the late Lord Keith, and of the Diomede 50 – until March, 1800; during which period, while in the Monarch, he assisted at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, and was present at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay, 17 Aug. 1796. Mr. Davies returned home from the East Indies early in 1800, on board L’Oiseau 36, Capt. Sam. Hood Linzee; and on 24 Dec. in that year, after again serving with Capt. Elphinstone in the Hector 74, and with Lord Keith in the Foudroyant 80, was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Winchelsea 32, Capt. John Hatley. In the course of 1801 he obtained a medal for his services in Egypt; subsequently to which we find him appointed – in Dec. of the latter year, to the Zealous 74, Capt. S. H. Linzee, whom he accompanied to the West Indies – 19 March, 1804, after 18 months of half-pay, to the Ruby 64, Capt. Chas. Rowley, employed in the North Sea and off Cadiz – 18 Jan. 1805, to the Matilda, as Flag-Lieutenant in the river Thames to Hon. Henry Edwin Stanhope – and, 6 Feb. 1806, in the capacity of First-Lieutenant, to the Blanche of 46 guns and 265 men, Capt. Thos. Lavie. For his conduct, and the strong recommendation of his commander, at the capture, 19 July following, off the Faeroe Islands, of the Guerrière French frigate, of 50 guns and 317 men, which struck her colours at the close of a warm action, in which the British lost only 4 men wounded, and the enemy 50 killed and wounded, Mr. Davies was rewarded with a Commander’s commission, dated on 28 of the same month.[1] He assumed command, in Jan. 1809, of the Tyrian 10, on the Channel station, where he removed, 3 Aug. 1811, to the Albacore 18; and, on 18 Dec. 1812, he particularly distinguished himself by the gallantry with which, in company with two or three smaller vessels, he pursued and engaged, with a loss to the Albacore of 1 Lieutenant killed and 6 or 7 men wounded, the French 40-gun frigate La Gloire who ultimately efiected her escape. Capt. Davies attained Post-rank 19 Feb. 1814; and, from 9 June following until 10 July, 1815, further commanded the Niagara 20, and Prince Regent 56, on Lake Ontario. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
His only son, the Rev. H. C. Davies, of Sydney College, Cambridge, died 5 Aug. 1836.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 931.