A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Eden, Henry (b)
EDEN. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 19; h-p., 3.)
Henry Eden is brother of Walter D. Eden, Esq., of the Admiralty, Somerset House, and of Lieutenant Chas. Eden, of the Indian Navy, who, entering that service in 1838, took part, during an employment of 18 months in the Atalanta steamer, on the China station, in the operations of 1841 against Canton and Chusan, and was afterwards, when in the Elphinstone, one of the first to enter a breach created in the walls of a strongly fortified pah belonging to a rebel New Zealand chieftain named Kawiti, 11 Jan. 1846 – services which twice obtained, him mention in the ‘London Gazette.’ One of Commander Eden’s sisters is married to a brother of Capt. T. L. Peake, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Jan. 1825, as Fst.,-cl. Vol., on board the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas, Mingaye, lying at Newhaven for the purposes of the Coast Blockade. Between Jan. 1827, and Feb. 1832, he served, as Midshipman, on the South American, Mediterranean, and Lisbon stations, in the Menai 28, Capts. Michael Seymour and Thos. Bourchier, Messenger steam-vessel, Lieut.-Commander Benj. Aplin, and Prince Regent 120, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wm. Parker. He then, having just passed his examination, became successively Mate of the Hermes and Flamer steamers, both commanded by Lieut. Rich. Bastard, on the Mediterranean station, where he remained until transferred, 10 Jan. 1834, to the Excellent Gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings, In Dec. of the latter year Mr. Eden joined an expedition preparing under Col. Chesney for an explorative mission to the Euphrates, which river was ultimately reached after the laborious undertaking had been accomplished of transporting two steam-vessels from the vicinity of Antioch overland to the town of Bir, a tract of 140 miles, almost impassable for the want of roads. In one of the steamers, the Tigris Mr. Eden was unfortunately wrecked during a typhoon, 21 May, 1836. Obtaining, on his return to England, a commission dated 15 Feb. 1837, he was immediately appointed to the Beagle 10, Capt. John Clements Wickham, whom he assisted in the survey, from that year until 1841, of the coast of Australia and of Bass Straits. As Senior Lieutenant of the Dido 18, Capt. Hon. Henry Keppel, which ship he joined 15 Sept. 1841, Mr. Eden, we find, was very actively employed in the Tang-tse-Kiang during the closing operations of the Chinese war. The day after the taking of Woosung, 17 June, 1842, he landed in command of the boats’ crews belonging to the squadron, and of the marines of the Dido, and destroyed the enemy’s forts, magazines, &c. His appointments, after the period of his quitting the Dido, were – 29 Aug. 1842, to the Endymion 44, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Grey, on the Indian station – 30 Feb. 1844, to the Factory at Woolwich for the Study of Steam – and, 19 Dec. 1844, to the command of the Locust steam-vessel, on the Mediterranean station. Since his last promotion, which took place 29 June, 1846, Commander Eden has been on half-pay.
He married, 27 Oct. 1846, Lavinia Mary, youngest daughter of Wm. Rivers, Esq., of Greenwich Hospital. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.