A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Henderson, William Wilmott
HENDERSON, C.B., K.H. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 24; h-p., 24.)
William Wilmott Henderson is brother of Lieut. John Henderson, R.N., who was lost in command of the Maria schooner in a hurricane among the Leeward Islands, 16 Oct. 1807; of Benj. W. Henderson, Esq., Admiralty-Midshipman of the Leven, who died on board that ship’s tender, in Delagoa Bay, while employed in surveying the east coast of Africa, in March, 1823; and of Lieut. Rich. Wilmott Henderson, R.N. (1823), who died in 1836. He is nephew, further, of the gallant Capt. David Wilmot, R.N., who was eight times wounded in battle, and closed a distinguished career at St. Jean d’Acre, where he fell in command of the Alliance 36; and cousin of Lieut. John Blackmore, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1799, on board the Royal George 100, Capt. Wm. Domett bearing the flag in the Channel of Lord Bridport; removed, in Oct. 1800, to the Ville de Paris 110; flag-ship on the Mediterranean station of his patron Earl St. Vincent; was subsequently employed for three years and a half on board the Belleisle 74 Capts. John Whitby and Wm. Hargood, under the latter of whom he accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies in pursuit of the combined squadrons and, on his return to the Mediterranean, fought at Trafalgar; and on 26 March, 1806, was promoted, from the Hibernia 110, bearing the flag of Lord St. Vincent, to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the Niobe 40, Capt. John Wentworth Loring – to which vessel, after having assisted at the capture of Le Néarque national brig, of 16 guns and 97 men, he was confirmed on 11 of the following April. On the capture of Oporto by the French in March, 1809, Mr. Henderson, who had been sent thither with despatches, and for the purpose of superintending the landing of supplies, unfortunately fell into their power. He was accordingly placed in confinement, and ultimately obliged to accompany them in their retreat as far as the vicinity of Amaranta, where, however, he succeeded, on 16 May, in effecting his escape. Having contrived to get back to Oporto, in spite of many severe difficulties and privations, he there took a passage home in the Nautilus brig, Capt. Thos. Bench; and on his arrival he was immediately appointed First of the Active 46, Capt. Jas. Alex. Gordon. Continuing to serve under that officer, principally in the Adriatic, until 1 Aug. 1811, Mr. Henderson, besides assisting at the capture of many of the enemy’s vessels, was present, on 13 March, 1811, in the celebrated action off Lissa, where a British squadron, carrying in the whole 156 guns and 879 men, completely routed, after a conflict of six hours, and a loss to the Active of 4 men killed and 24 wounded, a Franco-Venetian armament, whose force amounted to 284 guns and 2655 men. As a reward for his gallantry, which was described by Capt. Gordon in the warmest terms, Mr. Henderson had the satisfaction of being promoted to the rank of Commander by a commission ante-dated to the day of victory. Prior, however, to the receipt of the intelligence, we again, on 27 of the ensuing July, find him signalizing and recommending himself in the strongest manner to notice, by his conduct at the capture and destruction of a convoy of 28 sail, defended, in a creek in the island of Ragosniza, by 300 troops and 3 gun-vessels; on which occasion, while the boats were left to attack the enemy from without, he landed with the small-arm men and marines, stormed and carried a hill which commanded the creek, and, having put the military to flight with great loss, annihilated in a great measure the difficulties of the enterprise. When subsequently on his voyage home in the Pomone 38, Capt. Robt. Barrie, Capt. Henderson, it appears, had the misfortune to be wrecked, on a sunken rook, near the Needles Point, 14 Oct. 1811. He was next, on 3 April, 1812, appointed to the Rosario brig, from which vessel, after cruizing for some months in the Downs, and conveying the Duke of Brunswick Oels from Harwich to the Elbe, he removed, 7 June, 1813, to the Dasher sloop. In the following Oct. he accompanied the outward-bound trade to the West Indies, and during his continuance on that station he co-operated in the reduction of Guadeloupe in Aug. 1815. He attained Post-rank on 9 Oct. in the same year, but did not leave the Dasher[1] until May, 1816, and on 13 Jan. 1835, was created a K.H. Capt. Henderson’s last appointments were, 25 July, 1837, and 2 Sept. 1841, to the Edinburgh 72, and Victory 104, on the Mediterranean and Portsmouth stations; his services in the former of which ships in the operations on the coast of Syria and at the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre were acknowledged by his nomination to the C.B. 18 Dec. 1840. He was superseded in the command of the Victory in Sept. 1844.
Capt. Henderson married, in June, 1817, a sister of the present Rear-Admiral Geo. Henderson, R.N.
- ↑ It is due to Capt. Henderson to state, that during the two years and a half the Dasher remained on the West India, station she did not lose a single man from the effects of the climate.