A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hext, William
HEXT. (Captain, 1841, f-p., 22; h-p., 34.)
William Hext, born 5 July, 1780, at Bodmin, co. Cornwall, is second and only surviving son of the late Fras. John Hext, Esq., Attorney-at-law, of Tredethy, by Margaret, daughter of Elias Lang, Esq., Surgeon, of Plymouth. One of his brothers, Samuel, a Major in the Army and a C.B., served with distinction, both in Egypt under Abercromby, and throughout the peninsular war, and died 24 July, 1822, aged 40; and another, George, Lieutenant of H.M.S. Barrosa, was killed by a rifle-shot while leading a boat-attack in the Chesapeake in 1813, aged 29.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 April, 1791, on board the Scout 14; and in Aug. 1793 joined the Russell 74, Capts. John Willet Payne and Thos. Larcom, part of the force under Lords Howe and Bridport in the actions of 28 and 29 May and 1 June, 1794, and 23 June, 1795. With the exception of a year in 1797-8, during which he was lent to the Phaeton 38, Capt. Hon. Robt. Stopford, he next, between Oct. 1796 and the peace of Amiens, served with Capts. Payne, Sampson Edwards, and Sir Edw. Pellew, on board the Impétueux 74, of which ship, employed on the Home station, he was created a Lieutenant, 8 Aug. 1799, as a reward for the conduct he had displayed on the occasion of a recent mutiny. In June, 1802, Mr. Hext became Second of the Clyde 38, Capt. John Larmour, under whom he shortly afterwards conveyed Sir John Borlase Warren as British Ambassador to St. Petersburg, whence he had the honour of being sent home in personal charge of his Excellency’s despatches. In Jan. 1803 he was sent with an armed boat into the port of Leith for the purposes of impressment, and, although exposed for many hours to the attacks of a furious mob, he succeeded in fully effecting the service with which he had been entrusted. The prudence and forbearance manifested in this instance by Mr. Hext, notwithstanding the severe bruizes inflicted upon him and many of his men by the volley of stones incessantly kept up by the populace, were so marked as to elicit the warm plaudits of his Captain. In the following Nov. we find the Clyde employed in removing from Cronstadt the valuables (estimated at about 300,000l.) belonging to the King, which had been saved from the palace at Hanover when entered by the French. On her passage to England she took the ground, and remained in a state of jeopardy until at length righted through the instrumentality of Mr. Hext, who, having been sent for assistance, seized a British barque, and anchored her in such a position as enabled her to heave the frigate off. In the early part of 1804, while detached in a six-oared cutter, our officer appears, on his own responsibility, and with much difficulty and danger, to have detained and brought out from the river Ems a neutral laden with masts supposed to be for the use of the enemy. On reaching his ship the next day he had the satisfaction of learning that his Captain had just received orders for the apprehension of the very same vessel. In May, 1804, he assumed command of the Sheerness hired cutter, off Brest, from which station he was ultimately driven in a violent gale, which occasioned the necessity of all his guns being thrown overboard, and of his making the best of his way to Ireland, where he only arrived after a week of .consummate exertion. On leaving the Sheerness in Jan. 1805, Mr. Hext was appointed Senior of the Santa Margarita 36, Capt. Wm. Rathbone, under whom, on 4 of the ensuing Nov., he fought in Sir Rich. Strachan’s action off Ferrol. During the long chase which preceded the battle, the Santa Margarita, from the unwearied attention bestowed by her First-Lieutenant on the trimming of her sails, left the British squadron far astern. On the achievement of the victory the Commodore, while hailing Capt. Rathborne, availed himself of the opportunity of making particular mention of Mr. Hext, and in so especial a manner as to lead the latter to imagine that immediate promotion awaited him. This however he did not obtain until 28 April, 1809, by which time he had further served on the East India station in the Barracouta 18, Capt. Geo. Harris, Culloden 74, and Blanche frigate, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Bell, Culloden again, Capt. Hon. Pownoll Bastard Pellew, and, as Acting-Commander, in the Wilhelmina hospital-ship at Poulo-Pinang, where his exertions in suppressing two fires which endangered the public stores procured him the thanks of the Governor. Being superseded in the Wilhelmina by her proper Captain in Feb. 1810, Capt. Hext returned home in an Indiaman, and was not again employed until June, 1813, when he obtained an appointment to the Vesuvius bomb, but was ordered to assume the command, pro tempore of the Unicorn 32, and to assist Capt. John Hancock, of the Nymphen 36, in escorting the outward-bound trade to Portugal; after which he proceeded, with some merchantmen under his convoy, to Gibraltar. When off St. Andero, on the north coast of Spain, in the Vesuvius, Capt. Hext, at the commencement of 1814, had the fortune, although at great personal risk, of saving the crew of a Spanish merchantman, and also a transport with Spanish troops on board. During the subsequent operations in the river Gironde he behaved in a very conspicuous manner, and was for several days engaged, amidst great difficulties of situation, in throwing shells into the fortress of Blaye. His services, in the whole, called forth the warm acknowledgments of Admiral Penrose. Capt. Hext, who left the Vesuvius in Sept. 1814, and has since been on half-pay, was not advanced to Post-rank until 23 Nov. 1841.
The subject of the foregoing narrative is a Magistrate, as was also his father, for co. Cornwall. He married, 15 Sept. 1812, Barbara, youngest daughter and last-surviving child of the late Jas. Read, Esq., M.D., of Tremear, near Bodmin, and sister of Lieut. John Read, R.M., who was killed in Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo’s attack on Cayenne in 1809. By that lady he has issue two sons (the eldest of them, Fras. John, a Lieutenant in the 83rd Regt.) and one daughter.