A Naval Biographical Dictionary/King, George Morison
KING. (Commander, 1821.)
George Morison King entered the Navy, in June, 1807, as Midshipman, on board the Theseus 74, commanded by the late Sir John Poo Beresford, and was for some time employed in the Channel and off Ferrol. Sailing next for the East Indies in the Clorinde 38, Capt. Thos. Briggs, he witnessed the capture of the Isle of France in Dec. 1810; after which he returned to England in the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, and in 1812, having rejoined Sir J. P. Beresford on board the Poictiers 74, proceeded to the Chesapeake, where he saw a good deal of boat-service and assisted at the bombardment of Louis Town. In 1813 he was promoted by Sir John Borlase Warren to a Lieutenancy in the Ringdove 18, Capt. Wm. Dowers, also on the North American station, whence, owing to some informality which had there occurred in his examination, he was under the necessity of returning to England, and of undergoing a second probationary ordeal. His official promotion did not in consequence take place until 22 Oct. 1814. He afterwards became Flag-Lieutenant to Lord Exmouth in the Boyne 98, and, on accompanying that officer into the Queen Charlotte 100, it was his fortune to participate in the same capacity in the battle of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816, on which occasion he was wounded in the leg.[1] In July, 1821, after he had been for a period on half-pay, he was ordered to join the Royal George yacht, on the King’s staff, two Lieutenants not being at the time allowed, and one having been already appointed. While in that vessel he attended His Majesty (George IV.) on the occasion of his visit to Ireland, and he was always present in the boat in which the royal personage landed and re-embarked. He was promoted to the rank of Commander by a commission bearing date 14 Dec. 1821; and he was lastly, from Feb. 1823 until 1832, employed in the Coast Guard; on leaving which service the officers and men late under his superintendence presented him with a handsome snuff-box “as a testimony of their respect and esteem.”
He married, 27 June, 1825, Anne Sarah, relict of Fras. Hoey, Esq., of Dunganstown, co. Wicklow, and sister of Matthew Forde, Esq., M.P. for co. Down. By that lady he has issue.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1816, p. 1972.