A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Le Geyt, George
LE GEYT, C.B. (Rear-Admiral, 1846, f-p., 21; h-p., 35.)
George Le Geyt, born 20 March, 1777, at Canterbury, co. Kent, is son of the late Robt. Le Geyt, Esq., of that place (first-cousin of the late Vice-Admiral d’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon), by Jane, daughter of the Rev. Wm. Byrch, Rector of St. Mary’s, Dover, and of Mongham, also in co. Kent. His grandfather and great-grand-uncle both held the office of Chief Civil Magistrate of the Royal Court and President of the States of Jersey.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1791, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Colossus 74, Capt. Henry Harvey, lying at Spithead. Being discharged in the following Aug., he next, in March, 1792, joined the Hussar 28, Capt. Rupert George, and sailed for the Halifax station, where he assisted at the capture of the two privateers Républicain and Jou-jou. On the former of those vessels being brought into the service, named the Prince Edward, and the command given to Lieut. John G. Saville, we find Mr. Le Geyt appointed to her as Master’s Mate, and in that capacity witnessing, 17 May, 1795, the capture, by a force under the orders of Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane, of two French ships. La Prévoyante of 24, and La Raison of 18 guns. After their surrender, he went on board La Prévoyante, and aided in fitting her with jurymasts. That frigate being subsequently added to the British Navy, Mr. Le Geyt continued in her under the command of Capt. John Poo Beresford, until the spring of 1796, and was twice sent into port in charge of detained vessels. He then removed to the Resolution 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Geo. Murray, under whom he was further present, 28 Aug. 1796, at the capture of the French frigate Elisabeth, On 5 of the following Nov. Mr. Le Geyt was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Rover 16, Capt. Geo. Irvine, in which vessel (being confirmed to her 27 Jan. 1797) he remained, assisting intermediately at the taking of Le Jean Bart, a noted privateer, until wrecked in a fog in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Aug. 1798. On his return, immediately afterwards, to England in the Resolution, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, our officer, who had then been for upwards of six years on the Halifax station, was at once, at the request of Capt. John Holloway, of the St. George 98, appointed to that ship. Removing as Second-Lieutenant, in March, 1799, to the Tamar, of 46 guns and 281 men, Capt. Thos. Western, he proceeded soon with the flag of Lord Hugh Seymour, to the West Indies, where, besides contributing to the reduction of Surinam, he served at the capture, among numerous other vessels, of La Républicaine French national corvette, of 32 guns and 175 men (after a close action of about 10 minutes, a loss to the enemy of 9 killed and 12 wounded, and to the British of only 2 wounded); also of Le Général Massena, ship privateer, of 16 guns (pierced for 18) and 150 men 5 and of a schooner privateer of 10 guns and 50 men. Towards the close of 1801 (he had been the last year and a half First-Lieutenant of the Tamar) Mr. Le Geyt joined the Leviathan 74, bearing the flag at Jamaica of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, who promoted him, 28 May, 1803, to the command of the Stork 18 – an act which the Admiralty approved. While in that sloop, in which he continued upwards of nine years, Capt. Le Geyt effected the capture, 24 Feb. 1804, of the French national schooner Coquette of 2 guns and 95 men after a chase of 265 miles,[1] and, on 30 of the ensuing month, of L’Hirondelle privateer, of 3 guns and 44 men. In Aug. 1806 he was sent with a small squadron, consisting, besides his own vessel, of the Supérieure sloop, and Flying-Fish and Pike schooners, to attack a number of small vessels located at Batabano, in the island of Cuba. Although the Stork, from her draught of water, was unable to approach within 30 leagues of the place, the objects of the expedition were nevertheless fully accomplished by the other vessels, aided by her boats, under the command of Capt. Edw. Rushworth.[2] In 1807 Capt. Le Geyt was ordered with convoy to England, whence, in 1808, after he had been for some months employed on the Guernsey station, he took out the Pope’s Nuncio to the Brazils. Keturning next to the West Indies, he united in the blockade of Martinique, and was so employed until its surrender. While off that island, on 12 Dec. 1808, he co-operated with the Circe 32, Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier, and Morne Fortunée gun-brig, and displayed much coolness and intrepidity, in silencing the fire of two batteries and of a body of troops which protected an enemy’s schooner aground between the Pearl Rock and the town of St. Pierre; and he then, in company with the Circe and Express schooner, commenced an action with four adjoining batteries, under which lay two other vessels, one of whom, Le Cygne corvette, 16 guns, was in the end destroyed.[3] In April, 1809, being on a cruize with the Circe, then commanded by Capt. Edw. Woollcombe, the Stork fell in with a French squadron of three line-of-battle ships and two frigates, steering for the Saintes. With the intelligence of this she was instantly despatched to the Commander-in-Chief; the result whereof was the capture of the 74-gun ship D’Haupoult. On 12 Aug. 1812, Capt. Le Geyt, at that time on the Cork station, was at length advanced to Post-rank. Unable, however, to procure further employment, he accepted, 1 Oct. 1846, the rank he now holds.
The Rear-Admiral was nominated a C.B. 4 July, 1840. He married, in 1812, Rose Marie, daughter of the late Rear-Admiral Heath, by whom he has issue 11 children. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.