A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Leigh, Jodrell
LEIGH. (Captain, 1829. f-p., 20; h-p., 26.)
Jodrell Leigh, baptized 27 Feb. 1790, at Goosetrey, is third son of the late Egerton Leigh, Esq., of the West Hall, High Leigh, co. Cheshire, by Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Fras. Jodrell, Esq., of Yeardsley and Tremlow, in the same co. He is brother-in-law of Lord Dunfermline, formerly the Hon. Jas. Abercromby, M.P., Speaker of the House of Commons; and also of John Smith, Esq., of Dale Park, co. Sussex, youngest brother of Lord Carrington, and M.P., in 1833, for Buckinghamshire.
This officer entered the Navy, 14 July, 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Malta 80, Capt. Albemarle Bertie, attached to the Channel fleet. Becoming Midshipman, in 1802, of the Leander 60, he continued to serve in that ship on the Halifax station under Capts. Jas. Oughton, Fras. Wm. Fane, Alex. Skene, John Talbot, and Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, until Aug. 1806; and was in consequence present with Capt. Talbot at the taking, 23 Feb. 1805, of La Ville de Milan French frigate, of 46 guns, and the simultaneous recapture of her prize the Cleopatra 32. In Aug. 1806 Mr. Leigh followed Capt. Humphreys into the Leopard 50; and in April, 1807, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Bermuda 18, Capt. Wm. Henry Byam; in which vessel (being confirmed to her 29 Feb. following) he continued until wrecked on the Memory Rook, Little Bermuda, 22 April, 1808. His next appointment was, 22 Aug. in the same year, to the Melampus 36, Capt. Edw. Hawker, under whom, during a servitude of three years and a half, we find him assisting at the capture of the French ships of war Le Colibri, of 16 guns and 92, men, and Le Beauharnais, of 16 guns and 109 men, and co-operating in the reduction of Guadeloupe. Quitting the Melampus in Feb. 1812, Mr. Leigh, further served, between that period and March, 1820, on the Channel, Newfoundland, Cork, St. Helena, and Jamaica stations, in the Mars 74, Capt. Henry Raper, Dryad 36, Capt. Edw. Galwey, Bonne Citoyenne 20, Capts. Pitt Burnaby Greene and Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford, Falmouth 20, Capts. Robt. Worgan Geo. Festing and Geo. Fred. Rich, and Sybille 44, bearing the flag of Sir Home Popham. He then assumed the acting-command of the Bann 20, also in the West Indies, where, soon after his official promotion, which took place 12 June following, he removed to the Ontario 18. He returned to England, after a dreadfully tempestuous passage, in Dec. 1821; and was lastly appointed, 28 Feb. 1829, to the Royal Charlotte yacht, Capt. Hon. Josceline Percy. He attained his present rank 2 June in the same year.