A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Leslie, Samuel
LESLIE. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 32; h-p., 22.)
Samuel Leslie, born in March, 1779, at Rockfield, co. Antrim, is son of the late Ven. Edm. Leslie, Archdeacon of Down, by his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of Geo. Portis, Esq., of London; and descends from a noble Hungarian family who settled in North Britain in 1067. His grand-aunt, Penelope, wife of E. F. Stafford, Esq., was mother of the first Viscountess Dungannon, and grandmother of the late Countess of Mornington, mother of the Duke of Wellington.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1793, as Ordinary, on board the Pomona 28, Capt. Henry d’Esterre Darby; and until the early part of 1794 was employed, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, in annoying the enemy’s coasting-trade, a service which frequently brought him under fire of the batteries on the French shore. During the next three years we find him cruizing, at first with Capt. Darby, and then with Capt. Wm. Hotham, in the Adamant 50, on the West India, Newfoundland, and Lisbon stations. On next joining the Impétueux 74, Capt. John Willett Payne, Mr. Leslie served for many months at the blockade of Brest; after which, on being again placed under the orders of Capt. Darby in the Bellerophon 74, he fought as Master’s Mate at the battle of the Nile 1 Aug. 1798. In the summer of 1799, as soon as he had passed his examination, he was received on board the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Lord Nelson, who, as a reward for his conduct in having volunteered in a heavy gale of wind to recover one of the ship’s boats which had broken adrift in Palermo Bay, nominated him, in the following Nov., Acting-Lieutenant of the Success 32, Capt. Shuldham Peard. While in that frigate, to which he was not confirmed until 16 Oct. 1800, Mr. Leslie served at the blockade of Malta, assisted at the capture, on 18 Feb. and 24 Aug. in the latter year, of the French 74-gun ship Le Généreux, and 40-gun frigate La Diane, and was on board her when she was herself taken, 13 Feb. 1801, by a French squadron under M. Ganteaume. Being soon exchanged, he joined, in the ensuing May, the Haerlem 64, Capts. Geo. Burlton, John Stuart, John Geo. Saville, and – Northey, with whom he continued in the Mediterranean until the close of 1802. After a servitude of two years and five months at Newfoundland and among the Western Islands, in the Camilla 20, Mr. Leslie, in Sept. 1803, was appointed to La Chiffonne 36, Capts. Patrick Campbell and John Wainwright; which frigate was at first employed in attendance on George III. off Weymouth, and afterwards at the blockade of Cadiz, and in the Mediterranean and East Indies. Previously to his departure for the latter station, Mr. Leslie, it appears, took part in many cutting-out affairs, and on one occasion had 2 men killed and 3 wounded in a boat under his immediate orders. In Nov. 1809, being then Senior of La Chiffonne, he accompanied an expedition conducted by Capt. Wainwright and Lieut.-Colonel Lionel Smith against the pirates of the Persian Gulf. During the attack which was there made upon Ras-al-Khyma, the stronghold of the freebooters, he distinguished himself in a very remarkable manner. In the first place, he burnt, within twice her own length of the shore, the Minerva, an English ship, which had some time before fallen into their hands.[1] Besides being very active in the cannonade of the place, he also, with excellent judgment and gallantry, executed, on the northern end of the town, a feint, which had the effect of facilitating the main attack on the southern end; and he then, while the operations of the troops were in progress, performed much valuable service with the gun-boats attached to his ship. In the course of the same day, Nov. 13, he set fire to all the dows which were afloat in the harbour, and was of further essential assistance in the re-embarkation of the military. The active and unwearied nature of Mr. Leslie’s services, indeed, was such as to call forth, together with a warm recommendation on his behalf for promotion, the strongest expressions of admiration and gratitude from the Lieutenant-Colonel, and a most glowing panegyric from his own Captain. He was not, however, in any way rewarded until Jan. 1811, when at length the Commander-in-Chief promoted him into the Wilhelmina hospital-ship at Poulo-Pinang – an appointment which the Admiralty confirmed 1 March following. On 31 July, 1812, exactly four months after he had been nominated Acting-Captain of the Sir Francis Drake frigate, Capt. Leslie, who afterwards assumed command of the Malacca 36, Volage 22, and Theban 36, was officially advanced to Post-rank. While in the Volage we find him heading a party of seamen belonging to H.M.S. Hussar, and co-operating, 28 June, 1813, with a detachment of troops under Colonel Watson, in an attack upon the defences of Sambas, a piratical state on the western coast of Borneo, where, after six hours’ march in an almost impenetrable jungle, five batteries were in succession assaulted and carried with the utmost intrepidity. His zeal and gallantry in this instance also obtained for him the congratulations of his senior officer, Capt. Geo. Sayer, and the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Sam. Hood. He was slightly wounded on the occasion in each leg. In Sept. of the same year the Captain, then under the orders of Hon. Geo. Elliot of the Hussar, with whom was employed a body of troops under Lieut.-Colonel Macgregor, proved a chief instrument to the re-establishment of the Nagor Ordeen on the throne of Palambang, precluding, by the greatness of his expedition and efforts, and the completeness of the surprise he produced on the enemy, the possibility of resistance. Proportionate, of course, were the acknowledgments of Sir Sam. Hood; to whom, on removing, in Jan. 1814, to the Theban, he became Flag-Captain. He subsequently commanded a squadron in the Java seas. He paid the Theban off in April, 1816; and was lastly, from April, 1823, until April, 1832, employed as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. His advancement to the rank he now holds took place 1 Oct. 1846.
The Rear-Admiral is a Magistrate for co. Down. He married, in Sept. 1817, Martha, only daughter of the late Geo. Vaughan, Esq., the descendant of an old English family.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1022.