A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Levinge, Reginald Thomas John
LEVINGE. (Commander, 1845.)
Reginald Thomas John Levinge, born 20 Oct. 1813, is third son of Sir Rich. Levinge, Bart., of Knockdrin Castle, co. Westmeath, by Elizabeth Anne, eldest daughter of Thos. Boothby, first Lord Radcliffe. One of his brothers, Richard, the eldest, is a Captain in the Army; another, George, a Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Artillery; a third, Augustus, a Lieutenant in the 71st Infantry; a fifth, Charles, also in the Army; and, a sixth, Vere Henry, in the Hon.E.I.Co.’s service.
This officer entered the Navy 7 Jan. 1827; passed his examination in 1832; obtained his first commission 18 Oct. 1839; and was afterwards appointed – 24 Oct. 1839, as Additional Lieutenant, to the Melville 72, flag-ship of Hon. Geo. Elliot in the East Indies – 12 Feb. 1840, to the Wolverene 16, Capt. Wm. Tucker, on the coast of Africa – 25 Aug. following, to the command of the Buzzard brigantine, on the same station, whence he returned in 1842 – 17 Jan. 1844, as Senior, to the Volage 26, Capt. Sir Wm. Dickson, employed on particular service – and 7 Feb. 1845, to the command of the Dolphin brigantine, of 3 guns, on the south-east coast of America. On 20 Nov. in the latter year we find him present in the battle of the Parana, where a hard day’s fighting terminated in the destruction, by the combined squadrons of England and France, of four heavy batteries belonging to General Rosas at Punta Obligado, as also of a schooner-of-war mounting 6 guns, and of 24 vessels chained across the river. The little Dolphin on that day occupied a berth better suited to a frigate, and was so much exposed that the Commodore, the present Sir Chas. Hotham, declared in his public despatch that he sometimes trembled when he beheld the shower of shot, shell, grape, and rockets flying over her. The gallantry of Mr. Levinge was in consequence rewarded with a Commander’s commission dated 18 Nov. 1845.[1] He has since been on half-pay.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1846, pp. 815, 817, 861.