A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Lillicrap, James
LILLICRAP. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 36; h-p., 31.)
James Lillicrap, a native of Plymouth, is uncle of Jas. Lillicrap Marchant, Esq., Purser and Paymaster R.N., one of whose brothers died a Midshipman, and another a Lieutenant, R.N.
This officer entered the Kavy, 5 Sept. 1780, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Cambridge 74, Capt. Eras. John Hartwell, lying at Plymouth, where his name, during several months in 1782-3, was borne on the books of the Dunkirk, Capt. Milligan. Joining, in Sept. 1784, the Racehorse sloop, Capt. Thos. Wilson, he was for two years and a half employed in that vessel on the Halifax station, and in the suppression of smuggling on the coast of Scotland. On leaving her he became for a short period attached to the Termagant, another sloop, Capt. Rowley Bulteel; and he was next, between 1788 and 1793, stationed at Home and in the Mediterranean, as Midshipman, in the Cumberland 74, Capt. John Macbride, Syren 32, Capt. John Manley, St. George and Windsor Castle 98’s, flagships of Rear-Admiral Phillips Cosby, and Victory 100, bearing the flag of Lord Hood. On 30 Oct. in the year last mentioned, after having served on shore at the occupation of Toulon, Mr. Lillicrap was promoted to a Lieutenancy in La Moselle 20, Capt. Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett; in which vessel he continued until 7 Jan. 1794, when he had the misfortune to be taken prisoner in the jolly-boat while voluntarily reconnoitring the harbour at the above place subsequently to its evacuation by the British. Being exchanged in 1795, he embarked at Marseilles, and proceeded to Genoa, whence he returned overland to England via Cuxhaven, bringing with him despatches from Mr. Drake, the British Minister at Genoa. On his arrival he was appointed, 12 Oct. in the same year, to the Trusty 50, Capts. John Osborne and Andrew Todd; under the former of whom he partook of a variety of services in the North Sea and Channel, and assisted in conveying Lord Macartney to the Cape of Good Hope. During the mutiny which broke out on that station in 1797, Mr. Lillicrap was placed by Rear-Admiral Pringle in charge of the Rattlesnake sloop; which vessel he succeeded in placing so close under the guns of the Amsterdam battery, in Table Bay, that the ringleaders were obliged to surrender. Returning to England in the early part of 1799 on board the Trusty, he next, in the following April, joined the Venerable 74, Capts. Sir Wm. Geo. Fairfax and Sam. Hood, and was thus afforded an opportunity of sharing in an attack which was soon afterwards made by Rear-Admiral Chas. Morice Pole on a Spanish squadron in Aix roads, and of also participating in Sir Jas. Saumarez’ actions of 6 and 13 July, 1801, off Cadiz and in the Gut of Gibraltar. In consideration of his distinguished conduct as the Venerable’s First-Lieutenant on the latter occasion, and of the most able manner in which he supported Capt. Hood,[1] Mr. Lillicrap was rewarded with a Commander’s commission dated 18 Aug. 1801. His first appointment in his new rank was, 2 April, 1804, to the Vesuvius bomb, employed under Sir Wm. Sidney Smith on the Boulogne station; where, in Nov. 1805, he had 1 man killed and several wounded in an attack upon the enemy’s flotilla. While next in the Despatch 18, to which sloop he removed 25 Sept. 1806, Capt. Lillicrap, in the course of 1807, sailed from the Downs in command of a light squadron and with a large fleet of transports under his protection, having on board two divisions of the King’s German Legion. These his Indefatigable exertions and active measures enabled him to land in safety on the island of Rugen, at a time when the French army was besieging Stralsund, the capital of Swedish Pomerania. After he had for some time discharged the duties of Senior officer in Pert Bay, Capt. Lillicrap conducted the last division of troops under Lord Rosslyn from Rugen to Zealand, where he rendered good service by the mode in which he superintended their disembarkation in Kioge Bay During the operations against Copenhagen he was the Senior Commander employed in the in-shore squadron under Capt. Paget, and, until its surrender was in constant action with the enemy. Although, in the general promotion which followed the capture of the Danish fleet, 17 Commanders, all junior to him, attained superior rank, Capt, Lillicrap, notwithstanding that the important nature of his serviecs was set forth in the strongest manner by Lord Cathcart, the Earl of Rosslyn, Sir Chas. Morice Pole, and the commanding officers of the German Legion, was passed over, and not promoted until three years afterwards; two of which he spent, generally in command of a detached squadron, on the West India station, on his passage whither he effected the capture, 2 Oct. 1808, of La Dorade French privateer, of 1 gun and 20 men. On 24 Jan. 1815, Capt. Lillicrap, whose advancement to Post-rank had at length taken place hy a commission dated 21 Oct. 1810, assumed command of the Hyperion 42; in which frigate he visited Lisbon and escorted a large fleet of merchantmen home from Oporto. Subsequently to his appointment, 8 April following, to the Eurotas 38, we find him, while lying in Plymouth Sound, invested by Lord Keith with the command of the boats of the fleet, for the purpose of nightly guarding Napoleon Buonaparte, at the time on board the Bellerophon. On his return to Plymouth, after witnessing the ex-Emperor’s removal to the Northumberland off Berry Head, he was ordered to Malta, there to deliver Generals Savary and Lallemand, with three Colonels and several other officers, late belonging to Buonaparte’s suite, into the hands of Sir Thos. Maitland. The Eurotas being paid off 22 Jan. 1816, Capt. Lillicrap did not again go afloat until re-appointed, 6 April, 1821, to the Hyperion. In the following Sept. he sailed with Lord Chas. Somerset for the Cape of Good Hope, where he had no sooner arrived than he hoisted a broad pendant. He continued for about 12 months to fill the post of Commodore on the same station; during which period, 10 June, 1822, the officers and seamen under his orders were so thoroughly the means of saving the Albion, an Indiaman of immense value, from being lost in a gale in Simon’s Bay, that the Hon. Company awarded the sum of 500l. to be distributed among them. Capt. Lillicrap was himself presented with the same amount.[2] Proceeding, next, to the West Indies, he cruized for a time off Cuba with a detachment under his orders for the suppression of piracy, and on 24 Oct. 1823 was appointed to the Gloucester 74, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen. He returned home with the latter officer in March, 1824, and was lastly, from 6 April, 1830, until 4 June, 1833, employed as Captain-Superintendent of the Ordinary at Portsmouth. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 17 Feb. 1837; and advanced to his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
Rear-Admiral Lillicrap, while in the Ordinary at Portsmouth, transmitted to the Admiralty a model for rendering the numerous warping or transporting buoys available to the preservation of life. The plan was at once adopted; and the Royal Humane Society, to mark their appreciation of its utility and excellence, forwarded him their medallion. He married, 30 Dec. 1811, Frances Adams, youngest daughter of Giles Welsford, Esq., of Plymouth, by whom he has issue six sons and three daughters. One of the former, Walter Welsford, is a First-Lieutenant R.M. (1838).