A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Littlehales, Bendall Robert
LITTLEHALES. (Vice-Admiral, of the Red, 1840. f-p., 26; h-p., 43.)
Bendall Robert Littlehales died in Aug. 1847, at Compton Bishop, Somersetshire, aged 82. He was second son of Baker John Littlehales, Esq., of Moulsey House, Surrey, by Maria, daughter and sole heiress of Bendall Martyn, Esq. His brother, Sir Edw. Baker, Bart., a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, married a daughter of the second Duke of Leinstcr.
This officer entered the Navy, 25 June, 1778, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Vigilant 64, Capts. Robt. Kingsmill and Sir Digby Dent; and on 27 of the ensuing month was present in the action between Keppel and d’Orvilliers. Accompanying Sir Digby Dent, as Midshipman, into the Royal Oak 74, he next, July, 1779 [errata 1], took part in Byron’s action off Grenada; after which we find him, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 21 Sept. 1790, employed, on the Channel and Newfoundland stations, on board the Cumberland and Repulse 74’s, both commanded by Sir D. Dent, and Portland and Salisbury, flag-ships of Admirals John Campbell and John aiilbanke. His succeeding appointments were – 16 April, 1791, for a short period, to the Duke 98, Capt. R. Kingsmill- 22 June, 1793, and 25 March, 1794, as Senior, to the Rose and Beaulieu frigates, both commanded by Capt. Edw. Riou – in May and July, 1795, as First and Flag-Lieutenant, to the Majestic 74 and Blanche frigate, bearing each the flag of Vice-Admiral Benj. Caldwell in the Leeward Islands – and 21 Nov. 1795, again as Senior, to the Amazon 36, Capt. Robt. Carthew Reynolds. Attending, in the Rose, the expedition of 1794 against the French West India islands, Mr. Littlehales was much employed there both on shore and afloat, particularly at the reduction of Martinique, where he served in one of the batteries on Pointe Carriere, and assisted in storming Fort Louis, opposite to which they had been erected. His gallantry, when in the Beaulieu, in voluntarily boarding and destroying a French ordnance store-ship, mounting 18 guns, under a battery at St. François, Guadeloupe, won the admiration of every beholder, and led to his being appointed by Vice-Admiral Caldwell, under whose eye the exploit was achieved, to his own flag-ship the Majestic, on promotion; although, unfortunately, no vacancy occurred prior to the Admiral’s supersession. In the Amazon, when that frigate, in company at the time with the Indefatigable 46, Capt. Sir Edw. Pellew, sustained a loss of 3 men killed and 15 wounded in an action of 10 hours with Les Droits de l’Homme 74, and was at its close wrecked, near Ile Bas, 14 Jan. 1797, Mr. Littlehales again distinguished himself, and was in consequence recommended by his Captain to the notice and patronage of the Admiralty; who, on his returning from captivity, promoted him, 27 Sept. following, to the rank of Commander, and soon afterwards, 8 Nov., invested him with the command of the Penguin sloop. In the latter vessel Capt. Littlehales served on the Irish station until about two months subsequently to his attainment of Post-rank, 15 May, 1800. Being next, 14 Jan. 1801, appointed, pro tempore, to the Centaur 74, in the command of which ship he was ultimately confirmed, he cruized during the remainder of the war off Brest and Rochefort, then hoisted the flag of Vice-Admiral Dacres at Plymouth, and was afterwards ordered to the West Indies, where he conveyed Lieut.-General Grinfield, the military Commander-in-Chief, on a tour of inspection to the different islands. In the summer of 1803, after having displayed much assiduity and attention in the attack upon Ste. Lucie,[1] on which occasion the Centaur bore the broad pendant of Sir Sam. Hood, Capt. Littlehales was sent home by that officer with his despatches announcing the conquest, in the Morne Fortunée brig. Incapacitated at first, from accepting, in consequence of illness contracted during his sojourn in the West Indies, and lacking the power afterwards to obtain, active employment afloat, his only other appointments were – 6 May, 1808, to the Sea Fencibles at Liverpool, where he remained until the corps was disbanded in 1810 – and 23 Aug. 1811, to the superintendence of ship-payments at Plymouth, the duties attached to which office he continued to discharge until the peace. He became a Rear-Admiral 22 July, 1830, and a Vice-Admiral 17 Aug. 1840.
Vice-Admiral Littlehales married, in Aug. 180.3, Mary Anna, daughter of Thos. Cleather, Esq., of Plymouth, by whom he has left, with other issue, a son, the present Commander Edw. Littlehales, R.N.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1803, p. 918.