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A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Lloyd, Rickard

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1806973A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Lloyd, RickardWilliam Richard O'Byrne

LLOYD. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 19; h-p., 29.)

Rickard Lloyd, born in Sept. 1790, is third son of the late Rickard Lloyd, Esq., of Ballincolli Castle, co. Cork; and a near relative of Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, who fell at the head of his regiment, the 84th, at the battle of the Nive, 6 Dec. 1813. Lieut. Lloyd, whose uncle was a Captain in the Navy, has a brother in the Army, who has seen nearly 30 years’ full-pay service in every climate.

This officer entered the Navy, 22 Sept. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Pomone 40, Capts. Robt. Carthew Reynolds and Edw. Leveson Gower. Continuing in that ship until 1803, he served in her in the expedition to the Holder under Sir Andw. Mitchell; and was present, on proceeding to the Mediterranean, at the capture, 3 Aug. 1801, after a stiff action of 10 minutes, in which the British endured a loss of 2 killed and 4 wounded, of the Carrère of 40 guns and 320 men; as also, on 2 of the following Sept., of the frigates Succès and Bravoure. During a subsequent attachment to the Pique 36, Capts. Wm. Cumberland and Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross, we find him witnessing the evacuation of Aux Cayes, St. Domingo, the capture, with other vessels, of Le Goelan 18, and the surrender of three French frigates with the remains of General Rochambeau’s army from Cape François on board. He was also, in Jan. 1804, a participator in the unsuccessful attack on the island of Curaçoa; and in Dec. 1804 and Feb. 1805 he assisted at the capture of the Spanish ships of war Diligentia and Orquijo. On 26 March, 1806, he further contributed to the taking of the French corvettes Phaeton and Voltigeur, of 16 guns and 115 men each; the former of which vessels offered so fierce a resistance, that 9 of the British were killed and 14 of them wounded while in the act of boarding. For their gallantry on the occasion the officers were each presented by the Patriotic Society with the sum of l00l. for the purchase of a sword, and the men with 20l. a-piece. Becoming Midshipman, in Aug. 1806, of the Pelican sloop, Capts. Ward and Morrison, Mr. Lloyd, while in that vessel, accompanied the expedition against Copenhagen, where, it appears, he was lent to the gun-boat service. In March, 1808, being then Acting-Lieutenant of the Pelican, he landed and carried the colours with the naval brigade at the reduction of the island of Descada; and in the course of the same year he presents himself to our notice as cutting out, with only two boats, a heavily-laden merchant-brig, lying under the batteries of Omoa, in the Bay of Honduras. Prior to the receipt of his commission, which bears date 22 Sept. 1810, Mr. Lloyd further acted for several months as Lieutenant in the Dart and Surinam sloops, Capts. Bertie and Hodge, and Alfred 74, Capt. Joshua Rowley Watson. In the Sdrinam he officiated as her Senior Lieutenant at the reduction of Martinique and Guadeloupe; and, with her boats under his orders, he cut out an armed schooner from beneath the batteries of St. Eustatius. During the remainder of the war Mr. Lloyd served on the Home, Jamaica, and American stations, in the Neptune 98, Capt. Volant Vashon Ballard, Sceptre 74, Capt. Jas. Ballard, Fawn 20, Capt. Thos. Fellowes. Alert 18, Capt. Joseph Gulston Garland, Rippon 74, Capt. Sir Christopher Cole, and Norge 74, Capt. Chas. Dashwood. While in the Sceptre, besides assisting at the blockade of the French fleet in Aix Roads, he was frequently employed on boat-service, and on one occasion obtained the thanks of Sir Harry Neale, the Commander-in-Chief, for cutting off from an armed convoy a chasse-maree, not-withstanding a heavy fire which had been opened upon him from the batteries at Belleisle. Among the other ships above alluded to, the Fawn appears conspicuous for her activity and Success as a cruizer, and the Alert for the frequency of her engagements with the batteries in the neighbourhood of Dunkerque and Calais. Accompanying the Norge on the New Orleans expedition, Mr. Lloyd, in command of her barge, aided, with the boats of a squadron, in capturing, on Lake Borgne, 14 Dec. 1814, a flotilla of five American gun-vessels under Commodore Jones, which did not surrender until they had inflicted on the British a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. The casualties in Mr. Lloyd’s boat alone amounted to 2 of the former and 3 of the latter. He was afterwards employed on shore with the army in all its operations. The Lieutenant, who had been on half-pay since 1815, was lastly, from 15 March, 1827, until March, 1830, employed in the Ordinary at Portsmouth.

He married, 2 May, 1816, Susan, second daughter of the late Edw. Heard, Esq., of Patna, co. Cork, a Major in the Hon.E.I.Co.’s Service, by whom he has issue two sons and two daughters. The eldest son is a Lieutenant in H.M. 36th Regt.