A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Lory, William
LORY. (Lieut., 1821. f-p., 25; h-p., 13.)
William Lory was born 24 Dec. 1794, in the parish of St. Keverne, co. Cornwall, where his father was the principal resident freeholder and agriculturist.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Unicorn 32, Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman; with whom, after having witnessed Lord Cochrane’s destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads, he removed, 30 Aug. following, to the Armide 38; in the boats of which ship we find him frequently engaged in cutting out the enemy’s vessels and storming their batteries off Rochefort, Rochelle, and the Ile de Rhé. With an interval between March, 1812, and Feb. 1813, during which he served with Capt. Edw. Galwey in the Dryad 36, Mr. Lory was employed under Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Aylmer from Oct. 1810 to June, 1816, in the Narcissus 32, Fortunée 36, Pactolus 38, and Severn 40. Participating, in the Pactolus, in the operations on the coast of America, he there commanded a boat at the capture and destruction of many vessels, and assisted at the bombardment of Stonington. In the summer of 1815, being still in the same ship, he accompanied a most successful expedition sent up the Gironde in support of the French king. In Nov. 1818 Mr. Lory, who had passed his examination in the summer of 1815, rejoined the Severn, then commanded by Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch as a Coast Blockade ship; on the books of which, it appears, his name was borne as Admiralty-Midshipman, Admiralty-Mate, and Lieutenant (commission dated 14 Nov. 1821), until Oct. 1822. His commission was given him as a reward for his conduct, on 10 Nov. 1821, in an affray on shore with a large body of armed smugglers, from whom he took a boat and part of her cargo, killing and wounding at the same time several of their number. On the occasion, however, it was his lot to be himself severely hurt by a ball through the right thigh, and a painful contusion in the left breast, the effects of which still continue. During a three-years’ command of the Stork Revenue-vessel, to which he was appointed 11 July, 1831, Lieut. Lory, at the time of the Dutch embargo, although he had only 2 guns and 25 men on board, detained on her passage from the East Indies the Dutch ship Prince of Orange of 1200 tons, armed with 12 guns and 48 men, which he conducted from off Beachy Head to Portsmouth. In Feb. 1833 he captured the Sarah of London, a smuggling smack that had been for years successfully engaged in bringing over contraband goods to the coasts of Kent and Sussex. The manner in which the latter exploit was achieved afforded the Inspecting-Commander of the district to which Lieut. Lory was attached an opportunity of reporting him to the Comptroller-General as “one of the most zealous and best officers in His Majesty’s service.” He subsequently, from 3 May, 1837, until Feb. 1842, had charge of the Delight Falmouth packet; as, since 9 Jan. 1847, he has had of the Swift, a similar description of vessel.
We understand that before he joined the Stork Lieut. Lory had for four years and a half been in command of a station in the Coast Guard. He married, 3 Sept. 1823, Miss Pearce, a lady belonging to the same place as himself, by whom he has had a family of 15 children, seven of whom are still living.