A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mainwaring, Edward Reeves Philip
MAINWARING. (Captain, 1841. f-p., 33; h-p., 15.)
Edward Reeves Philip Mainwaring, born 16 June, 1788, is eldest son of the late Edw. Mainwaring, Esq., who served as an officer during the first American war, and who eventually obtained a considerable grant of land as an acknowledgment for the services he had rendered in raising a company of loyalists at his own expense. His family is a branch of that of Mainwaring of Whitmore, co. Stafford, now represented by Capt. Rowland Mainwaring, R.N. He is brother of Lieut. Benj. Mainwaring R.N. Another of his brothers, Senior Major of the 51st Regt., served in most of the Peninsular actions and was present at Waterloo; a third, a Captain in the 22nd Regt., saw much service in the Persian Gulf, in Ava, and at Hyderabad, and was twice wounded; a fourth, Charles, a Captain in the 47th Regt., died, from the effects of cholera, at Calcutta; and a fifth, Edwin, a Lieutenant in the 1st Regt., died at Madras. One of his uncles, Capt. Jemmett Mainwaring, R.N., commanded the Babet 20 when that vessel foundered with all on board in the West Indies in 1801; and another, Lieut.-General Mainwaring, who died in 1842, served in 1809 at the siege of Flushing, where, with two companies of the 51st and two of the 82nd Regt., he repulsed the French on the occasion of a sortie made by them, taking 600 of their number prisoners, and capturing 2 9-pounders.
This officer entered the Navy, in the summer of 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol. on board the Roebuck 44, Capt. Wm. Buchannan, and after accompanying the expedition to Egypt, where he was employed at the landing of the troops, removed as Midshipman, in Nov. 1801, to the Haerlem 64, commanded at first by Capt. Buchannan and next by Capts. Jas. Murray Northey and John G. Saville. He subsequently, between Jan. 1803 and Aug. 1S06, served on the North Sea and Mediterranean stations in the Caroline 36, Capt. Benj. Wm. Page, Raisonnable 64, Capt. Wm. Hotham, and Queen 98, Capts. Mauley Dixon and Fras. Pender, bearing the flag latterly of Lord Collingwood. He then became Acting-Lieutenant of the Espoir sloop, Capt. Henry Hope, also in the Mediterranean; and on 11 June, 1807, he was confirmed into the Plantagenet 74, Capts. Thos. Eyles and Robt. Lloyd. Continuing in that ship until paid off in April, 1815, he served in her in the Baltic, and on the North American and West India stations; and on one occasion, when off New York, was sent with two boats in pursuit of a letter-of-marque, the Rapid, carrying 1 long 24-pounder, with small arms and a crew of 40 men, which vessel, after pulling for 11 hours in a calm, he succeeded in capturing in so gallant a manner as to elicit the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief Sir John Borlase Warren. His succeeding appointments were – 4 Nov. 1818,[1] as a Supernumerary, to the Severn Coast Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, under whom he served until Sept. 1820-1 Aug. 1821, as First, to the Ramillies 74, Capt. Edw. Brace, lying at Portsmouth – and 31 May, 1823, to the Ganges 84,[2] to which ship (at the particular request of her successive Captains, E. Brace and Patrick Campbell, and of Rear-Admiral Robt. Waller Otway, who hoisted his flag on board her) he continued attached, in the capacity last mentioned, on the West India, Home, and Brazilian stations, until advanced to the rank of Commander 27 May, 1826. He was afterwards employed – from June 1827 until 1830, and again from 20 March, 1832, until 1835, in the Coast Guard service and from 7 April, 1839, until paid off in June, 18-11, in command of the Electra 18, in South America. He attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841, but has not been since able to procure an appointment.
Capt. Mainwaring married, 1 Oct. 1827, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. M. Hill, Rector of Snailwell, Cambridgeshire, and a descendant of the Right Rev. Dr. Edm. Gibson, Lord Bishop of London, by whom he has issue two sons and one daughter.