A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mainwaring, Rowland
MAINWARING. (Captain, 1830. f-p., 20; h-p., 32.)
Rowland Mainwaring, born 31 Dec. 1783, is eldest surviving son of Rowland Mainwaring, Esq., of Four Oaks, co. Warwick, a Field Officer, by Jane, daughter of Capt. Latham, R.N. He is a cousin of the present Rear-Admiral Mainwaring; and is the representative of an ancient Staffordshire family, settled for many centuries at Whitmore Hall, near Newcastle-under-Lyne.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1795, on board the Jupiter, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, lying at Sheerness; and in the course of the same year became Midshipman of the Scipio 64, Capt. Robt. M‘Doual, on the West India station, where, after serving for a short time with Capt. Fras. Laforey in the Beaulieu frigate and Ganges 74, he joined, in the early part of 1796, the Majestic 74, Capts. Geo. Blagden Westcott and Robt. Cuthbert, bearing the flag at first of Sir John Laforey. Subsequently to the battle of the Nile, on which occasion Capt. Westcott was killed, Mr. Mainwaring, in Oct. 1798, removed to the Thalia 36, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, under whom he was further employed in the Defence 74 on different European stations, until within a short period of his being made Lieutenant, 7 Dec. 1801, into the Harpy sloop, Capts. Chas. Worsley Boys and Edm. Heywood. His succeeding appointments were – 4 Aug. 1802, to the Leda 38, Capts. Geo. Hope, Jas. Hardy, and Robt, Honyman, by the latter of whom he was intrusted with the command of a boat charged with an explosion-machine in an attack upon the Boulogne flotilla – 8 Nov. 1804, to the Terrible 74, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, which ship was totally dismasted in a hurricane while in pursuit, in the West Indies, of a French squadron under Jerome Buonaparte – 7 Oct. 1806, as First-Lieutenant, to the Narcissus 32, Capts. Chas. Malcolm and Hon. Fred. Wm. Aylmer – and 16 Aug. 1811, in a similar capacity, after nearly eight months of half-pay, to the Menelaus 38, Capt. Sir Peter Parker. In the Narcissus Mr. Mainwaring assisted at the capture, 18 Aug. 1807, of the Spanish national ship Cantela, pierced for 12 guns, besides witnessing the reduction in April 1809 of the Saintes, near Guadeloupe, and co-operating in 1810 with the patriots on the north coast of Spain. During his servitude in the Menelaus we find him repeatedly, in the course of 1812, obtaining the official notice of Sir Peter Parker – first, by the judgment and ability he exhibited in capturing, without loss, the St. Josef, a beautiful French brig, pierced for 16 guns, lying within pistol-shot of one battery, flanked by another, and also by musketry from the shore, near the Bay of Frejus[1] – next, by the attention and assistance he afforded on the occasion of the Menelaus (together with the Havannah and Furieuse frigates and Pelorus brig) being chased by the French Toulon fleet – a third time, by his admirable gallantry and good conduct when the Menelaus, having pursued the French 40-gun frigate Pauline and 16-gun brig Ecureuil under the batteries in the vicinity of Toulon, once more effected a masterly retreat from the fleet that had come out to their protection, by passing through its line ahead of one 74, and astern of another – again, by the manner in which, under circumstances peculiarly honourable to him, he boarded and brought out the French xebec La Paix, mounting 2 long 6-pounders, with a complement of 30 men, from within pistol-shot of the towers of Terracina, under a galling fire – a fifth time, by his highly creditable behaviour in cutting out, under a heavy fire from the batteries in the river Mignone, near Civita Vecchia, the French letter-of-marque St. Esprit, pierced for 12 guns, but with only 2 6-pounders mounted[2] – and lastly, by his conspicuous gallantry in burning the enemy’s vessels in the port of Mejan, Marseilles. In acknowledgment of his valour on so many occasions Mr. Mainwaring was awarded a second promotal commission dated 13 Aug. 1812, but he did not leave the Menelaus until the commencement of the following Oct.; between which period and the autumn of 1813 he was successively invested by Sir Edw. Pellew with the command of the Edinburgh 74, Gorgon 44, hospital-ship at Malta, Undaunted 38, Euryalus 36, Caledonia 120, bearing that officer’s own flag, and Kite and Paulina sloops. While in command of the Kite he was stationed for the protection of British trade in the Archipelago, where he destroyed a French privateer, rescued a valuable merchantman which she had captured, and obtained from the Bey of Salonica a promise that in future no vessels of the same description should be equipped in his harbours. During his command of the Paulina Capt. Mainwaring chased a large fast-sailing American privateer into the harbour of Tripoli, and effectually prevented her escape for a period of six weeks, until, indeed, the ratification of the treaty of peace with the United States had placed it outof her power to do further mischief. For this service he elicited the thanks of Rear-Admiral Sir Chas. Vinicombe Penrose. He was paid off in Nov. 1815, and has not been since afloat. On the accession of William IV. to the throne he was selected by Lord Melville as one of the old war-officers deserving of promotion, and he was accordingly posted by commission dated 22 July, 1830.
Capt. Mainwaring (a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Staffordshire) married first, 31 Dec. 1810, Sophia Henrietta, only daughter of Major Duff, of the 26th Regt., and step-daughter of Rear-Admiral Geo. Tobin, by whom he had issue seven sons and two daughters; secondly, 15 Nov. 1826, Mary Ann, second daughter of John W. Clark, Esq., of Preshute, Wilts, who (at her death in 1834) left an only daughter; and thirdly, 11 Nov. 1836, Laura Maria Julia Walburga, only child of Colonel Florian Chevillard, formerly in the service of Napoleon Buonaparte, who died of wounds received in the battle of Leipzig. By the last-mentioned lady he has issue four sons. His eldest son, Rowland, died Midshipman of the Warspite 76, at Port Jackson, 27 Oct. 1826; and his next, Edward Pellew, is married to a sister-in-law of the Duke of Calabritto, and the Hon. Constantino Dillon, brother of Viscount Dillon.