A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mundy, George
MUNDY, K.C.B. (Vice-Admiral of the Red, 1841. f-p., 27; h-p., 31.)
Sir George Mundy is son of the late Edw. Miller Mundy, Esq., M.P. for Derbyshire; and is closely connected with the Dukes of Newcastle, Grafton, and Richmond.
This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy 9 July, 1789, and embarked, in Oct. 1792, as Midshipman, on board the Blanche frigate, Capt. Christ. Parker. On his return, in Jan. 1793, from the West Indies in the Perseus 22, Capt. Geo. Palmer, he was received on board the Victory 100, bearing the flag of Sir Hyde Parker, and next on board the Juno 32, Capt. Sam. Hood, which frigate, in Jan. 1794, made a very remarkable escape from the inner harbour of Toulon, into which she had entered in ignorance of its evacuation by the British. After assisting at the capture of many of the enemy’s vessels, and at the reduction of St. Fiorenzo, Mr. Mundy followed Capt. Hood into L’Aigle 36, part of the force employed at the taking of Bastia and Calvi. He was confirmed a Lieutenant (having acted for nearly two mouths as such) in the St. George 98, Capt. Sam. Peard, 11 March, 1796; and he was subsequently appointed in that capacity to the Blenheim 98, Capt. Thos. Lennox Frederick, Victory 100, Capt. Thos. Sotheby, and Goliath 74, Capt. Thos. Foley. In the Blenheim he fought in the action off Cape St. Vincent 14 Feb. 1797; and in the Goliath he shared in the glories of the Nile 1 Aug. 1798. In the following Oct. he was nominated Acting-Commander of the Transfer brig of 14 guns, in which vessel (the appointment being confirmed by commission dated 24 Dec. in the same year) we find him constantly employed on hazardous service off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean until Aug. 1800. Being advanced, while serving in the Swan sloop, to Post-rank in the Vengeance of 74 guns, 10 Feb. 1801, he afterwards obtained command – 7 April, 1802, of the Carysfort 28, in the Channel – 21 Oct. 1802, of the Hydra 38, in which frigate he continued eight years – 14 Oct. 1814, of the Ajax 74, stationed, until July, 1816, in the Channel and Mediterranean – and, 27 May, 1825, and 29 Dec. 1828, of the Prince Regent and Royal George yachts. In the Hydra Capt. Mundy was at first employed off the coast of France, where he made prize, 25 June and 1 Aug. 1803, of the privateers La Phoebe, of 4 guns and 2 swivels, and Le Favori, of 4 guns, and, 30 Jan. 1804, of No. 51 gun-brig, of 3 guns and 56 men, and No. 411 lugger, of 1 gun and 36 men.[1] He was next ordered to the Mediterranean, where, during Nelson’s pursuit of the combined fleets to the West Indies, he was left under the orders of the Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel to assist in protecting Sardinia, Sicily, &c., against the designs of the enemy; a service in which he acquired reputation for exemplary vigilance and activity. On 27 Feb. 1806, being off Cadiz lighthouse, he succeeded in capturing, in the presence of four French frigates, the national brig Le Furet, pierced for 20 guns, mounting 18, with a complement of 132 men; and, on 28 of the ensuing April, he took, after a chase of 230 miles, the Spanish war-schooner Arganauta, mounting 4 guns, but pierced for 12.[2] Subsequently to this he escorted a fleet of transports to Sicily, conveyed the British Consul to Algiers, attacked and dispersed a division of gun-boats on the coast of Granada, and captured the Tigre Spanish letter-of-marque. On 7 Aug. 1807 we find him, with the assistance of his boats, possessing himself, in a very gallant manner, of three armed polacres (the Prince Eugène of 16 guns and 130 men, Belle Caroline of 10 guns and 40 men, and Rosario of 4 guns and 20 men) lying in the narrow harbour of Begu, on the coast of Catalonia, under the fierce defence of a battery, mounting 4 26-pounders, a tower, and of a considerable land force.[3] On his return with the outward-bound trade to the Mediterranean, after having been sent with convoy to England to refit, Capt. Mundy, in the early part of 1809, took up a station on the Catalonian coast, with the Leonidas frigate and several smaller vessels under his orders, for the purpose of co-operating with the Spanish patriots. While on that service, on which he continued until the following Oct., he effectually blockaded Barcelona, and was constantly engaged, as were his boats, in attacking the enemy’s detachments passing from the eastward to that city. His indefatigable exertions, and the union of activity and skill developed in all his operations, encountered as he frequently was by circumstances of a very trying character, were productive of the greatest benefits to the cause in which he was embarked, and procured him the warm acknowledgments of Lord Collingwood, the Commander-in-Chief. During the war of a hundred days, Capt. Mundy, then in command of the Ajax, was despatched to Marseilles, with instructions to ascertain, if possible, the sentiments of the inhabitants of that city. The discretion and good judgment he exhibited in discharge of the duties attendant on so delicate a mission were such as to demand the high approval of Lord Exmouth; under whom, in March, 1816, we find him visiting Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, for purposes connected with the abolition of Christian slavery. In June of the preceding year he had been nominated a C.B. He was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral while in command of the Royal George yacht, 22 July, 1830; was created a K.C.B, 28 Feb. 1837; and raised to the rank he now holds 23 Nov. 1841.
Shortly after the cessation of hostilities Sir Geo. Mundy accepted command of a troop of yeomanry cavalry in Derbyshire; and in 1818 he was elected M.P. for Boroughbridge, co. York. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.