A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Ommanney, John Acworth
OMMANNEY, K.C.B., K.S.L., K.S.V., K.R.G. (Vice-Admiral, of the Red, 1841. f-p., 24; h-p., 43.)
Sir John Acworth Ommanney is eldest son of Rear-Admiral Cornthwaite Ommanney, who died in 1801; brother of the present Rear-Admiral H. M. Ommanney; and uncle of Capt. Erasmus Ommanney, R.N. One of his brothers, Cornthwaite, was a Captain in the 24th Light Dragoons; and another, Montagu (who died on service in the West Indies in 1796), a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.
This officer (whose name had been borne, from 11 June, 1780, until Nov. 1781, on the books of the Ajax, Sandwich, and Gibraltar, all commanded by Capt. John Symons, and who had served from April to Aug. 1783 in the Powerful, Capt. Thos. Fitzherbert, at Plymouth) joined, in May, 1786, the Rose frigate, Capt. Henry Harvey, on the Newfoundland station. He was next, from Dec. 1788 until April, 1792, employed in the Mediterranean (the chief part of the time as Midshipman) on board the Leander 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Peyton, Aquilon 32, Capt. Robt. Montagu, and Zebra sloop, Capt. Wm. Brown; and in July of the latter year, after having been for a few weeks attached to one of the royal yachts, commanded in the Thames by Sir G. Young, he joined Sir Erasmus Gower in the Lion 64. In that ship, of which he was confirmed a Lieutenant 20 May, 1793, Mr. Ommanney accompanied Lord Macartney in his embassy to China. On his return to England he was appointed, 18 Oct. 1794, First of his former ship the Aquilon, then commanded by Sir Robt. Barlow, with whom he continued cruizing in the Channel until transferred, 27 March, 1795, to the Queen Charlotte 100, Capt. Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, part of the force under Lord Bridport in his ensuing action with the French fleet off the Ile de Groix. During the mutiny of 1797 at the Nore, Capt. Ommanney (he had been advanced to the rank of Commander 6 Dec. 1796) volunteered his services towards its suppression; and his offer being accepted, he was for six weeks employed for that purpose in a gun-brig. No. 28. He was afterwards sent with two other Captains to Deal with the view, in the event of circumstances justifying the measure, of assuming command of some vessels lying in the Downs, whose crews still evinced disrespect towards their officers. The return, however, of the men to their duty happily rendered the step unnecessary. In Dec. 1797 Capt. Ommanney obtained an appointment to the Busy 18, fitting for service in the North Sea, where he soon obtained a high character for activity. In Aug. 1799, being off Gorée in company with the Speedwell brig, he intercepted a fleet of merchantmen under convoy of a Swedish frigate; the whole of which he sent for examination to the Downs; displaying throughout all the details of the affair a degree of promptitude and firmness that elicited the particular approbation of the Admiralty. After attending the expedition against the Holder, and effecting, with his usual alacrity, the capture of Le Dragon, a noted French privateer, of 16 guns,[1] Capt. Ommanney, in Jan. 1800, proceeded to the Leeward Islands; whence, in the following July, the debilitated state of his health compelled him to return. Within a few weeks of his arrival in England he had the satisfaction of being presented by Earl Spencer (who had but just given him a temporary appointment to the Garland frigate) with a Post-commission dated 16 Oct. 1800. During the last year of the French revolutionary war Capt. Ommanney successively commanded, in the Channel, the Hussar 38, Robust 74, and Barfleur 98 – the latter bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Collingwood. He next, between May, 1804, and March, 1806, officiated as Flag-Captain to Sir Erasmus Gower in the Isis 50, at Newfoundland; but from the latter date he did not again go afloat until June, 1825. Obtaining command, on 7 of that month, of the Albion 74, he sailed first for the Lisbon station, and afterwards joined the fleet in the Mediterranean under Sir Edw. Codrington. Continuing there until 1828, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing in the battle of Navarin 20 Oct. 1827. For his conduct on the occasion he was nominated a C.B. by his own sovereign; and by those of France, Russia, and Greece, was presented with the Cross of St. Louis, the insignia of the Third Class of St. Vladamir, and the insignia of the Redeemer of Greece. He subsequently, in the capacity of Rear-Admiral, a rank he attained 22 July, 1830, commanded in chief, from 16 Oct. 1837 until the summer of 1840, and from 24 Sept. in the latter year until Oct. 1841, on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations, with his flag in the Donegal 78 and Britannia 120. He became a Vice-Admiral 23 Nov. 1841; was awarded the honour of Knighthood 20 May, 1835; and created a K.C.B. 20 July, 1838.
Sir John Acworth Ommanney is a Deputy-Lieutenant in co. Southampton. He married, in Oct. 1803, Frances, daughter of Rich. Ayling, Esq., of Slidham, co. Sussex, by whom he has issue. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1799, p. 954.