A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Parrey, Robert
PARREY. (Lieut., 1829. f-p., 28; h-p., 3.)
Robert Parrey is son of the late Commander Robt. Parrey, R.N.; [1] and a relative of Capt. E. I. Parrey, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 May, 1816, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Scamander 42, Capt. Wm. Elliott, under whom he was for two years and a half employed in the West Indies, and suffered much from yellow fever. Becoming Midshipman, in Nov. 1818, of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Thos. Searle, he made a voyage in that frigate to Leith, and was then ordered to South America; whither, after having conveyed a large freight to England, he returned in 1821 in the Doris 42, Capts. Thos. Graham and Jas. Henderson; the latter of whom, in May, 1822, he accompanied into the Blossom 24, commanded next by Capts. Thos. Bourchier and Arch. Maclean. On the arrival home of the Blossom with a considerable amount of specie in the middle of 1824, Mr. Parrey (who had passed his first examination two years previously) was received on board the Wellesley 74, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond. In that ship he again sailed, as Mate, for South America, with the present Lord Stuart de Rothesay, then recently appointed Ambassador at the court of Brazil; whence at the close of 1825 he came home with the same officer in the Spartiate 74. After a servitude of nearly three years in the East Indies on board the Warspite 76, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wm. Hall Gage, Tamar 26, Capt. Jas. John Gordon Bremer, and Java 52, also the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Gage, he was promoted, 27 March, 1829, to a Lieutenancy in the Pandora 18, Capt. Hon. John Fred. Gordon (now Lord Hallyburton), with whom he returned to England and was paid off in Feb. 1830. His next appointments were – for a short time, to the Hyperion 42, Coast Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – and 19 Dec. 1831, to the Asia 84, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wm. Parker at Lisbon, where he remained until Oct. 1832. He has been in command, since 13 Dec. 1834, of a station in the Coast Guard – a service in which, in the execution of his duty, he has been severely wounded and otherwise injured.
Lieut. Parrey married, 20 Dec. 1831, Eliza, youngest daughter of the late J. B. Stone, Esq., Comptroller of Customs at Newhaven, by whom he has issue.
- ↑ Commander Robt. Parrey entered the Navy in 1778, and was present on board the Yarmouth, commanded by his relative, Capt. Anthony Parrey, in Rodney’s celebrated action 12 April, 1782. Between 1793 and the date of his promotion to the rank of Commander, 36 Aug. 1808, he served as First Lieutenant in the Modeste frigate, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, as also in the Duke and St. George 98’s, and San Josef 110; and officiated for several vears as Flag-Lieutenant to Admiral John Holloway. He afterwards, during the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren, acted as an Agent for transports; and in the course of the following year he served in a similar capacity at the reduction of Guadeloupe. In 1814 he was nominated Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Rolles, who had been recently selected to fill the Office of Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica; but as the Admiral never sailed, he of course lost the appointment. In early life he had been a messmate of his late Majesty, King William IV. through whose recommendation his son was eventually promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He died in 1832.