A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Reynolds, Barrington
REYNOLDS, C.B. (Rear-Admiral, of the Blue, 1848. f-p., 22; h-p., 30.)
Barrington Reynolds is son of Rear-Admiral Robt. Carthew Reynolds, who perished in the St. George 98, on his passage home from the Baltic, 24 Dec. 1811; and brother of Commander Robt. Carthew Reynolds, R.N., who was promoted to that rank for his conduct (and afterwards died of the wounds he received) at the cutting out from under Fort Edward, Martinique, of the French brig-corvette Le Curieux of 16 guns and 70 men, 4 Feb. 1804.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Druid 32, commanded by his father, with whom he afterwards served as Midshipman in the Amazon 36 and Pomone 40. In the Amazon he assisted, in company with the Indefatigable 46, at the capture, in April, 1796, of L’Unité of 38 guns and 255 men, and La Virginie of 44 guns and 339 men; and on 14 Jan. 1797 was wrecked and taken prisoner, near Ile Bas, at the close of a gallant action of 10 hours with Les Droits de L’Homme 74,[1] on which occasion the Amazon, whose consort in the engagement had again been the Indefatigable, sustained a loss of 3 men killed and 15 wounded. On 5 Jan. 1798, having regained his liberty, Mr. Reynolds was present, on board La Pomone, in a stiff action which terminated in the capture, with a loss to the frigate of 1 man killed and 4 wounded, and to the enemy of 15 killed and 19 wounded, of Le Chéri French privateer of 26 guns and 230 men. He shortly afterwards joined the Indefatigable above mentioned, Capt. Sir Edw. Pellew; and on 8 Aug. in the same year contributed to the capture of La Vaillante corvette of 20 guns and 175 men. Removing with Sir E. Pellew into the Impétueux 74, he sailed in that ship with a squadron sent in June, 1800, to co-operate with the French royalists and Chouans in Quiberon Bay and the Morbihan; and in the following Aug. accompanied the expedition against Ferrol. On the former occasion he assisted, while detached in a boat under the late Capt. Jer. Coghlan, in silencing the forts at the south-west end of Quiberon, where, with a loss to the British of only 2 men killed and 1 wounded, several vessels were brought off and some scuttled. This took place on the 4th of June; and on the 6th we find Mr. Reynolds employed in the boats under Lieut. John Pilfold at the capture, in the Morbihan, of two brigs, two sloops, two gun-vessels, and about 100 Frenchmen, and the destruction of L’Insolente 16-gun brig, some smaller vessels, a fort, and a magazine. On the night of 29 Aug. 1800 he fought in the boats of a squadron, 20 in number, commanded by Lieut. Henry Burke, at the cutting out, close to the batteries in Vigo Bay, of La Guêpe privateer of 18 guns and 161 men, which vessel, 25 of whose people were killed and 40 wounded, was in 15 minutes boarded and carried, with a loss to the British of 3 seamen and 1 marine killed, 3 Lieutenants, 12 seamen, and 5 marines wounded, and 1 seaman missing. For his conduct on this occasion Mr. Reynolds, while serving with his father on board the Orion 74, was made Lieutenant, 18 Sept. 1801, into the Courageux 74, Capt. Thos. Sotheby. In the ensuing June he removed to the Hussar 38, Capt. Philip Wilkinson; and he next, from 17 Aug. 1803 until 13 Sept. 1809, served on the Channel and Irish stations in the Diana alias Niobe 40, Capts. Matthew Henry Scott and John Wentworth Loring. On the night of 28 March, 1806, the Diana having come up, off L’Orient, with Le Néarque corvette of 16 guns and 97 men, the rearmost of a French squadron, consisting of that vessel and three frigates, of which she had alone and with much gallantry gone in pursuit, dropped two boats from her quarters full of men. The command of these being given to Lieut. Reynolds, he, with a degree of skill and Resolution upon which the whole success of the enterprise depended, contrived to obtain full possession of the corvette without the circumstance being observed by any of her consorts. On 3 Dec. 1809, at which period he was serving in the East Indies on promotion in the Russell 74, he was nominated Acting-Commander of the Arrogant hulk, to which he was confirmed 3 Oct. 1810. His next appointment was, early in 1811, to the Hesper 18, part of the force employed in the expedition against Java; where he assisted at the bombardment and storming of Fort Cornelis and served on shore with a party of seamen throughout all the operations.[2] After the reduction of the town of Cheribon Capt. Reynolds was appointed Commandant pro tempore of that place.[3] On the final subjugation of the island of Java he was advanced, as a reward for the manner in which he had distinguished himself, to the acting-command, 26 Sept. 1811, of the Sir Francis Drake frigate, rendered vacant (the only vacancy that occurred) by the departure of her Captain, Geo. Harris, with the despatches for England. In Aug. 1812 Capt. Reynolds (who had been officially promoted on 22 of the preceding Jan.) was removed by Sir Sam. Hood, the Commander-in-Chief, into the Bucephalus 32, in which he continued until paid off in Aug. 1813. At an early period of the peace he was offered the command of a frigate by Lord Melville, but the nature of his services in the East Indies had so impaired his health that he was unable to accept it; nor did he again go afloat until appointed, 17 Oct. 1838, to the Ganges 84. In that ship, in which he remained until put out of commission, 18 April, 1842, he superintended, during the campaign of 1840 in Syria, the landing of the troops at D’Journi, and aided at the bombardment of Beyrout.[4] He was also present at the blockade of Alexandria. He was allotted the Captain’s Good-Service Pension 3 Nov. 1846, and advanced, 8 Jan. 1848, to Flag-rank. He had been nominated a C.B. 20 July, 1838.
Rear-Admiral Reynolds married, 28 June, 1832, Eliza Anne, third daughter of M. Dick, Esq., of Pitkerro, Forfarshire, N.B., and Richmond Hill, co. Surrey. Agent – J. Hinxman.