A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Rich, George Frederick
RICH. (Captain, 1823. f-p., 24; h-p., 28.)
George Frederick Rich is son of Admiral Sir Thos. Rich, who died 6 April, 1804, at Sonning, near Reading; and brother of Capt. Chas. Rich, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 March, 1795, as Midshipman, on board the Atlas 98, Capt. Dodd, with whom, until 18 Dec. following, and again from 16 Jan. to 3 May, 1796, he served at Plymouth in the same ship and in the Fame 74. In June and July, 1798, his name was borne on the books of the Northumberland 74, Capt. Edw. W. C. R. Owen; and he was next, between March, 1800, and June, 1805, employed on the Irish, Channel, Baltic, West India, and Downs stations, chiefly as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Glenmore and Vengeance, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Duff, and Immortalité 36, Capt. E. W. C. R. Owen. In the latter ship, as may be seen by a reference to our Memoir of her Captain, he assisted at the bombardment of Dieppe and St. Valery-en-Caux, and came into frequent contact with the enemy’s flotilla in the neighbourhood of Boulogne. On 30 Dec. 1805, after having acted as Lieutenant in the Valorous, Capts. Harding and Tarker, and performed the duties of Sub-Lieutenant in the Earnest gun-brig, Lieut.-Commanders St. Clair and Templar, he was made full Lieutenant into the Rosario sloop, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, whom he accompanied to the West Indies. His next appointments were – 12 April, 1807, to the Venus 32, Capt. Henry Mateon, also in the West Indies – 18 Dec. 1807 and 14 Dec. 1810, to the Clyde 38 and Inconstant 36, both commanded on the Home station by his friend and patron Capt. Owen, who intrusted him with the charge of a division of gun-boats at the evacuation of the Walcheren in Dec. 1809[1] – 16 March, 1812, to the San Josef 110, bearing the flag of Lord Keith in the Channel – and, 30 Nov. 1812 (after six months of half-pay), to the acting-command of the Racehorse 18 at the Cape of Good Hope, where he remained until the ensuing June. His appointments as Commander, a rank to which he was officially advanced 26 Oct. 1813, were – 19 Dec. 1814, 4 June, 1816, and 27 Jan. 1817, to the Zephyr 12, Racoon 16,[2] and Falmouth 20, in which vessels he was employed in the Channel and again at the Cape until paid off in March, 1819 – and, 30 Nov. 1822, to the Ringdove 18, fitting for the West Indies. He was posted, 1 July, 1823, into the Gloucester 74, bearing the broad pendant of his old Commander, then Sir E. W. C. R. Owen, on the station last named; and was afterwards nominated Captain – 24 Oct. 1823, for a short time, of the Hyperion 42, at Jamaica – 30 Sept. 1841 and 21 April, 1844, of the Queen 110 and Formidable 84, each bearing the flag of Sir E. W. C. R. Owen in the Mediterranean, where he continued until the end of 1845 and, 6 Nov. 1847, of the Vanguard 80, now on the same station.
Capt. Rich married, 24 July, 1828, Agnes, second daughter of the late C. H. Fraser, Esq., by whom he has issue. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.