A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Smith, Henry (a)
SMITH, C.B. (Captain, 1829.)
Henry Smith (a) attained the rank of Lieutenant 19 July, 1821; and was appointed in that capacity – 25 April, 1823, to the Genoa 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Livingstone, in which ship he continued for about a year and a half – and, 7 May, 1827, as First, to the Fairy 10, Capt. Geo. Wm. Conway Courtenay, fitting for the West Indies. He was there, 3 Feb. 1828, advanced to the command of the Ferret brig; from which vessel he removed, 14 April following, to the Arachne 18. He was nominated, 8 Sept. 1829, Acting-Captain of the Magnificent receiving-ship at Jamaica; and in 1831 he was officially promoted by a commission bearing the same date. His next appointments were, 27 Nov. 1837, and 30 June, 1840, to the Volage 26 and Druid 44, on the East India station, whence he returned in 1843. In the Volage he commanded a highly successful expedition (consisting of that ship, the Cruizer 16, Hon.E.I.Co.’s vessels Coote and Mahé;, and transports Lowjee Family, Ernaad, and Ann Crichton) against the town of Aden, in Arabia, where the fortifications were destroyed and the enemy completely subdued;[1] and in the Druid he distinguished himself by the active part he took in the operations in China. On 19 Aug. 1840, with the Larne 18, Hyacinth 18, Enterprise steamer, and Louisa cutter under his orders, he made so prompt and decisive an attack upon the works and barracks erected close to the barrier at Macao, that the Chinese were quickly put to flight, and their intentions against that city frustrated. In 1841 he was present, and was repeatedly thanked for his conduct, at the reduction of Tycocktow, in the action with the Bogue forts, and at the taking of Canton and Amoy.[2] He has been in command, since 1 March, 1848, of the Ganges 84, at Sheerness.
Capt. Smith was nominated a C.B. 13 Aug. 1840. He married, at Berne, in Switzerland, 18 Sept. 1844, Anna, eldest daughter of the late Sylvester Costigin, Esq., of Dublin. Agent – John P. Muspratt.