A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Style, William
STYLE. (Retired Captain, 1844. f-p., 13; h-p., 34.)
William Style, born 26 April, 1786, is third son of the Rev. Robt. Style, Vicar of Wateringbury and Rector of Mereworth, co. Kent, by Priscilla, daughter of the Rev. John Davis; and brother-in-law of Capt. John Drake, R.N. His grandfather, Sir Thos. Style, Bart., married a daughter of Sir Chas. Hotham, Bart.; and his uncle. Sir Chas. Style, Bart., married a daughter of the first Viscount Powerscourt. Another uncle, Wm. Style, was a Lieutenant-General in the Army. His second brother, Thomas, died a Captain R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 March, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Immortalité 36, Capts. Hon. Henry Hotham and Edw. W. C. R. Owen, stationed in the Channel. After assisting at the bombardment of Havre and Boulogne and commanding the {sc|Immortalité}}’s launch in an attack upon two of the enemy’s gun-brigs under the guns of Calais, he removed as Master’s Mate, in Aug. 1803, to the Impérieuse 38, commanded by his former Captain, Hotham; whom he followed, in March, 1804, and April, 1806, into the Révolutionnaire 44 and Defiance 74. While attached to the Révolutionnaire he escorted the Duke of Sussex from Lisbon to Portsmouth, accompanied the outward-bound East India trade to the line, and visited the coast of North America. He was present also in Sir Rich. Strachan’s action 4 Nov. 1805, and assisted after the battle in bringing to England one of the prizes, the Scipion 74. During his servitude in the Defiance, in which ship he was ordered to act as Lieutenant 26 April, 1806, and was confirmed to that rank 15 Aug. following, Mr. Style contributed to the destruction, 24 Feb. 1809, of three French frigates under the batteries of Sable d’Olonne; on which occasion the Defiance, besides being much cut up in her masts, sails, and rigging, sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 25 wounded. On 24 June in the same year he landed at the head of between 300 and 400 seamen and marines from the squadron then cruizing off Corunna, and succeeded in destroying 114 guns of the largest calibre, with their carriages and ammunition. With the boats of the Defiance under his orders he brought out, on the night of 31 Dec. 1809, beneath a heavy fire of round and grape shot, the armed ship 'Ellison', of more than 400 tons burthen, moored within half a cable’s length of the shore, and lying under the muzzles of the guns of Fort Palais, one of the strongest fortifications on the coast of France. An attack had been made on this vessel a few nights previously by double the force, but had failed. On 1 June, 1810, being again in command of the boats, Mr. Style, after a fatiguing chase of six hours, came up with three of the enemy’s armed chasse-marées; the whole of which he boarded, carried, and brought out in a calm from under the citadel of Fort Palais, in Belleisle, although exposed for an hour in doing so to a most severe fire of round and grape from two batteries on Pointe Taillefer and from several field-pieces. Six armed launches came out likewise to the support of their friends, but were beaten back.[1] In the course of the same year Mr. Style was sent in pursuit of La Prudente, a cutter valuably laden, which he contrived to capture, notwithstanding that before he reached her she had sought protection under the batteries on the island of Oléron. For all these services he was very warmly recommended, and received the thanks of the Commander-in- Chief. In Aug. 1810 he left the Defiance; and in the following month he joined the flotilla employed in the defence of Cadiz. On 28 of the ensuing Oct. the Camperdown, a gun-vessel of which he had assumed command, struck on Los Corrales, a reef of rocks between Cadiz and Puntales, and a Midshipman and 14 of her crew perished. He subsequently, on 6 March, 1811, supported the present Sir Thos. Fellowes at the storming of a 4-gun battery, surrounded by a ditch and spiked stockade at the entrance of Port Santa Maria, under a heavy fire of grape from the neighbouring works;[2] on 5 July he was second in command in a night-attack made on some vessels in the Guadalquivir, and had every man on the larboard side of his boat killed or wounded in a desperate action fought on the occasion with a schooner of war; and on 2 Nov. he distinguished himself in an attack upon the enemy’s flotilla. He was shortly afterwards sent to co-operate in the defence of Tarifa, where he remained until the siege was raised, and displayed throughout so much zeal and activity that he obtained, as he had done at Cadiz, very great applause. His conduct gained him the thanks in particular of Commodore Penrose and the Spanish government. In April, 1812, he was placed on half-pay, having been advanced to the rank of Commander on 1 of the preceding Feb. His last appointment was, 18 May, 1821, to the Gannet 18; in which vessel we find him escorting the remains of Queen Caroline from Harwich to Cuxhaven. He accepted his present rank 7 Feb. 1844.
Capt. Style is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Oxford. He married, 22 Dec. 1814, Louisa Charlotte, second daughter of Hon. Jacob Marsham, D.D., Canon of Windsor and Prebendary of Rochester and Wells, and sister of Capt. Henry Shovell Marsham, R.N. By that lady he has issue three sons and two daughters. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.