A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Suckling, William Benjamin
SUCKLING. (Captain, 1841. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
William Benjamin Suckling is eldest son of the late Colonel Suckling, 3rd Dragoon Guards, of Barnham Haugh, co. Norfolk; and a relative of the immortal Nelson, whose mother was a daughter of the Rev. Maurice Suckling, D.D., Prebendary of Westminster, by Anne, elder daughter of Sir Chas. Turner, Bart., of Warham, by Mary, his wife, sister of the celebrated Sir Robert Walpole, K.G. This officer entered the Navy, 9 April, 1803, as I’st.-cl. Vol., on borad the Amphion 32, Capt. Thos. Masterman Hardy, and sailed shortly afterwards with the flag of Lord Nelson for the Mediterranean; where he continued employed with the hero in the Victory 100, with Capts. Ross Donnelly and Wm. D’Urban in the Narcissus and Ambuscade frigates, and again in the Victory and Ambuscade, until Aug. 1809. In the Victory, we believe, he fought at Trafalgar. He was made Lieutenant, 23 Oct. 1809, into the Talbot sloop, Capt. Hon. Alex. Jones, on the Cork station; and was subsequently appointed – in 1810, to the Caesar 80, Capt. Wm. Granger, and Milford 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats, employed off Lisbon and at the defence of Cadiz – 1 Aug. 1811, for 15 months, to the Rodney 74, Capts. John Allen and Edw. Durnford King, in the Mediterranean – and, in June and Dec. 1813, to the Ocean 98 and Unité 36, Capts. Robt. Plampin and Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, on the same station, whence he returned in April, 1814. He was promoted, 1 July in that year, to the command of the Merope sloop. In her he served in the Mediterranean and on the coast of North America until Feb. 1815; and he was next, from 19 Feb. 1822 until wrecked on a reef of rocks off Langness Point, in the Isle of Man, 14 Dec. following, employed in the Racehorse 18, and from 15 March, 1828, until he invalided in the spring of 1829, in the Medina 20, on the coast of Africa. He has since been on half-pay. He attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841.
Capt. Suckling married, first, 24 Sept. 1844, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late John Barry, Esq., of Montague Street, Russell Square, London; and, that lady dying 9 Sept. 1846, secondly, 5 Aug. 1847, Caroline, second daughter of the late Wm. Loaden, Esq., of Rosehill, near Bideford, co. Devon. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.