A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Talbot, Charles
TALBOT. (Captain, 1830. f-p., 18; h-p , 14.)
Charles Talbot, born 1 Nov. 1801, is second son: of the Very Rev. Chas. Talbot, D.D., Dean of Sarum (grandson of Charles, first Lord Talbot, Lord High Chancellor of England), by Lady Elizabeth Somerset, daughter of Henry, fifth Duke of Beaufort, and grand-daughter of Admiral Hon. Edw. Boscawen. One of his brothers, George, is a Major in the Army, and has been on the Staff of four successive Commanders-in-Chief of Canada.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College, 19 Aug. 1815; and embarked, 7 Dec. 1817, as a Volunteer, on board the Prometheus sloop, Capt. Constantine Rich. Moorsom; in which vessel, and in the Bann 20, Capt. Andrew Mitchell, and Rochfort 80, successive flag-ship of Sir Thos. Fras. Fremantle and Sir Graham Moore, he served, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, the greater part of the time as Midshipman, until nominated, 17 Oct. 1822, Acting-Lieutenant of the Dispatch 18, Capt. Wm. Clarke Jervoise. His promotion being confirmed by commission dated 7 Jan. 1823, he was next, 29 July in that year and 10 Aug. 1825, appointed to the Euryalus 42, and Rainbow 28, Capts. Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford and Hon. Henry John Rous. In the former ship he was again employed in the Mediterranean; and, in the Rainbow, he proceeded to the East Indies; whence, on attaining, 30 April, 1827, the rank of Commander, he returned to England. Towards the close of May, 1829, Capt. Talbot commissioned the Helicon 10, but, that vessel being found defective and rotten, he was transferred, with his officers and crew, in the following month, to the Algerine brig, of similar force, building at Chatham, and was soon afterwards ordered to South America. As a reward for the activity he had displayed in the performance of a detached service, he was there, 25 Nov. 1830, promoted by the late Sir Thos. Baker, Commander-in- Chief, into his own flag-ship the Warspite 76. On the night of 6 April, 1831, an insurrection having broken out at Rio de Janeiro, he had the fortune to rescue and bring off from the palace of San Christavão their Imperial Majesties, also her Majesty Donna Maria of Portugal and suite, and the Marquis and Marchioness of Loulé; a service which Don Pedro II. subsequently acknowledged by presenting him with the decoration of the Brazilian order of Cruzero. About the same period he bore to the Assemblea Geral the Emperor’s appointment of José Bonifacio de Andrade é Silva to the guardianship of his children; and at the special request of his Majesty he superintended the embarkation of his valuable effects for Europe. On Sir Thos. Baker striking his flag at Spithead in March, 1833, Capt. Talbot had the satisfaction of receiving from him a letter highly complimentary on the efficient state of his ship, and of being publicly commended by Sir Fred. Lewis Maitland, Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth. His next appointment was to the Vestal 26, in which vessel he continued from 2 Nov. 1843 until paid off in July, 1847. In the early part of 1844, after having conveyed to New York the Right Hon. Rich. Pakenham, H.M. Envoy Extraordinary, we find him returning to South America, and on his arrival appointed, under very trying circumstances, senior officer in the Rio de la Plata, at a time when Monte Video was blockaded by the Argentine forces. In Aug. of the same year he took his departure for China, but, touching, during his passage, at the Cape of Good Hope, was thence ordered, by the Commander-in-Chief, Hon. Josceline Percy, to convey treasure to Van Diemen’s Land and Port Jackson, where he arrived in 33 days. He then proceeded, by the eastern route, to Hongkong, which island he reached in the unprecedentedly short period of 35 days, having altogether traversed (at an average rate of 153 miles per diem) 27,699 miles in 181 days! On 18 Aug. 1845, being off the northern end of Borneo, Capt. Talbot was intrusted by Rear-Admiral Sir Ihos. John Cochrane with the command of a force consisting of 530 officers, seamen, and marines, embarked in 24 boats (nine of them carrying guns), and was sent up one of the branches of a river in Malloodoo Bay, for the purpose of attacking the stronghold of Scheriff Osman, the most notorious of the Sooloo pirate chieftains. In the words of the Rear-Admiral, the success attendant on the enterprise proved “the soundness of his judgment in having selected Capt- Talbot for the important duty confided to him.” Before victory had, however, crowned their efforts, the British, on arriving in the vicinity of the Scheriff’s retreat, had had to effect an opening in a remarkably well-constructed boom placed across the stream to impede their progress, and had been in consequence exposed for an hour to the steadily sustained fire of 11 heavy guns barely 200 yards distant. The loss they sustained was therefore, as may be imagined, great – extending to not less than 6 men killed and 15 wounded.[1] It is scarcely necessary to add that the distinguished gallantry and good conduct exhibited on the occasion by Capt. Talbot and his brave companions had the effect of drawing from the Admiralty an expression of its great admiration and satisfaction. During his stay on the East India station Capt. Talbot was twice, for a considerable period, employed as senior officer in the China seas, where “his constant consideration for the interests of British commerce, and the unremitting attention he displayed in his official capacity towards the mercantile community,” procured him, on leaving, a warm address. He returned to England in the summer of 1847; and on being paid off at Sheerness, as above, was desired “to communicate to the ship’s company the expression of their Lordships’ approbation on the state and discipline, as well as the gunnery exercise, of the Vestal, as reported by Vice-Admiral Sir Edw. D. King.”
Capt. Talbot married, 11 Dec. 1838, Charlotte Georgiana, widow of Lieut.-Col. Stapleton, and daughter of the late Major-General Hon. Sir Wm. Ponsonby, K.C.B., by whom he has issue a son and two daughters. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1845, pp. 6534-6.