A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wallis, Provo William Parry
WALLIS. (Captain, 1819. f-p., 22; h-p., 30.)
Provo William Parry Wallis is only son of Provo Featherstone Wallis, Esq., of Halifax, Nova Scotia, for some years Chief Clerk in the office of the Commissioner of H.M. Naval Yard in that colony. His sister, Lady Elizabeth Townshend, widow of Capt. Lord Jas. Townshend, R.N., K.C.H., was married in 1844 to Capt. Wm. Honyman Henderson, R.N., C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 May, 1795, as A.B., on board L’Oiseau 36, Capt. Robt. Murray, employed on the Halifax station; where he served from May, 1796, until Sept. 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., in La Prevoyante, Capt. Chas. Wemyss, and again with Capt. Murray, from May, 1799, until Sept. 1800, in the Asia 64. During the remainder of the war he was a Midshipman, on the same station, of the Cleopatra 32, Capt. Israel Pellew; which frigate, in Oct. 1804, he rejoined under the command of Sir Robt. Laurie. After a brilliant and self-sought action of nearly three hours, and a loss, out of 200 men, of 20 killed and 38 wounded, the Cleopatra was captured, 17 Feb. 1805, by La Ville de Milan, a French ship of 46 guns and 350 men, 10 of whom were slain. Owing to the damage she had sustained, the latter fell an easy capture, six days afterwards, to the Leander 50, Capt. John Talbot; who at the same time retook the Cleopatra. The French frigate being added to the British Navy as the 38-gun frigate Milan, the command of her was given to Sir Robt. Laurie; with whom Mr. Wallis continued to serve, on the coast of North America, until there nominated, 6 Nov. 1806, Acting-Lieutenant of the Triumph 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy. In Feb. 1808 he was superseded and placed as Master’s Mate on board the Bellona 74, Capt. John Erskine Douglas; but on 30 Nov. in the same year he was promoted officially into the Curieux 16, Capts. Andrew Hodge and Hon. Geo. Moysey. In her he was wrecked while at the blockade of Guadeloupe, 3 Nov. 1809. His next appointments were – on 29 of the latter month, to the Gloire 38, Capt. Jas. Carthew – in the course of 1810, to the Observateur, Capt. Fred. Augustus Wetherall, Driver, Capts. John Lawrence and Thos. Swinnerton Dyer, and Emulous, Capt. Wm. Howe Mulcaster – and in Jan. 1812, to the Shannon, of 50 guns, throwing a broadside weight of 538 lbs., and 306 men, Capt. Philip Bowes Vere Broke. On 1 June, 1813, he assisted as Second-Lieutenant at the famed capture of the 'Chesapeake' of 50 guns, yielding a broadside of 590 lbs., and 376 men; an exploit achieved after 15 minutes of desperate combat, wherein the British had 24 men killed and 59 wounded, and the Americans 47 killed and 115 wounded. Lieut. Geo. Thos. L. Watt, the First-Lieutenant of the Shannon, being killed in the moment of victory, and Capt. Broke being severely wounded, the command, at the close of the action, devolved upon Mr. Wallis;[1] who for his gallantry was promoted, 9 July following, to the rank of Commander, besides receiving a letter of thanks from the Admiralty and a sword from his Captain. From 19 Jan. until 28 Dec. 1814 Capt. Wallis served at Sheerness in the Snipe 12: he was advanced to Post-rank 12 Aug. 1819; and he was afterwards, from 4 June, 1824, until Nov. 1826, from 14 April, 1838, until Sept. 1839, and from 13 Oct. 1843 until April, 1846, employed on the Cape of Good Hope and Halifax, the North America and West India, and the Mediterranean stations in the Niemen 28, the Madagascar 46, and the Warspite 50. In the Niemen he commanded the first experimental squadron, consisting of the Champion, Orestes, Pylades, Calliope, and Algerine; and while engaged, in the Madagascar, in watching the French operations before Vera Cruz he received the thanks of the British merchants for his attention to their interests. When Senior officer, in the Warspite, at Gibraltar, he obtained the approval, in 1844, of H.M.’s Government for his judicious arrangements with the Prince de Joinville; whose attack upon Tangier and destruction of Mogador he was afforded an opportunity of witnessing. On the latter occasion he was the Senior British officer present, as he was likewise during the civil war on the coast of Syria, throughout the whole of the year 1845.
Capt. Wallis was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen 5 Aug. 1847. He married, 19 Oct. 1817, Juliana, second daughter of the Venerable Geo. Massey, of Chester, Archdeacon of Barnstaple and Prebendary of Exeter, by whom he has issue two daughters. Agent – J. Hinxman.
WALLIS. (Captain, 1819.)
Provo William Parry Wallis did not actually go to sea until he joined the Cleopatra in Sept. 1800. His name had been only borne on the books of the Oiseau, Prevoyante, and Asia. He was wrecked in the Curieux 21 Sept. 1809; the date we have elsewhere given being that of the court-martial which took place on the occasion. In the Gloire he was present, 18 Dec. 1809, at the destruction of the 40-gun frigates Loire and Seine, and of the batteries of Ance la Barque, Guadeloupe. For his conduct at the capture of the Chesapeake he received a letter of approbation, from the Admiralty. The Niemen was at first, intended for service at the Cape of Good Hope, but her destination was changed. Capt. Wallis was specially deputed, in the Warspite, to watch the operations of the French at Mogador. His wife was a daughter of the Ven. Roger Massey. We should have styled his sister Lady James, not Lady Elizabeth, Townshend. In April, 1847, Capt. Wallis was offered the Good-Service Pension; but this he declined for the appointment of Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 1329.