A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wigston, James
WIGSTON. (Captain, 1830. f-p., 19; h-p., 24.)
James Wigston is son of John Wigston, Esq., of Trent Park, near Barnet, by Mary, sister of the late [[w:The steward elections have started. Please vote. Close Admiral Sir Willoughby Thomas Lake, K.C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 7 Sept. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Greyhound 32, Capts. Chas. Elphinstone, Edw. Thos. Troubridge, and Hon. Wm. Pakenham. Being ordered to the East Indies, the Greyhound there, in company with the Harrier 18, destroyed, 4 July, 1806, under the fort of Manado, the Dutch Company’s brig Christian Elizabeth of 8 guns and 80 men. On 6 of the same month the two ships took at the island of Tidore, the Belgica of 12 guns and 32 men; and on 26 they fought a gallant action with a Dutch squadron, consisting of the Pallas frigate, of 40 guns and 250 men, the Vittoria (a two-decker) and Batavia Indiamen, both richly laden and both (the one of 800, the other of 500 tons) armed for the purposes of war, and the William corvette of 20 guns (24-pounders) and 110 men; the result of which was the capture of all the enemy’s ships but the William, after a loss had been incurred by them of 12 killed and 39 wounded, and by the British of 1 killed and 11 wounded. The Greyhound being wrecked in Oct. 1808, off the coast of Luconia, Mr. Wigston, after sharing in the hardships mentioned in our memoir of Capt. Percy Grace, was received as Midshipman (a rating he had before attained) on board the Culloden 74, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew. On his return to England in the summer of 1809 he joined the Donegal 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm; in the barge of which ship we find him present as Master’s Mate in an attack made, 15 Nov. 1810, on the two French frigates Amazone and Eliza, as they lay aground under the protection of several strong batteries near La Hogue. In the early part of 1811 he proceeded in the Southampton 32, Capt. Jas. Lucas Yeo, to the West Indies; where, shortly after his removal to the Dragon 74, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Laforey, he was made Lieutenant, 13 June in the same year, into the Julia sloop, Capt. Hon. Valentine Gardner. He came home in June of the following year; and was appointed next – 15 Sept. 1812, to the Magnificent 74, Capt. Willoughby Thos. Lake, in the Channel – 22 Nov. 1814 for nine months to the Norge 74, Capt. Chas. Dashwood part of the force attached to the expedition against New Orleans, where he was employed in the boats in co-operation with the army – 2 Feb. 1819, as First-Lieutenant (a post he had filled on board the Julia) to the Pandora 18, Capt. Chas. Grenville Randolph, on the Cork station – and 29 Aug. 1820 in a similar capacity (he had been superseded from the Pandora at his own request 12 Oct. preceding) to the Sybilla 44, fitting for the flag of Sir Chas. Rowley, Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies. He was promoted, 14 Jan. 1822, to the command of the Bustard 10, on the latter station; where he was removed, in the ensuing June, to the Scout 18. In her he made prize, In 1824, off the Belize, Honduras, of L’Amazone, a piratical brigantine, carrying 1 long gun on a pivot, with a crew of 65 men. He returned to England in 1825. His last appointment was, 22 Jan. 1829, to the Warspite 76, in which ship, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Baker in South America, he continued to serve as Acting-Captain until advanced by the Admiralty to his present rank 22 July, 1830.
Capt. Wigston married, 25 July, 1833, Mary Theodora, only daughter of the late Major-General Sir John Chalmers, K.C.B., of the Madras Army, by whom he has issue three daughters. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.