A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wriford, Samuel
WRIFORD. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 21; h-p., 29.)
Samuel Wriford entered the Navy, 1 March 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Royal Sovereign 100, Capt. Wm. Bedford, flag-ship of Sir Alan Gardner and Sir Henry Harvey in the Channel, where he continued to serve, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, until April, 1802. He was next for upwards of six years, employed under the late Sir Rich. John Strachan, on the Mediterranean, Home, and Halifax stations, in the Donegal and Renown 74’s, Caesar 80, Triumph 74, and Caesar again. In the Donegal he assisted, 25 Nov. 1804, at the capture, near Cadiz, of the Spanish frigate Amfitrite of 44 guns; and on removing from the Renown to the Caesar he fought, 4 Nov. 1805, in the action which rendered prize to the British the four French ships-of-the-line that had escaped from the battle of Trafalgar under Rear-Admiral Dumanoir Le Pelley. On 22 of the month last mentioned (the date of his first commission) Mr. Wriford was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to Sir E. J. Strachan. In that capacity he continued to officiate until Oct. 1808; in the course of which month he became Senior of the Caesar, then bearing the flag of Hon. Robt. Stopford; under whom (previously to witnessing the attack made by Lord Cochrane upon the French shipping in Basque Roads) we find him present, 24 Feb. 1809, at the destruction, beneath the powerful batteries of Sable d’Olonne, of the 40-gun frigates Italienne, Calypso, and Cybèle. He subsequently accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren, and was for some time stationed on the coast of Portugal under the command of Capt. Wm. Granger. From 17 June, 1811, until 26 July, 1812, from 23 Nov. 1812 until 22 Aug. 1814, and from 7 Feb. 1815 until a few weeks after his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 10 Oct. following, he was employed in succession, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, as First-Lieutenant, in the Pompée and Pembroke 74’s and Malta 80, Capts. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, Jas. Brisbane, and Wm. Chas. Fahie. He beheld, in the Pembroke, the destruction of a convoy under the guns of Porto Maurizio and the fall of Genoa; and he co-operated, in the Malta, in the reduction of Gaeta. His last appointments were – 5 Sept. 1843 and 22 May, 1845, to the San Josef 110 and Caledonia 120, Capts. Fred. Wm. Burgoyne and Manley Hall Dixon, both at Devonport, where he remained until Dec. 1846.
Commander Wriford married, in June, 1822, Mary, second daughter of the late Mr. Peter Goodman Glubb, of Liskeard, co. Cornwall, by whom he has issue.