A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wyatt, Henry Benjamin
WYATT. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
Henry Benjamin Wyatt, born 15 Nov. 1786, at Blackbrook, in the parish of Weeford, co. Stafford, is fourth son of the late Benj. Wyatt, Esq., of Lime Grove, near Bangor, Carnarvonshire; and brother of Capt. S. Wyatt, of the Royal Artillery. His father was elder brother of Jas. Wyatt, Surveyor-General of the Board of Works and private Architect to George III.; and uncle of the late Sir Jeffry Wyatville.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 April, 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Unicorn 32, Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman. After escorting convoy to and from Elsineure, cruizing for some time off the coast of Norway, and assisting at the blockade of the Dutch fleet in the Texel, he sailed, in Dec. 1804, with another convoy for the West Indies. On 26 May, 1805, he served in one of four boats, under the command of Lieut. Henry Smith Wilson, at the capture, after a pull of many hours, and in the face of a strong opposition, of the Tape-à-bord French privateer, mounting 4 6-pounder8, with a complement of 46 well-armed men. In the following Oct. he aided in making prize, near Bermuda, of a Spanish letter-of-marque; and when off French Guyana in April, 1806, he was often, again in the boats, engaged in pursuing the enemy’s vessels under a fire from their batteries. In May of the latter year the Unicorn was ordered home in company with the Amelia, Princess Charlotte, and Pheasant, and a merchant-fleet consisting of 91 sail; the whole of which were anchored in safety at Plymouth in the following July. During the passage the British had encountered four French frigates; but these the men-of-war had succeeded in putting to flight. In Jan. 1807 we find Mr. Wyatt, then in the Rio de la Plata, employed with the boats in protecting the debarkation of the troops previously to the attack upon Monte Video. On the day on which that city was stormed he was in command of the ship’s launch. After Lieut.-General Whitelock’s unfortunate attempt upon Buenos Ayres he returned to England. He went subsequently to Madeira in pursuit of a French squadron from Rochefort, and thence again accompanied convoy to the West Indies. He took part also in a variety of boat-operations on the north coast of Spain, assisted in embarking the army after the battle of Corunna, was present, 4 April, 1809, in a severe encounter with the enemy’s flotilla near Oléron, in which a Lieutenant and one man were killed, and witnessed the celebrated attack made by Lord Cochrane on the French shipping in Aix Roads. He left the Unicorn at sea 25 May, 1809; passed his examination 7 June following; was made Lieutenant, 3 July in the same year, into the Magnet 14, Capt. John Smith (a), part of the force employed in the expedition to the Walcheren; and was afterwards, 20 March, 1810, and 6 March and 18 Dec. 1811, appointed to the Ruby 64, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon in the Baltic, and Tremendous and Audacious 74’s, Capts. Robt. Campbell and Thos. Baker. While in the Ruby he was often in action with the Danish gun-boats in the Baltic; on one occasion he cut out, in her gig, a merchant-vessel under a heavy fire from the batteries at Bornholm. In the Cumberland, which ship he left in Aug. 1815, he was employed in the Channel, the West Indies, and North Sea, and at the Cape of Good Hope. He was promoted to the rank he now holds 18 Sept. in the year last mentioned; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Wyatt married, 25 Aug. 1836, Miss Bennett, of Appley, near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight; and has issue two daughters.