A Naval Biographical Dictionary/d’Aeth, George William Hughes
D’AETH, formerly Hughes. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 12; h-p., 36.)
George William Hughes d’Aeth, born in April, 1786, is only son of the late Wm. Hughes, Esq., of Betshanger, co. Kent, by Harriet, eldest daughter of Josiah Hardy, Esq., Consul at Cadiz, and great-grand-daughter, maternally, of Admiral Sir John Narborough, one of the Commissioners of the Navy in the time of King Charles II. Capt. d’Aeth assumed his present surname on inheriting the estates of his cousin, Sir Narborough d’Aeth, Bart., of Knowlton Court, co. Kent, 4 June, 1808.
This officer entered the Navy, in June, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Amethyst 36, Capts. John Cooke, Henry Rich. Glynn, Alex. Campbell, and John Wm. Spranger, on the Home station; where, besides being much employed in the conveyance of royal and diplomatic personages, he assisted in taking three privateers, carrying 34 guns and 270 men, and was present, as Midshipman, at the capture, 27 Jan. and 9 April, 1801, of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse, and national corvette Le General Brune, of 14 guns. In Aug. 1805, he rejoined Capt. Cooke in the Bellerophon 74, and for his conduct as Master’s Mate of that ship at the battle of Trafalgar, was promoted, 30 Jan. 1806, to a Lieutenancy in the Ruby 64, Capts. Temple, Hardy, and Draper. He next, in the ensuing June, removed to the Resolution 74, Capt. Geo. Burlton, under whom he attended the expedition to Copenhagen, in Aug. 1807; after which he became Flag-Lieutenant, in the Hibernia and San Josef, to Sir Chas. Cotton, and continued to be employed in that capacity, off Lisbon and in the Mediterranean, until Jan. 1811 – with the exception of a half-pay interval in 1809, and of a few months in 1808, and again in 1810, when he held the acting command of the Eclipse 18, and of the Eijderin 16, Swallow 18, and Shearwater 10. While in the Eijderin and Swallow in 1810, Mr. d’Aeth served at the defence of Messina, and commanded a division of mortar-boats in an attack on the enemy’s flotilla under the batteries of Scylla and Reggio. From Feb. to Jlay, 1811, he had further charge of the Termagant 18, during the blockade of Barcelona. Obtaining a second promotal commission 16 Aug. 1811, Capt. d’Aeth was next appointed, 4 April, 1814, to the command of the Bucephalus troop-ship. He subsequently served on shore in the attack on New Orleans; and on 13 June, 1815, attained Post-rank. His acceptance of the Retirement took place 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. d’Aeth married, 20 Aug. 1816, Harriot, sister of the present Sir Edw. Knatchbull, Bart., late Paymaster-General of the Forces, and has issue, with three daughters, four sons, of whom the third, Edw. Henry, is a Lieutenant R.N. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.