Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hillyar, James
HILLYAR, Sir JAMES (1769–1843), rear-admiral, eldest son of James Hillyar, surgeon in the navy, was born 29 Oct. 1769. He first entered the navy in 1779, on board the Chatham, commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir John) Orde, and was in her at the capture of the Magicienne off Boston on 2 Sept. 1781. The Chatham was paid off at the peace in 1783, but Hillyar, continuing actively employed on the North American and home stations, was in 1793 appointed to the Britannia, carrying the flag of Admiral Hotham. Thence he was removed to the Victory, flagship of Lord Hood, who rewarded his energy and good conduct at Toulon, and afterwards in Corsica, with a commission, 8 March 1794, as lieutenant of the Aquilon with Captain Robert Stopford [q. v.] In her he was present in the action of 1 June 1794; he was shortly afterwards moved, with Stopford, into the Phaeton, one of the frigates with Cornwallis in his celebrated ‘Retreat,’ and remaining attached to the Channel fleet till June 1799. Hillyar, again following Captain Stopford, was then moved into the Excellent, from which in April 1800 he was promoted to command the Niger, armed en flûte, and sent out to the Mediterranean with troops. On 3 Sept. 1800 he commanded the boats of the Minotaur and Niger in the cutting out of two Spanish corvettes at Barcelona; and in the following year, while on the coast of Egypt, served under Sir Sidney Smith in command of the armed boats on the lakes and the Nile. Through 1803 he continued in active cruising under the orders of Nelson, who wrote to Lord St. Vincent, 20 Jan. 1804, specially recommending him for promotion and immediate employment: ‘At twenty-four years of age he maintained his mother and sisters and a brother, … he declined the Ambuscade which was offered him, because although he would get his rank, yet if he were put upon half-pay his family would be the sufferers’ (Nicolas, v. 384). On Nelson's suggestion, the armament of the Niger was increased, and she was made a post ship, Hillyar being continued (29 Feb. 1804) in the command, which he held, attached to the Mediterranean fleet, till the end of 1807. In 1809 he commanded the St. George as flag-captain to Rear-admiral Sir Eliab Harvey, and afterwards to Rear-admiral Pickmore in the Baltic, where Sir James Saumarez appointed him to the Phœbe, a 36-gun frigate. In her, in the following spring, he went out to the East Indies, where he assisted in the reduction of Mauritius, December 1810, and of Java, August 1811. Returning to England, he was early in 1813 sent out to the Pacific to destroy the American fur establishments in the north. At Juan Fernandez, where he was joined by the Racoon and Cherub sloops, he heard that the United States frigate Essex was taking British merchantmen on that station. Having gone as far north as the Gallapagos islands, he sent the Racoon to execute his former orders; and, with the Cherub in company, ranged down the coast looking for the Essex. After five months' search he found her in the beginning of February at Valparaiso, where she was lying with three prizes, one of which she had armed as a tender, under the name of the Essex Junior. Porter, the captain of the Essex, expected an immediate attack; and, if Hillyar had found her, as he had been informed, with half her men on shore and quite unprepared, he might perhaps have laid her on board; but as she was ready for action, he gave up any such intention, and meeting Porter on shore, assured him that he would respect the neutrality of the port. The whole story, however, rests solely on Porter's uncorroborated assertion, and is intrinsically improbable, for the Essex's armament of 32-pounder carronades was, at short range, enormously superior to the long 18-pounders of the Phœbe. Nevertheless, the Phœbe and Cherub maintained a blockade for six weeks; and after several vain attempts to elude it, Porter on 27 March resolved to force his way, but he had scarcely got outside before, in a sudden squall, the Essex lost her main topmast. He tried to regain the anchorage, but failing in the attempt ran into a small bay about three miles from the town, and anchored within a few hundred yards of the shore. Hillyar at once followed and opened fire, the Cherub lending what little assistance she could. The long 18's of the Phœbe told with deadly effect on the Essex, whose heavy carronades were powerless for return; and, after a gallant but unavailing defence, Porter was obliged to haul down his flag. The loss of the Essex had been exceptionally heavy, and her hull above water was riddled. The Phœbe had four men killed and seven wounded, and the damage sustained by the ship herself was comparatively slight. Porter and his countrymen had expected great things from the tremendous armament of the Essex, and were naturally very sore. Hence arose many absurd charges against Hillyar. He was accused of ‘a deliberate and treacherous breach of faith,’ though his informal promise of neutrality, if made at all, could only refer to the port of Valparaiso. He was also said to have acted a cowardly part in attacking the Essex when disabled, and for keeping out of reach of her 32-pounders, while he destroyed her with his long 18's. A recent American writer, however, admits the absurdity of expecting a captain to give up the advantages of his armament and superior condition (Roosevelt, p. 301). The Essex Junior surrendered without resistance, and the Essex having been sufficiently repaired, sailed for England in company with the Phœbe, where they arrived in the following November. In 1830–1 Hillyar commanded the Revenge in the experimental squadron under Sir Edward Codrington, and for a short time as senior officer in the North Sea during the siege of Antwerp. He was then appointed to the Caledonia, and employed on the coast of Portugal during 1832 and the commencement of the following year. On 10 Jan. 1837 he became rear-admiral. He was nominated K.C.H. in January 1834, and K.C.B. on 4 July 1840. He died 10 July 1843. He married in 1805 Mary, a daughter of Nathaniel Taylor, naval storekeeper at Malta, and had issue, among others, Admiral Sir Charles Farrell Hillyar, K.C.B. (d. 1888), and Admiral Henry Shank Hillyar, C.B. Lady Hillyar died, aged 96, in 1884.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. iv. (vol. ii. pt. ii.) 849; United Service Mag. 1843, pt. iii. p. 271; James's Naval Hist. edit. 1860, vi. 150; Roosevelt's Naval War of 1812, p. 291; Porter's Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean, ii. 143; Porter's Life of Commodore Porter, p. 220; Loyall Farragut's Life of Farragut, chap. v., contains Farragut's account of the capture of the Essex, in which he was serving as a very young midshipman.]