Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mangles, James
MANGLES, JAMES (1786–1867), captain in the navy and traveller, entered the navy in March 1800, on board the Maidstone frigate, with Captain Ross Donnelly, whom in 1801 he followed to the Narcissus. After active service on the coast of France, at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope, and in the Rio de la Plata, he was, on 24 Sept. 1806, promoted to be lieutenant of the Penelope, in which, in February 1809, he was present at the reduction of Martinique. In 1811 he was appointed to the Boyne, and in 1812 to the Ville de Paris, flagship in the Channel of Sir Harry Burrard Neale [q. v.] In 1814 he was first lieutenant of the Duncan, flagship of Sir John Poo Beresford [q. v.] in his voyage to Rio de Janeiro. He was sent home in acting command of the Racoon sloop, and was confirmed in the rank 13 June 1815. This was his last service afloat. In 1816 he left England, with his old messmate in the Narcissus, Captain Charles Leonard Irby [q. v.], on what proved to be a lengthened tour on the continent, and extended to Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, Their descriptive letters were privately printed in 1823, and were published as a volume of Murray's 'Home and Colonial Library' in 1844. Mangles was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1825, and in 1830 was one of the first fellows and members of council of the Royal Geographical Society. He was also the author of 'The Floral Calendar,' 1839, 12mo, a little book urging the beauty and possibility of window and town gardening; 'Synopsis of a Complete Dictionary ... of the Illustrated Geographically and Hydrography of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland,' 1848, 12mo; 'Papers and Despatches relating to the Arctic Searching Expeditions of 1850-1-2,' 1852, 8vo; and 'The Thames Estuary, a Guide to the Navigation of the Thames Mouth,' 1853, 4to. He died at Fairfield, Exeter, on 18 Nov. 1867, aged 81.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Journ. of Roy. Geogr. Soc. vol. xxxiii; Gent. Mag. 1867, ii. 833.]