Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percy, Josceline
PERCY, JOSCELINE (1784–1856), vice-admiral, fourth son of Algernon Percy, second baron Lovaine of Alnwick, and afterwards (1790) first earl of Beverley, and grandson of Hugh Smithson Percy, first duke of Northumberland [q. v.], was born on 29 Jan. 1784. His mother was Isabella Susannah, second daughter of Peter Burrell of Beckenham, and sister of Peter, first lord Gwydyr. His brothers Henry (1785–1825) [q. v.] and Hugh (1784–1856) [q. v.] are noticed separately. He entered the navy in February 1797, on board the Sanspareil, then carrying the flag of Lord Hugh Seymour [q. v.] In 1801 he was moved into the Amphion, in which he went out to the Mediterranean in 1803, when he followed Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy to the Victory; in August he was appointed acting-lieutenant of the Medusa with Captain (afterwards Sir John) Gore. In her he assisted in the capture of the Spanish treasure-ships on 5 Oct. 1804. His commission was confirmed to 30 April 1804. In 1806 he was in the Diadem with Sir Home Riggs Popham [q. v.] at the capture of Cape Town, was promoted on 13 Jan. to command the Espoir brig, and was posted the same day to the Dutch ship Bato, reported to be in Simon's Bay. The Bato, however, was found to have been effectually destroyed, and as the Espoir had meantime sailed for England, Percy was compelled to return to the Diadem as a volunteer. Fortunately, on 4 March the French 46-gun frigate Volontaire came into Table Bay, in ignorance of the capture of the Cape; she was taken possession of, commissioned by Percy as an English ship of war, and sent to St. Helena, whence she took charge of the convoy to England. Percy's two promotions were confirmed, dating respectively from 22 Jan. and 25 Sept. 1806. He was also returned to parliament as member for Beeralston in Devonshire, and continued to represent that place till 1820. In 1807 in command of the Comus, he assisted, under Sir Samuel Hood [q. v.], in the occupation of Madeira; and in 1808, then captain of the Nymphe, he carried Junot from Portugal to Rochelle, according to the stipulations of the convention of Cintra. In November 1810 he was appointed to the Hotspur, a 36-gun frigate, which he commanded on the coast of France, and afterwards at Rio Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, for five years, returning to England in the end of 1815. On 26 Sept. 1831 he was nominated a C.B., and was promoted to be rear-admiral on 23 Nov. 1841. He was at the same time appointed to the chief command at the Cape of Good Hope, which he held till the spring of 1846. He became vice-admiral on 29 April 1851; and from June 1851 to June 1854 was commander-in-chief at Sheerness. He died at his country seat near Rickmansworth on 19 Oct. 1856. He married in 1820 Sophia Elizabeth, daughter of Moreton Walhouse of Hatherton, Staffordshire, and left issue.
Josceline's younger brother, William Henry Percy (1788–1855), sixth son of the Earl of Beverley, born on 24 March 1788, entered the navy in May 1801 on board the Lion of 64 guns, in which he went to China, and on his return in November 1802 joined the Medusa, of which his elder brother was shortly afterwards appointed acting-lieutenant. He was promoted commander on 2 May 1810, and during 1811 commanded the Mermaid, which was employed in transporting troops to the Peninsula. He was posted on 21 March 1812. In 1814 he commanded the Hermes of 20 guns on the coast of North America; but on 4 April, having lost fifty men killed and wounded in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, Mobile, his ship was set on fire to prevent her falling into the enemy's hands. After the peace he had no further service in the navy, but was for many years a commissioner of excise and M.P. for Stamford. He became a rear-admiral on the retired list on 1 Oct. 1846, and died on 5 Oct. 1855.
[Statement of Services in the Public Record Office; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. v. (suppl. pt. i.) 184; O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1856, ii. 782; Burke's Peerage, s.n. Northumberland.]