Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reynolds, Barrington
REYNOLDS, Sir BARRINGTON (1786–1861), admiral, born in 1786, son of Rear-admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds [q. v.], entered the navy in 1795, on board the Druid, with his father, whom he followed to the Amazon. In her he was wrecked in Audierne Bay on 14 Jan. 1797. On regaining his liberty he again served with his father in the Pomone, from which he was moved to the Indefatigable, with Sir Edward Pellew [q. v.], whom he followed to the Impetueux of 74 guns. While in her he was present in several boat actions, including that in the Morbihan on 6 June 1800, under the immediate command of Lieutenant John Pilfold [q. v.] He was afterwards in the Orion with his father, and on 18 Sept. 1801 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Courageux. In the following June he was appointed to the Hussar, and from August 1803 to September 1808 was in the Niobe, during the greater part of the time with Captain John Wentworth Loring [q. v.] on the coast of France. He was afterwards in the Russell, in the East Indies, and in December 1809 was appointed acting commander of the Arrogant hulk. His promotion was confirmed by the Admiralty on 3 Oct. 1810, and in the following February he was appointed to the Hesper, in which he took part in the expedition against Java, and in acknowledgment of his conduct was appointed acting captain of the Sir Francis Drake frigate. On 22 Jan. 1812 he was promoted, independently, by the admiralty, probably as a mark of their high appreciation of his father's services. In August 1812 he was moved by Sir Samuel Hood into the Bucephalus, which he took to England, and paid off in August 1813. Shortly after the peace he was offered the command of a frigate, which he declined on the ground of ill-health; nor did he accept any further employment till 1838, when, in October, he commissioned the Ganges of 80 guns for service in the Mediterranean, and commanded her on the coast of Syria during the operations of 1840. He had previously, on 20 July 1838, been nominated a C.B. On 8 Jan. 1848 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and was shortly afterwards appointed to the command-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope and on the west coast of Africa; this he held till 1852, receiving the special thanks of the government for his activity and zeal in suppressing the slave trade. On 4 July 1855 he was promoted to be vice-admiral; on 4 Feb. 1856 he was nominated a K.C.B. From May 1857 to October 1860 he was commander-in-chief at Devonport. On 1 Nov. 1860 he was promoted to the rank of admiral, and on 28 June 1861 was made a G.C.B. He died at his seat, Penair, near Truro, on 3 Aug. 1861. He married, in June 1832, Eliza Anne, third daughter of Mr. M. Dick of Pitkerro, Forfarshire.
[O'Byrne's Naval Biogr. Dict.; Marshall's Royal Naval Biogr. ix. (suppl. pt. iii.) 13; Service Book in the Public Record Office; Gent. Mag. 1861, ii. 193, 327.]