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439

GWYN—GWYNNE—HACKETT.

GWYN. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 8; h-p., 31.)

William Gwyn, a gentleman of ancient Welsh extraction, is fourth and youngest son of the late Hamond Gwyn, Esq., by Frances, daughter of John Pigge, Esq.; and brother of the present Anthony Gwyn, Esq., of Baron’s Hall, Fakenham, co. Norfolk.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Sept. 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., in the Racehorse 18, Capt. Wm. Fisher, with whom he served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the East Indies, part of the time as Midshipman of the Cornwallis 50, until Feb. 1811. He then returned home in the Barbadoes 28, Capt. Brian Hodgson, and, after a continued attachment of a short period to the same vessel off Cherbourg, where she was commanded by Capt. Edw. Kushworth, was employed, between Dec. 1811 and Aug. 1815, in the Niobe 38, Capts. John Wentworth Loring and Wm. Augustus Montagu, and Madagascar 36, Capts. Lucius Curtis and Bentinck Cavendish Doyle. In the latter ship, besides participating in other operations of the last American war, he attended the expeditions against Washington and Baltimore; and on one occasion he served in her boats with those of the Havannah at the capture, after a spirited action, of the Franklin American schooner of war. On 9 May, 1816, Mr. Gwyn, who, on leaving the Madagascar, had taken up a commission bearing date 6 March,|1815, joined the Dee 24, Capt. Sam. Chambers, on the Halifax station. He returned home in June, 1817, and has since been unemployed.

Lieut. Gwyn is a Magistrate for the county of Norfolk. He married Mary, daughter of Edw. Rudge, Esq., by whom he has issue five sons and seven daughters. One of the former, Hamond Weston Gwyn, Esq., First-Lieutenant R.M. (1845), is now serving on board the Trafalgar 120.



GWYNNE, LL.D. (Retired Commander, 1836. h-p., 8; h-p., 50.)

Lawrence Gwynne entered the Navy, in Oct. 1789, as Admiral’s Servant, on board the Trusty 50, Capt. John Drew, bearing the flag of Sir John Laforey in the West Indies, where he served, latterly as Midshipman, for nearly four years. In Aug. 1793 he became attached to the Carysfort 28, Capt. Francis Laforey, stationed in the North Sea and Baltic; and, on removing to the Ramillies 74, Capts. Henry Harvey and Sir Rich. Bickerton, of which ship he successively officiated as Schoolmaster and Master’s Mate, he fought in Lord Howe’s action, 1 June, 1794. Returning subsequently to the West Indies, he there rejoined Sir John Laforey on board the Majestic 74; from which ship, on 30 Oct. 1795, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy in L’Aimable 32, Capts. Chas. Sydney Davers and Jemmet Mainwaring. While serving with the last-mentioned officer, we find him, on 23 July, 1796, taking part in a very warm and gallant action with the French 36-gun frigate La Pensée, whose loss on the occasion is stated to have amounted to 90 men killed and wounded, while that of the British ship did not exceed 2 wounded. Mr. Gwynne’s last appointment was to the Marlborough 74, Capts. Henry Nicholls and Joseph Ellison, with whom he served in the Channel and off Brest from Feb. to Sept. 1797. He became a Retired Commander on the Junior List 26 Nov. 1830; and on the Senior 7 March, 1836.

This officer, a member, we understand, of the English Bar, was lately Mathematical Master at Christ Church. He married Miss Strangways.



H.

HACKETT. (Lieut., 1818. f-p., 10; h-p., 28.)

Edward Hackett was born 1 Dec. 1793.

This officer entered the Navy, 15 Feb. 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Magicienne 36, Capt. Lucius Curtis, stationed off the Isle of France. Between the following year, when he returned to England as Midshipman of the Leopard 50, Capt. Jas. Johnstone, and the period of his examination, which he passed in the summer of 1815, he served on the Channel and West India stations, chiefly as Master’s Mate, in the Vengeur 74, flag-ship of Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, Tyrian 10, Capt. Augustus Baldwin, Warrior 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral John Erskine Douglas, and Shark receiving-ship, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Strangways. From the latter date) until officially promoted, 15 May, 1818, Mr. Hackett was further employed, as Acting-Lieutenant, also in the West indies, on board the Carnation 18, Capt. Geo. Bentham, Junon 38, Capt. Jas. Haldane Tait, Active 38, Capt. Philip Carteret, Primrose 18, Capt. Chas. Geo. Rodney Phillott, Larne 20, Capt. Abraham Lowe, Pique 36, Capt. John Mackellar, and Beaver 10, Capt. Robt. Rochford Felix. He returned home soon afterwards in the Semiramis frigate, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo, who died on the passage; and has since been on half-pay.

Lieut. Hackett has been upwards of 13 years Governor of the County Gaol of Berkshire. He married 22 May, 1830. Agents – Messrs. Chard.



HACKETT. (Captain, 1838. h-p., 16; h-p., 32.)

John Hackett entered the Navy, 16 Dec. 1799, as A.B., on board the Raisonnable 64, Capts. Chas. Boyles, John Dilkes, and Wm. Hotham, in which ship, after participating, as Midshipman, in the battle of Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801, he cruized on the Downs station until Jan. 1805. On next joining, in May, 1806, the Argo 44, Capt. Stephen Thos. Digby, he proceeded to the coast of Africa, and thence to the West Indies, where, in March, 1808, having removed to the Cerberus 32, Capt. Wm. Selby, he witnessed the capture of the islands of Marie-galante and Desirade. Soon after his return to England Mr. Hackett, on 26 Sept. in the latter year, was promoted, from a Master’s Mateship in the Semiramis 36, Capt. Wm. Granger, to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the Ned Elven brig, Capt. Rich. Jas. Lawrence O’Connor, with whom he served, in the North Sea and Baltic, until March, 1809. Obtaining a similar appointment, 1 May following, in the Renard sloop, Capt. Hew Steuart, he had an opportunity of attending the ensuing expedition to the Walcheren; but it was not until 11 May, 1811, that, after a re-employment, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Charger brig, and Caesar 80, commanded in the Channel and off Lisbon by Lieut. Jas. Askey and Capt. Wm. Granger, as also in the Barfleur 98, flag-ship of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, he succeeded in procuring his first Admiralty commission. He then served for a very brief period in the Diadem 64, Capt. John Phillimore, and was next appointed, 18 Aug. 1812, and 16 Jan. 1814, to the Success troop-ship, Capt. Thos. Barclay, and Epervier of 18 guns and 117 men, Capt. Rich. Walter Wales, employed on the North America and West India station. The latter vessel, on 29 April, 1814, had the misfortune, after a desperate engagement of an hour, in which, besides being fearfully damaged, she sustained a loss of 23 men killed and wounded, to be taken by the U.S. sloop Peacock of 22 guns and 185 picked seamen, 2 only of whom were hurt.[1] Among the Epervier’s wounded on the occasion was Mr. Hackett, who, about the middle of the action, had his left arm shattered, and received a severe splinter-wound in the hip, but whose gallantry would hardly suffer him to be carried below. He was ultimately, at the expiration of a short servitude in the Gloucester 74, Capts. Joshua Sydney Horton and Henry Stuart, promoted to the rank of Commander by commission bearing date 2 Sept. 1828. His last appointment was, 4 Nov. 1833, to the Jaseur 16, which sloop he paid off, on her return from the Mediterranean, in the spring of 1837. His services, as connected, during a portion of that period, with the civil war in Spain, were rewarded with the first

  1. The Epervier had previously, on 23 Feb., effected the capture of the American privateer Alfred of 16 guns and 108 men.