Hyperion of 42 guns, going out to the Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards to the West Indies, where he was moved into the Union schooner, employed in the suppression of piracy, in which service he was severely wounded, 25 July 1823. On 18 March 1824 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and appointed to command the Lion schooner employed in the same service. In her he destroyed several nests of pirates on the coast of Cuba, captured nine of their vessels, some of their prizes, and a slaver. He was first lieutenant of the Procris, attending on the Duke of Clarence, then lord high admiral, in 1827–8, and of the Jaseur at the Cape of Good Hope from 1828 to 1832, in which period he was three times officially reported as having saved life by jumping overboard, once in a sea abounding in sharks (Young, Acts of Gallantry, 1872, pp. 22, 35). From 1833 to 1835 he was first lieutenant of the Snake on the South American station, and from 1835 to 1838 of the Cleopatra frigate with the Hon. Charles Grey. On 28 June 1838 he was promoted to be commander, and in the following January was appointed to the Powerful of 84 guns, carrying the broad pennant of Commodore (afterwards Admiral Sir Charles) Napier [q. v.], as second in command in the Mediterranean, on the coast of Syria, and especially at the bombardment of St. Jean d'Acre. For his services during this time, when he was frequently in actual command of the Powerful, the commodore being employed on shore, Liardet was promoted to post rank 4 Nov. 1840.
In the following year he accepted an appointment as agent for the New Zealand Company at Taranaki. He arrived there towards the end of September. On 29 Nov., in expectation of an attack by the Maoris, he was endeavouring to clear the vent of a rusty old four-pounder when an untimely explosion of the charge destroyed the sight of one eye and seriously injured the other. For several years he was almost totally blind. In February 1842 he left Taranaki for Sydney, whence he returned to England. During his enforced retirement he wrote or dictated ‘Professional Recollections on points of Seamanship, Discipline, &c.,’ 8vo, 1849, and the ‘Midshipman's Companion,’ 12mo, 1851. In January 1856 he was appointed one of the captains of Greenwich Hospital, and he published ‘Friendly Hints to the Young Naval Lieutenant,’ 12mo, 1858. He died in the Hospital on 1 March 1863, and was buried in the mausoleum of the old cemetery. A marble bust by T. Milnes is in the Painted Hall.
In October 1842 Liardet married Caroline Anne, sister of Sir Edmund Filmer, bart., and widow of Lieutenant John Jervis Gregory, R.N., and had two daughters and a son.
[Information from the family; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; E. J. Wakefield's Adventure in New Zealand, ii. 68, 163; Wells's Hist. of Taranaki, p. 71.]
LIART, MATTHEW (1736–1782?), engraver, born in 1736 in Compton Street, Soho, was son of a sausage-maker, and grandson of a barber, belonging to a family of French Huguenot refugees settled in Soho. Showing a taste for engraving, Liart was apprenticed by his father to S. F. Ravenet [q. v.] the engraver for seven years. He obtained a premium from the Society of Arts in 1764 and also studied at the Royal Academy, where he gained a silver medal for a drawing from the life. His performances as a draughtsman were commended by Benjamin West, P.R.A. Liart was employed by Boydell to engrave ‘Jacob and Laban’ after Pietro da Cortona, and ‘Noah's Sacrifice’ after A. Sacchi; he exhibited proofs of these engravings at the Society of Arts in 1766 and 1767. In 1771 Liart published himself two engravings after B. West, ‘Cephalus and Procris,’ and ‘Venus lamenting the Death of Adonis.’ He also engraved ‘The Joyous Peasant,’ after A. van Ostade, and some designs for furniture. He died about 1782 in Compton Street, and was buried at Paddington. Lawrenson drew his portrait.
[J. T. Smith's Nollekens and his Times, ii. 117; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon.]
LIBBERTOUN, Lord. [See Winram, George, d. 1650.]
LICHFIELD. [See also Litchfield.]
LICHFIELD, Earls of. [See Stuart, Bernard, 1622?-1645; Lee, George Henry, third Earl of the Lee family, 1718–1772.]
LICHFIELD, LEONARD (1604–1657), printer and author, born in 1604, was son of John and Margaret Lichfield. His father was printer to the university of Oxford from 1617 to 1635, and was also yeoman bedell. Leonard succeeded him as university printer, was ‘privilegiatus’ on 12 Nov. 1630, and also became one of the superior bedells. During the civil war from 1642 to 1646 he was employed by the king to print his declarations, proclamations, and other public papers. After the surrender of Oxford he had his house and goods burned, and was reduced to poverty (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644 p. 73, 1661–2 pp. 135, 238, 245). On 29 Oct. 1649 the council of state ordered him to enter into
