that place, officially acknowledged that he found in him “a most zealous second and supporter.” The bravery and spirit manifested by the officers and crews of the gun-boats, and their cheerful submission to the necessary privations of that peculiar service, have been noticed at p. 71 et seq. of Suppl. Part I. – “All” says Sir Richard J. Strachan, “supported the character of British seamen!”
Captain Janvrin’s post commission bears date, Oct. 21, 1810. He married the widow of Lieutenant Lord, R.N.
Agents.– Messrs. Maude.
GEORGE WILLIAM BLAMEY, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1810.]
The family of Blamey, originally Blayney, is of Welsh extraction, and claims to be descended from Cadwallender, King of the ancient Britons. Captain Blamey’s direct ancestor, Edward, a younger son of Thomas ap Jevan Lloyd, after serving Queen Elizabeth in the Low Countries, accompanied the Earl of Essex to Ireland, and settled in that kingdom, of which he was created a peer by James I, July 29, 1621. Two brothers belonging to this family fled from the “Emerald isle,” to avoid political persecution:– one went to Normandy, the other took up his residence at Tregony, co. Cornwall, and changed his name to Blamey.
The subject of this memoir was born at Devonport, in 1768; and he appears to have joined the Nonsuch 64, Captain Walter Griffith, before he was eight years old! Although much too young to take a part in any of the operations, he was present at the performance of many, if not all, the services in the Chesapeake and Delaware rivers, at the commencement of the American revolutionary war. In 1778, we find him again at school; and in 1780, embarking on board the Inflexible 64, then attached to the Channel fleet under Admiral Geary, but subsequently sent to the relief of Gibraltar, under Vice-Admiral Darby. While engaged in that service, she was warmly engaged with the Spanish gun-boats, and Mr. Blamey witnessed the demolition of the greater part of the besieged town[1].
- ↑ See Vol. I, Part I. p. 4, and note at p. 33.
