JOHN WYATT WATLING, Esq.
[Captain of 1830.]
Is a native of Leominster, co. Hereford, and maternally descended from the family of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was beheaded in the reign of Queen Mary, for leading an insurgent force into London[1].
This officer was born in 1787, and, being related to several ship-owners, went first to sea in the merchant service, with the view of ultimately becoming master of a Jamaica trader; but his friends conceiving that they had interest sufficient to bring him forward in the royal navy, he was induced, early in 1801, to embark as midshipman on board the Veteran 64, Captain Archibald Dickson, under whom we find him serving in the expedition against the Northern Confederacy, so happily dissolved by the heroic Nelson’s attack upon the line of defence before Copenhagen. He subsequently served under Captains Edward Fellowes, Charles Brisbane, and Edward Brace, in the Acasta 40, Goliah 74, and Iris and Virginie frigates. In June, 1808, he passed his examination, and was immediately appointed to act as lieutenant of the Hero 74, Captain James Newman Newman. His promotion to that rank took place on the 22d Sept. following; and, in the ensuing month, he appears to have been removed to the Sirius frigate, Captain Samuel Pym, then about to sail for the Cape of Good Hope station. On the 21st Sept. 1809, he assisted at the capture of St. Paul’s, in the island of Bourbon, on which occasion la Caroline French frigate was taken, and much valuable British property rescued from the enemy[2].
His subsequent services in the same neighbourhood are thus officially certified:
- ↑ After the death of Sir Thomas, and the consequent confiscation of his property, his eldest son retired to the neighbourhood of Monmouth; but his descendants settled at and near Hereford.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part II. p. 142 et seq.
