Royal Naval Biography/Wright, William Elliot
WILLIAM ELLIOT WRIGHT, Esq.
[Commander.]
Obtained his first commission on the 11th Dec. 1807; and subsequently served under Captains Pulteney Malcolm and Sir Michael Seymour, in the Donegal and Hannibal 74’s. We next find him flag-lieutenant to the former distinguished officer, by whom he was appointed acting commander of the Griffon sloop, at St. Helena, Sept. 20th, 1810. On his return from that station, after having been confirmed by commission dated Aug. 20, 1817, he was tried by court-martial on a charge of smuggling fifty-three yards of crape and various other contraband articles, during the Griffon’s stay at Portsmouth. The Court, after a long deliberation, sentenced him to be dismissed His Majesty’s service. On this painful occasion, Rear-Admiral Sir Pultcney Malcolm and Sir Michael Seymour, the latter of whom happened to preside at the trial, gave him a most excellent and honorable character, as an officer and a gentleman; but the Court, under the circumstances of the case, and agreeably to the articles of war, felt bound to deliver such a sentence. He was restored to his former rank, however, in 1819.