Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wallis, Provo William Parry
WALLIS, Sir PROVO WILLIAM PARRY (1791–1892), admiral of the fleet and centenarian, only son of Provo Featherstone Wallis, chief clerk to the naval commissioner at Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born at Halifax on 12 April 1791. His mother was a daughter of William Lawlor, major in the 1st battalion of the Halifax regiment. It has been suggested that he was related to Captain Samuel Wallis [q. v.], which is not improbable. It is more certain that he was the grandson of Provo Wallis, a carpenter in the navy, who, after serving through the seven years' war, was in 1776 carpenter of the Eagle, the flagship of Lord Howe in North America, and appointed by him on 3 March 1778 to be master-shipwright of the naval yard established at New York. After the peace he was transferred to Halifax.
At an early age young Wallis was sent to England, and while there at school his name was borne on the books of several different ships on the Halifax station. He actually entered the navy in October 1804 on board the Cleopatra, a 32-gun frigate, commanded by Sir Robert Laurie. On her way out to the West Indies on 16 Feb. 1805 the Cleopatra, after a gallant action, was captured by the French 40-gun frigate Ville de Milan, which was herself so much damaged that a week later, 23 Feb., she surrendered without resistance to the 50-gun ship Leander. The Cleopatra was recaptured at the same time (James, Naval History, iv. 26), and Laurie was reinstated in the command. Shortly afterwards Laurie was appointed to the Ville de Milan, commissioned as the Milan, and Wallis went out with him. In November 1806 he was appointed acting-lieutenant of the Triumph, with Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy [q. v.], and on 30 Nov. 1808 was officially promoted to be lieutenant of the Curieux brig, which a year later, 3 Nov. 1809, was wrecked on the coast of Guadeloupe. He was then appointed to the Gloire, and, after one or two other changes, was appointed in January 1812 to the Shannon, commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir) Philip Bowes Vere Broke [q. v.] He was second lieutenant of her in the brilliant capture of the Chesapeake on 1 June 1813, and, being left—by the death of the first lieutenant and Broke's dangerous wound—commanding officer, took the Shannon and her prize to Halifax. The prisoners, being considerably more numerous than the crew of the Shannon, were secured in handcuffs, which they themselves had provided. On 9 July Wallis was promoted to the rank of commander, and, returning to England in the Shannon in October, was appointed in January 1814 to the Snipe sloop. On 12 Aug. 1819 he was advanced to post rank.
From 1824 to 1826 he commanded the Niemen on the Halifax station; in 1838–9 the Madagascar in the West Indies and off Vera Cruz; and from 1843 to 1846 the Warspite in the Mediterranean. On 27 Aug. 1851 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and in 1857 was appointed commander-in-chief on the south-east coast of South America, from which he was recalled on his promotion to be vice-admiral, 10 Sept. 1857. He had no further service, but was nominated a K.C.B. on 18 May 1860, promoted to be admiral on 2 March 1863; rear-admiral of the United Kingdom, 1869–70; vice-admiral of the United Kingdom, 1870–1876; G.C.B. 24 May 1873; admiral of the fleet, 11 Dec. 1877. By a special clause in Childers's retirement scheme of 1870 it was provided that the names of those old officers who had commanded a ship during the French war should be retained on the active list, and the few days that Wallis was in command of the Shannon brought him within this rule. His name was thus retained on the active list of the navy till his death. During the latter part of his life he resided mainly at Funtington, near Chichester, in full enjoyment of his faculties, and reading or writing with ease till a few months before the end. On his hundredth birthday (12 April 1891) he received congratulations by letter or telegram from very many, including one from the queen, from the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the mayor and corporation of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the captain and officers of the Shannon, then lying at Falmouth. He died on 13 Feb. 1892, and was buried with military honours at Funtington on 18 Feb. Wallis married first, on 19 Oct. 1817, Juliana, daughter of Archdeacon Roger Massey, by whom he had two daughters. He married, secondly, on 21 July 1849, Jemima Mary Gwyne, a daughter of General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson [q. v.], governor of Gibraltar.
[‘Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo W. P. Wallis: a Memoir,’ by Dr. J. G. Brighton, 1892 (with portraits); O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Royal Navy Lists.]