Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wyvill, Christopher (1792-1863)
WYVILL, CHRISTOPHER (1792–1863), rear-admiral, second son of Christopher Wyvill [q. v.], was born on 6 May 1792. He entered the navy in 1805, served in the Tribune frigate in the Channel and in the Fame in the Mediterranean. From 1810 to 1813 he was in the Thames with (Sir) Charles Napier [q. v.], and in the Volontaire with Captain Granville George Waldegrave [q. v.] In May 1813 he was appointed lieutenant of the Kingfisher sloop, by acting order which was confirmed on 5 July. He afterwards served on the Halifax and home stations till promoted to be commander on 29 July 1824. In April 1827 he was appointed to the Cameleon, then in the Mediterranean, and, taking a passage out in the Dartmouth frigate, succeeded in preventing what threatened to be a terrible accident. Some of the men had got at a cask of rum, and in drawing off the spirit set it on fire. Wyvill volunteered for the service, and, with one of the gunner's mates, plugged the cask and extinguished the flames. In the Cameleon he was employed on the coast of Greece and in the suppression of piracy. In October 1828 he was appointed to the Asia, flagship of Sir Pulteney Malcolm [q. v.], whom in April 1830 he followed to the Britannia. When the Britannia paid off he was promoted to be captain, 22 Feb. 1832. From 1840 to 1847 he commanded the Cleopatra on the North American station, and afterwards at the Cape of Good Hope, where from 1844 she was almost continuously employed in suppressing the slave trade on the east coast of Africa (Egerton, Life of Sir Geoffrey Hornby, pp. 22–3). From 1849 to 1853 Wyvill was again on the Cape of Good Hope station in command of the Castor; and from June 1854 till 31 Jan. 1856, when he attained the rank of rear-admiral, he was superintendent of Chatham dockyard. He died at the Grange, Bedale, Yorkshire, on 29 Jan. 1863, aged 71 (Gent. Mag. 1863, i. 395).
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; United Service Gazette, 7 Feb. 1863; Navy Lists.]