Leonard George Carr Laughton

“ The accident caused much excitement, especially locally, the tendency being to lay the blame on the royal yacht and her captain. It is important, therefore, to notice that at the time of the accident the prince, the commander, and the navigating officer of the Alberta were all on the bridge; also that it was a common thing for pleasure craft to go as near to the royal yacht as possible when a chance of seeing the queen offered itself. The coroner's jury at Portsmouth brought in a verdict of manslaughter against the prince and the navigating officer, Staff-captain Welch ”

“ In December 1851 he was appointed deputy controller-general of the coast-guard, and held this post until 1854, when, on the outbreak of the Russian war, he commissioned the Eurydice as senior officer of a small squadron for the White Sea, where he blockaded Archangel, stopped the coasting traed, and destroyed government property at several points. In 1855 he was appointed to the Hawke, block ship, for the Baltic, and was employed chiefly as senior officer in the gulf of Riga, where the service was one of rigid blockade, varied by occasional skirmishes with the Russian gunboats and batteries. ”

“ The effort was immediately successful, and the Institution of Naval Architects was established early in 1860, Reed, who had been organising secretary from the first, being permanently appointed to the secretaryship. In 1862 he submitted to the admiralty designs for the conversion of wooden men-of-war into armour-clads on the belt and battery system, and was encouraged to proceed. The conversion of three ships was put in hand and carried out under Reed's supervision, and before their completion he was offered and accepted, in 1863, the post of chief constructor of the navy. ”

“ The Imperieuse was senior officer's ship of the advanced squadron and followed up the ice and established the blockade of the Gulf of Finland as early in the spring as possible, and before the navigation was thought safe for heavy ships. ”

“ The Japanese government under the Tokugawa Shogurata having asked that English naval officers might be lent for training purposes to their newly formed modern navy, the request was granted and Tracey placed in charge of the mission. He and his companions set about organising and superintending the naval school at Tsukiji during 1867-8, and while thus employed he was borne on the books of the flagship. But a new Japanese administration interrupted Tracey's work, which was not resumed till 1873, when Commander (Sir) Archibald Douglas took out to Japan a second naval mission. ”

“ On 23 Nov. 1881 he reached the rank of admiral, and in Dec. was chosen as commander-in-chief at Devonport, where he remained for the full period of three years. On 31 March 1885 he accepted retirement; at Queen Victoria's Jubilee of 1887 he was made an additional G.C.B., and in 1894 he was awarded a flag officer's good service pension. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, served on the council of the Royal United Service Institution, and took part in the work of several naval benevolent societies. ”

“ Shortly afterwards Curzon-Howe commissioned the Boadicea for the East Indies station, where, in Aug. 1888, she relieved the Bacchante as flagship of Sir Edmund Fremantle. As flag-captain and chief of the staff he took part in the Vitu expedition of Oct. 1890, for which he received the C.B. and the medal. From August 1891 he served for a year at the admiralty as assistant-director of naval intelligence, and then went to the North American station in command of the Cleopatra, and as commodore during the Newfoundland fishing season. ”

“ MEADE, RICHARD JAMES, fourth Earl of Clanwilliam in the Irish peerage, and second Baron Clanwilliam in the peerage of the United Kingdom (1832–1907) , admiral of the fleet, born on 3 Oct, 1832, was eldest son in the family of four sons and a daughter of Richard Charles Francis Meade [q. v.] , third earl of Clanwilliam and Baron Gillford in the Irish peerage and Baron Clanwilliam in the peerage of the United Kingdom, by his wife Lady Elizabeth, eldest daughter of George Augustus Herbert, eleventh earl of Pembroke. He had his early education at Eton, and entered the navy on 17 Nov. ”

“ On the return of the expedition to England in October 1851 Ommanney received the Arctic medal, and several years later, in 1868, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his scientific work in the Arctic. ”

“ After leaving the sea Sotheby devoted himself to philanthropic work; in 1886 he was a commissioner for investigating and reporting on the condition of the blind, and was for many years chairman of the Blind Institute in Tottenham Court Road.
Sotheby died at 26 Green Street, London, W., on 6 Jan. 1902, and was buried at Ecton, Northamptonshire. He married in 1864 Lucy Elizabeth, daughter of Henry John Adeane, of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, and granddaughter of John Thomas, first Baron Stanley of Alderley, by whom he had issue three sons. ”

“ In Feb. 1852 a larger Arctic expedition of five ships was fitted out and placed under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher [q. v.] . Two of the ships had auxiliary steam power, and McClintock was given the command of one of these, the Intrepid, which was officially described as tender to the Resolute, Capt. Kellett, under whose immediate orders he was. The Intrepid wintered on the south side of Melville Island, whence many sledge expeditions were sent out. ”

“ Willes married, on 16 May 1855, Matilda Georgiana Josephine, daughter of William Joseph Lockwood of Dews Hall, Essex. Admiral Sir George Lambart Atkinson, his nephew, took the additional surname of Willes in 1901 under the terms of his will. ”

“ The comparative perfection to which Arctic sledge travelling attained was in great measure due to improvements introduced by McClintock. In the summer of 1854 Belcher decided to abandon the Intrepid and three other ships, and the party returned home in the North Star and two relief ships. On 22 Oct. 1854, a day after McClintock received his promotion to captain, Dr. Rae arrived with the first certain intelligence of the fate of Franklin's expedition [see Franklin, Sir John] . ”

“ In Aug. 1895 he landed the brigade which captured M'weli, the stronghold of Mburuk, a rebellious Arab chief, for which service the general Africa medal with 'M'weli, 1895' engraved on the rim was awarded; in Aug. 1896 part of his squadron bombarded the palace at Zanzibar and deposed the pretender, Rawson receiving the brilliant star of Zanzibar, first class, in acknowledgment from the sultan ”

“ In 1879 he succeeded Sir George Nares in command of the Alert, sloop, and remained in her until 1882, completing the survey of the Straits of Magellan. From 1883 to 1887 he commanded the Flying Fish on surveying service, carrying out other valuable scientific work during the same time. ”

“ Stewart was twice married: (1) on 20 Feb. 1850 to Catherine Elizabeth (d. 23 Nov. 1867) , only daughter of Eyre Coote of West Park, Hampshire; (2) on 11 Jan. 1872 to Blanche Caroline, third daughter of Admiral the Hon. Keith Stewart, C.B., and grand-daughter of George, eighth earl of Galloway. He left issue two sons and three daughters by his first marriage, and one daughter by the second. ”

“ William was educated at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and in 1835 was rated midshipman and appointed to the Actæon frigate. By his service as mate during the first China war he earned his commission as lieutenant, dated 4 May 1841. ”

“ MACDONALD, Sir JOHN DENIS (1826–1908) , inspector-general of hospitals and fleets, born at Cork on 26 Oct. 1826, was youngest son of James Macdonald, artist, by his wife Catherine, daughter of Denis McCarthy of Kilcoleman, co. Cork. His father was the representative of the Castleton branch of the Macdonald family, and claimant of the Annandale peerage through his great-grandfather, the Hon. John Johnston of Stapleton. He was privately educated, and after attending the Cork school of medicine went to King's College medical school to finish his course. ”

“ REID, Sir JOHN WATT (1823–1909) , medical director-general of the navy, born in Edinburgh on 25 February 1823, was younger son of John Watt Reid, surgeon in the navy by his wife Jane, daughter of James Henderson, an Edinburgh merchant. Educated at Edinburgh Academy, at the university there, and at the extra-mural medical school, he qualified L.R.C.S. Edinburgh in 1844. He entered the navy as an assistant surgeon on 6 Feb. ”

“ Montgomerie was a distinguished athlete, and at one time was heavy-weight champion boxer of the navy; a keen sportsman, he hunted big game in many parts of the world. He married in 1886 Alethe Marian, eldest daughter of Spencer Charrington of Hunsdon House, Hertfordshire, and for many years M.P. for the Tower Hamlets. ”

“ In Oct. 1844 he became first lieutenant of the Daedalus, of 20 guns, on the East India station, and on 19 Aug. 1845 commanded her barge at the destruction of Malloodoo, a piratical stronghold in Borneo. ”