# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Byng, Henry Dilkes

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​BYNG. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 36; h-p., 13.)
The Honourable Henry Dilkes Byng is fourth son of the fifth Viscount Torrington, by Bridget, daughter of Commodore Arthur Forrest (who died Commander-in-Chief on the Jamaica station); great-grandson of the first Viscount, the celebrated Admiral Geo. Byng, who was appointed, in 1727, First Lord of the Admiralty, and died in 1733; grand-nephew of the unfortunate Vice-Admiral Hon. John Byng, who was executed 14 March, 1757; brother of the late Vice-Admiral Viscount Torrington; brother-in-law both of the late Rear-Admiral Percy Frazer, who died 9 Dec. 1827, and of Capt. Hon. Chas. Herbert, R.N., who died in 1808; uncle of the present Viscount Torrington, and of Lieut. Hon. J. R. M. Byng, R.N.; and cousin of Capt. Hon. C. O. Bridgeman, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1798, on board the Arrow sloop, Capt. Nathaniel Portlock, lying in Portsmouth harbour, and was shortly afterwards severely injured while trying the effects of firing a gun on the non-recoil principle. He next joined, as A.B. and Volunteer, the St. Albans 64, Capt. Fras. Pender, and Topaze 36, Capt. Stephen G. Church, on the Halifax station; became ​Midshipman, in 1799, of the Madras 54, Capt. John Dilkes, with whom, on quitting the North Sea, he proceeded to China, where he witnessed, early in 1800, a very serious dispute with the natives; served afterwards, chiefly as Master’s Mate, in the Galatea 32, Capt. Hon. Geo. Byng (his brother), Centaur 74, flag-ship at Plymouth of Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres, Imogene 18, Capt. Henry Vaughan, in which vessel he took out despatches to the Cape of Good Hope, and Texel 64, Capt. Hon. G. Byng, guard-ship in the river Medway; was appointed Acting-Lieutenant, in 1803, of the Sulphur bomb, Capt. Donald M‘Leod, in the Channel; and, on 5 May, 1804, was confirmed to the Sagesse, Capt. Conway Shipley, on the West India station. As Lieutenant, Mr. Byng’s subsequent appointments were – 19 Feb. and 31 July, 1805, to the Hindostan 50, Capt. Alex. Fraser, and Lancaster 64, Capt. Wm. Fothergill – 2 June, 1808, to the Centurion 50, Capt. Monk – and, 15 July, 1809, to the command of the Bream schooner. Towards the close of 1806, while Second of the Lancaster, he conveyed, after having escorted the homeward-bound East India trade as far as St. Helena, the 38th Regiment, and two troops of cavalry, to the Rio de la Plata; and, at the first unsuccessful attack on Monte Video, he was honoured by Sir Home Popham with the conduct of the forlorn hope. During the subsequent operations against that fortress, Mr. Byng was for several days engaged, on board a transport, in cannonading the fortifications; and on the morning of its glorious assault and capture, 3 Feb. 1809, he entered the breach at the head of the 38th. He then aided in seizing and destroying the men-of-war and other vessels in the harbour. On 12 Dec. 1809, Capt. Byng was confirmed in the command of the Goree sloop of 18 guns, 9-pounders, in which he afterwards had a very long running fight with a large American brig, the Tom of Baltimore, of 20 24-pounders and 200 men. He next joined, on 4 March, 1813, the Mohawk 16. In the many brilliant scenes which were about that period enacted in the Chesapeake under Sir Geo. Cockburn, Capt. Byng took a very distinguished part, but especially in the expedition, of 6 May, against George Town and Frederick Town, up the Sassafras river, where the skill and bravery he chanced as commanding officer (being at one time exposed to the united fire of 400 men, entrenched on the two opposite banks of the river) procured him the hearty and publicly expressed thanks of the Commander-in-Chief. After assisting in the attack upon Craney Island, he was appointed Acting-Captain of the Diadem 64, in which ship he conveyed, early in 1814, a body of troops to Quebec for the reinforcement of Sir Geo. Prevost. Being officially promoted to Post-rank, 9 March following, he subsequently held, for 15 years, a command on the Lakes of Canada. He was appointed, 28 May, 1833, Captain of the Ordinary at Portsmouth, where he remained until 1836; and was lastly, 26 July, 1842, nominated Commodore on the Jamaica station, with his broad pendant in the Imaum 72. He invalided home at the end of 1843, after having acquired, in the discharge of his high official duties, the marked esteem of the mercantile community and constituted authorities of the island. He was placed upon retired half-pay 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Byng married, 2 Oct. 1810, Maria Jane, daughter of the Hon. J. B. Clerke, Member of H.M. Council for Cape Breton, and has, with two daughters, three sons, two of whom are in the Navy, the eldest, Henry, a Commander. The other is in the Indian army, and was lately aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir Chas. Napier, in Scinde. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.