# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Litchfield, Henry

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​LITCHFIELD. (Captain, 1826. f-p., 23; h-p., 24.)
Henry Litchfield was born 7 Oct. 1786, at Great Torrington, co. Devon.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 May, 1800, as Midshipman, on board the Impétueux 74, Capt. Sir Edw. Pellew, under whom he assisted in blowing up L’Insolente in the Morbihan river, and accompanied the expeditions to Quiberon, Ferrol, and Vigo. While at the latter place, we find him, on the night of 29 Aug. 1800, aiding in the boats of a squadron, 20 in number, commanded by Lieut. Henry Burke, at the cutting-out, close in with the enemy’s batteries, of La Guepe privateer, of 18 guns and 161 men, which vessel, 25 of whose people were killed and 40 wounded, was in 15 minutes boarded and carried, with a loss to the British of 3 seamen and 1 marine killed, 3 Lieutenants, 12 seamen, and 5 marines wounded, and 1 seaman missing. In the course of 1802 Mr. Litchfield successively joined the Courageux 74, Capt. Thos. Sotheby, and Pique 36, Capts. Wm. Cumberland and Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross; under the latter of whom he was employed, in 1803-4, at the blockade of Aux Cayes and Cape François, St. Domingo, and on shore in the unsuccessful attack on Curaçoa. On the occasion of General Rochambeau’s evacuation of Cape Francois, he served, it appears, in a boat, and assisted the present Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby in rescuing the French 40-gun frigate La Clorinde, and 900 souls who were on board, from the destruction with which they were threatened by the blacks under General Dessalines, at the time in possession of Fort St. Josef, on the rocks immediately beneath which La Clorinde had grounded. On leaving the Pique in Dec. 1804, Mr. Litchfield joined Le Renard, of 18 guns and 121 men, Capt. Jeremiah Coghlan; as Acting-Master of which vessel he contributed, 20 March, 1805, to the annihilation, after a brisk action of 35 minutes, of Le Général Ernouf French privateer of 20 guns and 160 men; as also, in May, 1806, to the capture, at the end of a chase of three days and nights, of La Diligente national brig, of 16 guns and 125 men. On 12 Oct. 1806 Mr. Litchfield was nominated Sub-Lieutenant of the Ferret 18, Capt. Hon. Geo. Cadogan; and on 24 March, 1807, he became Acting First-Lieutenant of the Reindeer 18, Capts. John Fyffe and Peter John Douglas. ​In the latter sloop, to which he was confirmed 29 June following, he participated in the Walcheren operations of 1809. After again serving in the West Indies, chiefly as Senior Lieutenant, in the Elk 18, Capts. J. Coghlan and Clement Milward, Polyphemus 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley, Thetis 38, Capt. Wm. Henry Byam, Brazen sloop, Capt. Jas. Stirling, and Shark, bearing the flag of Vice- Admiral Chas. Stirling, he was there appointed, in March, 1813, Acting-Commander of the Moselle 18. Being confirmed in the command, on 12 July in the same year, of the Mohawk sloop of 8 guns, Capt. Litchfield, who continued in her until Oct. 1814, was during that period most actively employed in the Chesapeake; where, besides co-operating in the attacks upon Crany Island and Hampton, he commanded his own gig, at the capture, by the boats of the Mohawk and Contest, under the orders of Capt. Jas. Rattray, of the United States gun-vessel Asp, of 3 guns and 25 men, hauled up close to the beach, under the protection of a large body of militia, after an action in which the British had 2 killed and 6 wounded, and the enemy 10, including their Commander, killed and wounded. His next appointment was, 10 Oct. 1817, to an Inspecting-Commandership in the Coast Guard; in which service he continued until invested, 1 June, 1824, with the command of the Orontes 18, employed at first as an experimental vessel, and subsequently on the Halifax station; whence he returned on being promoted, as a reward for his long and active services, to Post-rank, 20 Nov. 1826. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Litchfield, in 1815-16, was Acting-Postmaster at Norwich. He married, 1 Jan. 1831, Louisa Elizabeth, only daughter of Henry Chas. Litchfield, Esq,, of the Treasury. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.