# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Haultain, Charles

Layout 4
​HAULTAIN, K.H. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 13; h-p., 33.)
Charles Haultain was born, in Dec. 1787, in Loudon, and died 4 June, 1845, at Fairford, co. Gloucester. He was eldest son of Lieut.-Colonel Theodore Haultain, of the Commandry, in the city of Worcester, who served as Captain of the 37th Regt. at the battles of Minden, Warburg, Fillinghausen, &c., and saw much other service, both in Germany and North America. He was brother of Capt. Fras. Haultain, of the Royal Artillery; of Capt. Arthur Haultain, of the Hon.E.I.Co.’s service; and of Fred. Haultain, Esq., a Midshipman R.N., who died on board the Thetis frigate, in the West Indies, of yellow fever, in 1809.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 Jan. 1800, as A.B., on board the Agincourt 64, Capts. John Bligh and Geo. Fred. Ryves, bearing the flag of his patron, the late Sir Chas. Morice Pole, in which ship, after serving for some time at Newfoundland, he proceeded to the North Sea, and ultimately conveyed the 25th Regt. to Egypt. In 1801-2, having previously attained the rating of Midshipman, he successively joined the Bonne Citoyenne and Vincejo sloops, both commanded in the Mediterranean by Capt. Jas. Prevost; after which, on removing to the Cerberus 32, bearing the flag of Sir Jas. Saumarez, he assisted at the bombardment of Granville 14 Sept. 1803. On leaving the latter ship, Mr. Haultain became attached to the Speedwell schooner, Lieut.-Commander W. Robinson, Thisbe 28, armée en flûte, Capt. Lewis Shepheard, and Glory and Ocean 98’s, flag-ships of Sir John Orde, Rear-Admiral Chas. Stirling, and Lord Collingwood, under the second-named of whom he was present, in the Glory, in Sir Robt. Calder’s action 22 July, 1805. On 26 April, 1806, we find him promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Prince 98, Capt. Wm. Lechmere, off Cadiz, where, until 1809, he further served in the Queen 98, Capt. Fras. Pender Excellent 74, Capt. John West, and Queen again, Capt. Thos. Geo. Shortland. He then cruized for a short period on the Irish station as Senior of the Décade 36, Capt. John Stuart; and in the course of the same year, 1809, he proceeded to the Adriatic in the Active 38, Capt. Jas. Alex. Gordon. On 29 June, 1810, Mr. Haultain commanded the ship’s launch, and assisted at the capture and destruction of a convoy of 25 vessels near the town of Groa. He took part in many other boat operations, and was employed on so much harassing service that his health in the end became seriously affected, and he was in consequence obliged to invalid. His next appointments were, 3 Sept. 1811, and 23 May, 1812 to the San Josef 110 and Egmont 74, flag-ships of Sir Chas. Cotton and the late Sir Geo. Hope; under the latter of whom he escorted a Russian fleet from the Baltic to England. Volunteering about June ​1813, to serve with the force employed on the German rivers under the command of Capt. Arthur Farquhar, Mr. Haultain was nominated for that purpose the Senior officer of a flotilla of 12 gunboats; in discharging the duties of which post he underwent for several months many very severe hardships. During that period he frequently came into close contact with the enemy, but especially on one occasion in the month of Sept. ____, when he made a vigorous, although, from unforeseen circumstances, an unsuccessful attack on eight Danish vessels lying at Busum, a small and intricate harbour near the mouth of the Elbe – a service which procured him the thanks of Capt. Farquhar. He afterwards co-operated and displayed great merit at the reduction of the strong forts of Blexen and Bremerlehe in the Weser, and of Cuxhaven in the Elbe; besides serving as a volunteer at the headquarters of the Crown Prince of Sweden; and subsequently on shore at the siege of Glückstadt. As a reward for his conduct in the latter occasion he was advanced to the rank of Commander 15 June, 1814, and, in 1819, presented with the Swedish gold medal. The K.H. was conferred on him 1 Jan. 1833, but he was never able to procure further employment.
Commander Haultain was the originator and compiler of the ‘New Navy List’ – the editorship of which, since his decease, has passed into the hands of the talented Mr. Allen, of Greenwich Hospital. He married, 13 Aug. 1814, Eliza, daughter of – Saward, Esq., of Thorp Hall, Prittlewell, co. Essex. Agents – Coplands and Burnett.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 2437.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 126.