# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Gould, Davidge

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​GOULD, G.C.B. (Admiral of the Red, 1825. f-p., 27; h-p., 48.)
Sir Davidge Gould was born in 1758, at Bridgewater, co. Somerset, and died, 23 April, 1847, at Hawkshead, Herts. He was son of Rich. Gould, Esq., of Sharpham Park, in the same shire; and nephew of Sir Henry Gould, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1772, as a Volunteer, on board the Alarm, Capt. Stott, stationed in the Mediterranean, where, and on the coast of North America, he afterwards served as Midshipman, until the date of his first promotion, 7 May, 1779, in the Winchelsea, Capt. Wilkinson, and Phoenix, Capt. Hyde Parker. During an attachment of four years to the latter ship Mr. Gould took an active part in the earlier operations of the American war, and was much engaged in attacking the enemy’s batteries, cutting out their vessels, and contesting, not without loss, with their boats up the North River. He then joined the Ulysses, Bristol, and Conqueror, the two former commanded by Capt. Thos. Dumaresq, and the latter by Capt. Balfour, under whom he fought in the van division on the memorable 12 April, 1782. On 13 of the following June, after having further served as First of the Formidable, Capt. Sir Chas. Douglas, he was promoted to the command of the Pachahunter sloop, on leaving which vessel he successively joined, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, the Pylades 18, and Ferret, another sloop-of-war. The Pylades, during 13 months that she was commanded by Capt. Gould, appears to have won considerable reputation as an anti-smuggler. Acquiring Post-rank 25 March, 1789, the subject of this sketch, who had been on half-pay for a period of four years, immediately obtained command of the Brune frigate, on the West India station. He subsequently commanded the Cyclops at the reduction of Corsica in 1794; the Bedford 74, in the two actions of 14 March and 13 July, 1795, on the former of which occasions he came into close and severe contact with the Censeur 74 and Ça Ira 80, whose fire killed 9, and wounded 17 of his men; and the Audacious 74, at the bombardment of Cadiz, the battle of the Nile, and the blockade of Malta and Genoa. The latter ship being paid off on her return home with convoy towards the close of 1800, after having witnessed the capture of a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Perrée, Capt. Gould, by whom she had been commanded seven years, was next, in the spring of 1801, appointed to the Majestic 74, employed on the Home and West India stations. He went on half-pay in 1802, and, with the exception of a brief command, in 1803-4, of the Windsor Castle 98, attached to the fleet in the Channel, which his health obliged him to resign, did not again go afloat. He was created a Rear-Admiral 2 Oct. 1807; a Vice-Admiral 31 July, 1810; and a full Admiral 27 May, 1825. He was honoured with a medal for his valour at the Nile; and on 7 June, 1815, and 24 Jan. 1833, he was successively invested with the dignity of a K.C.B. and G.C.B. He obtained the Good-Service Pension 28 Aug. 1840.
Sir Davidge Gould, who was the last of the Nile Captains, died Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom. He married, in 1803, Harriet, eldest daughter of the late Archdeacon Willes, son of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and nephew of the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Willes. Agent – J. Hinxman.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1795, p. 206.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1797, p. 717.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 916.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 297.