# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Curzon, Henry

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​CURZON. (Admiral of the Red, 1837. f-p., 24; h-p., 46.)
The Honourable Henry Curzon was born 24 May, 1765, and died 2 May, 1846, at Derby. He was youngest son of the first Lord Scarsdale, by Caroline, daughter of Charles, second Earl of Portmore; and uncle of the present Lord Scarsdale, as also of the Hon. Wm. Curzon, Deputy Assistant Adjutant General to the Army in the Netherlands, who fell at Waterloo.
This officer entered the Navy, 14 Oct. 1776, as A.B., on board the Aeolus frigate, Capt. Christ. Atkins, and on his return from the West Indies in 1780, became Midshipman of the Magnanime 64, Capt. Chas. Wolseley. In that ship he sailed for India, and there joining the Superb 74, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Hughes, took part, on 12 April, 6 July, and 3 Sept. 1782, in three general actions with the French fleet under M. de Suffrein, the collective loss of the Superb on which occasions amounted to 70 killed and 167 wounded. Being promoted, 1 Feb. 1783, to a Lieutenancy in the Minorca, Capt. John Gell Mr. Curzon was further present in Sir E. Hughes’ fifth and last action with the enemy, off Cuddalore, 20 June following, when the latter ship had 6 men slain and 14 wounded. Between July, 1784, and March, 1790, he next served in the Flora, Ambuscade, and Aquilon frigates, Capts. Geo. Storey, O’Hara, and Robt. Montagu, and, as First-Lieutenant, in the Adamant 50, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Hughes, on the Jamaica, Home, Mediterranean, and Halifax stations. He then came home as Acting-Commander of the Brisk sloop; was confirmed to the Tisiphone fire-ship, 21 Sept. in the same year; and on 22 of the succeeding Nov. was advanced to Post-rank. Until he invalided, in June, 1801, Capt. Curzon was subsequently appointed – in June, 1791, to the Lapwing 28 – 22 Jan. 1794, to the Pallas 32 – 28 Feb. 1799, to the Indefatigable 46 – and, in April, 1801, to the Audacious 74. When in the Lapwing, he was sent to Villa Franca for the protection of British property, on the occasion of the French taking possession of Nice in 1792; and at the commencement of the war he brought a convoy home from Gibraltar. On his removal to the Pallas, he acquitted himself very much to the satisfaction of the Hon. Wm. Cornwallis by the manner in which he repeated that gallant officer’s signals during the celebrated retreat of 16 and 17 June, 1795; after which he captured, 16 July, 1797, the San José y Nuestra Señora de Begogna, Spanish letter-of-marque, of 16 guns and 52 men, and was wrecked, on Mount Batten Point, in Plymouth Sound, 4 April, 1798. During his command of the Indefatigable, he further captured, in May, 1799, and on 12 June and 23 Oct. 1800, La Vénus and Le Vengeur, privateers, carrying between them 30 guns and 201 men, and, in company with the Fisgard, the French frigate La Vénus, of 32 guns and 200 men. He also, in the autumn of 1800, attended the expedition to Ferrol. After an interval of six years, occasioned by extreme ill health, Capt. Curzon obtained command, 10 June, 1807, of the Elizabeth 74; in which ship he served for some time at the blockade of Lisbon – escorted the Russian fleet to England subsequently to the convention of Cintra – superintended the embarkation of Sir John Moore’s army at Corunna in Jan. 1809 – and ultimately brought a convoy home from the Brazils. Capt. Curzon, who had been appointed a Colonel of Marines, 25 Oct. 1809, was superseded from the Elizabeth on attaining the rank of Rear-Admiral, 31 July, 1810. He subsequently became a Vice-Admiral, 4 June, 1814; and on 22 July, 1830, was made a full Admiral, but he never hoisted his flag. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1795, p. 656.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 1256.