# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Payne, William

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​PAYNE. (Retired Commander, 1835. f-p., 20; h-p., 38.)
William Payne, born in Oct. 1773, is brother of Capt. C. F. Payne, R.N.; and uncle of Capts. P. T. M. and G. B. Payne, both of the R.M., also of W. C. H. Payne, Esq., Second-Master R.N. (1845), and of Lieut. C. B. Payne, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 29 Sept. 1789, as Midshipman, on board the Falcon sloop, Capt. Laugharne, on the Home station, where he next, in succession, joined the Resistance 44, Capt. Hewit, Falcon again, Capts. Bligh and Eastwood, and Alcide and Bedford 74’s, Capts. Sir And. Snape Douglas and Sir And. Snape Hamond. Rejoining Sir And. Snape Douglas, in Jan. 1792, on board the Phaeton 38, he assisted in that ship at the capture, in the course of the following year, of Le Général Dumourier of 22 guns and 196 men, having on board 2,040,000 dollars; her prize, the St. Jago, laden with a cargo worth nearly 300,000l.; La Prompte frigate of 28 guns and 180 men; another privateer; of 16 guns and 60 men; and La Blonde national corvette of 24 guns. After sharing, under the command of Capt. Wm. Bentinck, in the action of 1 June, 1794, he removed to the Queen Charlotte 100, commanded by his old Captain, Sir A. S. Douglas; at whose recommendation, for his conduct in Lord Bridport’s rencontre with the French fleet off Ile de Groix, he was nominated, 6 July, 1795, Acting-Lieutenant of the Sans Pareil 80, Capt. Lord Hugh Seymour. He was confirmed (as soon as he had passed his examination) into the Aquilon 32, Capt. Cracraft, 9 Oct. following; and was subsequently appointed – 15 Dec. 1797, to the Maidstone 32, Capts. Matthews, Ross Donnelly, Rich. Hussey Moubray, and Hon. Geo. Elliott – 17 Dec. 1804, to the Sea Fencibles at Weymouth – 11 Dec. 1806, to the Modeste 36, Capt. Hon. G. Elliot – 20 Feb. 1808, to the Culloden 74, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew – and, 25 Jan. 1809, again to the Modeste, still commanded by Capt. Elliot. While stationed, in the Aquilon, in the West Indies, Mr. Payne was severely attacked by the yellow fever. In 1798, during his homeward passage in the Maidstone, Capt. Matthews died; but, notwithstanding he was at the time First-Lieutenant, he received neither additional pay nor promotion. Continuing in the Maidstone until appointed, as above, to the Sea Fencibles, he was in consequence in that ship when she was sent with the treaty of peace to the Mediterranean. Although, in 1807, at which period he was Senior of the Modeste, he escorted the Governor-General of India to the seat of his government, he was again disappointed of the promotion which had always been customary on occasions of the kind. He was, however, appointed First of the Culloden; but the latter being ordered to England before an opportunity of effecting his advancement had occurred, he went back to the Modeste, in command of the boats of which ship and the Barracouta he succeeded, 15 July, 1810, in cutting out, from under the protection of two batteries and five armed vessels, in a bay in the Straits of Sunda, the Dutch schooner Tuyncelaar of 8 guns and 22 men. A slight attack of liver-complaint, added to the disappointments he had experienced, induced him, in Dec. 1809, to invalid. He did not again go afloat, but accepted, 26 Nov. 1830, the rank of Retired Commander on the Junior List. He was transferred to the Senior List 23 Dec. 1835.
At the close of the French revolutionary war Commander Payne suggested to Lord St. Vincent then First Lord of the Admiralty, the necessity of placing the surplus stores of ships under the charge of their respective warrant officers. On the paying off of the fleet the plan was carried into execution and a great saving to the country thereby effected. The Commander married, in 1841, Cecilia, only child of J. Glendinning, Esq., by whom he has issue a son. An only child by a former marriage is the wife of the Rev. Wm. H. Gorton.