# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Walpole, William

Layout 4
​WALPOLE. (Captain, 1819. f-p., 24; h-p., 20.)
William Walpole entered the Navy, in June, 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Glatton 60, Capt. Jas. Collnett. On his return from a voyage to New South Wales he removed, in Oct. 1804, off Boulogne, to the Leopard 50, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris; on accompanying whom into the Colossus 74, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing, 21 Oct. 1805, in the glories of Trafalgar. In the following Feb. he joined the Ajax 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood; and, on the destruction of that ship by fire off the island of Tenedos 14 Feb. 1807, he was received on board the Endymion 40, Capt. Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel. In her he was present at the ensuing passage of the Dardanells. He was made Lieutenant, 8 Aug. 1808, into the Warspite 74, commanded by his former Captain, Blackwood, in the North Sea and Channel, and also in the Mediterranean; where he served, from Oct. 1810 until promoted to the rank of Commander 15 June, 1814, in the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. ​Previously to his appointment to the latter ship he appears to have taken part, 20 July, 1810, in a very gallant skirmish, in which the British, with a slender force, beat back a powerful division of the French Toulon fleet. On 27 June, 1812, as stated in our memoir of Sir Eaton Travers, he was wounded in the boats of the Impérieuse, as were 10 others, besides 4 who were killed, at the destruction of 18 merchant-vessels under the batteries of Languelia and Alassio, in the Gulf of Genoa. The total loss sustained by the boats of the squadron engaged in that affair amounted to 9 killed and 31 wounded. While at the blockade of Naples, Mr. Walpole was, we believe, present, in a spirited action fought, between the Impérieuse and Cephalus 18, on one side, and a Neapolitan force, consisting, on the other, of the Joachim 74, a frigate, a corvette, and 22 gun-vessels. He was a participator also in the operations against Leghorn and Genoa, in Dec. 1813 and April, 1814. From 12 May, 1815, until Aug. 1816, Capt. Walpole commanded the Thames frigate, armée en flûte, on the coast of North America and in the West Indies : he was next, 10 Feb. 1818, appointed to the Curlew 18, fitting for the East Indies. In Dec. 1819, having accompanied an expedition sent under the command of Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier (who had with him; in addition to the Curlew, the Liverpool 50,, Eden 26, several of the Hon.E.I.Co.’s cruizers, and a number of gun and mortar boats) and Major-General Sir Wm. Grant Keir (under whom were 3000 troops) to attack the settlements of the pirates in the Persian Gulf, he distinguished himself in an eminent degree, During the siege of Ras-al-Khyma, the principal stronghold of the freebooters, he had charge of the flotilla employed, and, assisted by Lieut. John Norman Campbell, directed the astonishing efforts made by the seamen in dragging 2 24-pounder guns through mud to a breaching battery, and in landing and carrying forward the requisite stores. These exertions the Major-General declared he had never seen surpassed; while the precision with which the battery was served, would have reflected credit upon the most esperienced corps of artillery. After the enemy had been driven from Ras-al-Khyma an attack was made by a detachment under Major Warren on the fort of Zaire, situated upon a neighbouring hill, and deemed by the natives Impregnable. “You are able,” says the Major in his official report to Sir W. G. Keir, “to appreciate the zeal by which Capt. Walpole,” who had accompanied him, “must have been actuated, and the ability with which that zeal must have been applied, to have enabled him to overcome the difficulties attending the landing of the supplies and stores, particularly the guns, which, being brought up a narrow, intricate, and shallow creek, a distance of upwards of three miles, had to be dragged through a muddy swamp, and afterwards over a considerable space of rocky and intersected ground, before they could be placed in the batteries.” In the summer of 1820 Capt. Walpole, whose Post-commission bears date 7 Dec. 1819, brought home the Seringapatam, a new 46-gun frigate, laden with the frame of another ship of the same class. His last appointments were – 2 Oct. 1828 and 20 Jan. 1832, to the Ranger 28 and Pallas 42, both on the West India station, whence he returned in 1834 – and, 30 Oct. 1840, to the Vernon 50, fitting for the Mediterranean, where he remained until the spring of 1844. Agent – J. Hinxman.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 1540.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1820, p. 1670.