The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-08 00:00:00

DEATH OF ADMIRAL DOWNMAN.

This venerable flag-officer died on Monday last
at his seat in Hampshire, aged 95 yearS. He
entered the navy in October, 1776, and while serv-
ing as midshipman in the Arethusa, was wrecked
while in pursuit of an enemy's frigate off the
Island of Moulins, when he was taken prisoner and
detained nearly 12 months in France. He next
joined the Edgar, Commodore C. Hotham, in which
ship he was present at the relief of Gibraltar, and
in Lcrd Howe's partial action with the combined
fleets of France and Spain in Oct., 1782. As lieu-
tenant he assisted at the occupation of Toulon and
the reduction of Corsica, and several gallant attacks
on shore with the enemy. In 1794 he was appointed
to the Victory, 100, flag-ship of Lord Hood, Rear-
Admiral R. Mann, and Sir J. Jervis, and under
the two last-mentioned admirals saw much service,
being present at the action of July 13, 1795, and
Ear J. Jervis's action with the Spanish 112 et in Feb.,
1797. During the period ho held the command of
the Speedy sloop, O'Byrne states that he "cap-
tured five Spanish privateers, carrying altogether
17 guns, 28 swivels, and 162 men, besides encoun-
tering off Vigo two very severe actions on the 3d
and 4th Feb., 1791, with the French privateer
Papillon, of 14 heavy guns and 160 men, which he
beat off on both occasions." After obtaining post
rank be was employed in the Santa affirothea, 42,
off Malta ; and by his perseverance in the blockade
of the fortress of Savona, which he compelled to
Surrender, gained the thanks of the Admiral and
the Admiralty authorities at home. After the bat-
tle of Marengo be destroyed all the for; ifications
in the Gulf of Spezia, landed the Duke of Savoy
and family at Naples, and was instrumental in sav-
ing the valuable gallery of Florence from falling
into the hands of the French. He captured during
his command the San Leon, Spanish man-of-war
brig of 16 guns, besides making several other prizes.
He was present under Sir H. Popham at the re-
duction of the Cape of Good Hope, and brought
borne the despatches announcing the event. He was
then ordered to the river de la Plata to take the
command of the Diomede, and held various com-
mands up to the summer of 1825, when he obtained
his flag. His commissions bore date as follows :
Lieutenant, March 5, 1790 ; Commander, July 26,
1797 ; Captain, Dec. 26, 1798 ; Rear-Admiral,
May 27, 1825 ; Vice-Admiral, Jan. 10, 1837 ; and
Admiral, April 24, 1847. The gallant admiral
was one of the reserved flag-officers in the receipt
of service pension. He had received the naval me-
dal and two clasps for the defeat of the Spanish
fleet of Cape St. Vincent and for the expedition to
Egypt in 1808.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
We regret to announce the death of Admiral
Hugh Downman, which occurred at Hambledon,
Hants, on Monday last. The gallant admiral bad
reached the advanced ago of 95. This officer, who
was born at Plymouth on the 29th October, 1765,
is descended from a respectable family in Devon-
shire, of which his father was a younger branch.
He entered the navy Oct. 10, 1776, as A.B. on
board the Thetis, 32, Captains Mitchell, Graham,
and John Gill, in which frigate he escorted home a
large convoy of Indiamen from St. Helena. From
August 14, 1778, until March 5, Ino, be was next
employed, as midshipman, in the Arothusa and
Emerald frigates, both commanded by Capt. Sam.
Marshal—the Edgar, 74, Commodore Charles
Hotham—the Queen, 98, Triumph, 74, and Bar-
fleur, 98, flag-ships at Portsmouth of Admirals
John Montagu and Lord Hood—and the Crown,
64, bearing the broad pendant in the East Indies of
the Hon. William Cornwallis. During that period,
having been wrecked in the Arethusa, while in
pursuit of an enemy's frigate off the island of Mon_
lines, Mr. Downman was detained a prisoner of war
en ;
at the
afteri
in France, from March 1772 toJanp.rels T
which, when in the Edgar, he was
relief of Gibraltar, and in Lorj Howe 'I
s partial,
action with the combined fleets olVrance and Spain,
Oct. 20, 1782. On March 5,
inl 790, as above, he
was promoted to a lieutenancythe Perseverance,
36, Captain Isaac Smith, on the East India station,
whence, on being re-transferred to the Crown, he
came home in May, 112 Going
Inext appointed

Jan. 2, 1793; to the Alcide; 74, Captain Robert
,Linzee, he proceeded to the Mediterranean, where
he officiated at the occupation of • Toulon and the
reduction of Corsica. While on the tatter service
he cut a gun-boat out from under a battery at
St. Fiorenza—was present in the several attacks
upon that place and Fornelli—headed a de-
tachment of 100 seamen, and planted the first
gun upon the height commanding the tower of
Mortella, preparatory to its surrender—and,
antecedently to the final capture of Fornelli, a--
slated in dragging cannon up a stupendous rocky
elevation, which commanded the Convention re-
doubt, and was deemed inaccessible near the
summit. After a brief attachment to the Windsor
Castle, 98, into which Commodore Liuzee had been
removed on his promotion to flag rank, Mr. Down-
Man was appointed, Oct. 7, 1794, to the. Victory,
100, successively flag-ship of Lord Hood, Rear
Admiral Robert Maim, and Sir John Jervis ; under
the`two last of whom he appears to have-been re-
spectively present in the actions of July 13, 1795,
and Feb. 14, 1797. On July 26 following he was
confirmed in the command of the Speedy, sloop, of
14 4-pounders and 80 men, to whom 'he had been
recently promoted from the' Vile de Paris ; and
while in that vessel he capturedifive Spanish pri-
vateers, carrying altogether. 17 guns, 28 swivels,
and 162 men, besides encountering. off Vigo two
very severe aetions, Feb. 3 and 4, 1798, with the
French privateer Papillon, of 14 heavy guns and
160 men, which he beat off on both occasions, with
a loss to the Speedy of 5 men killed and 4 wounded.
Being officially posted, Dec. 26, 1791, in the Santa
Dorothea, of 42 guns, a ship he had joined in the
previous September, 'Captain Downman (whose
services in the Speedy had been acknowledged by
the presentation to him of a piece of plate, valued
at 501. from the British merchants at Oporto) was
subsequently employed off Malta, and with a per-
severance highly creditable, at the blockade, in the
spring of 1800, of the important fortress of Savona,
which he ultimately compelled to surrender. He
also, after the battle of Marengo, destroyed all the
fortifications in the Gulf of Spezia, landed the Duke
of Savoy and family at Naples, and preserved the
valuable gallery of Florence from falling into the
hands of the enemy, by convoying it in safety to
Sicily. For these services Captain Dowuman was
presented with a diamond'ring both by the Duchess
of Savoy and by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. We
afterwards find him, in July, 1801, escorting three
Swiss regiments and the corps of Lamenstein, to
Egypt, where he was awarded the gold medal of
the Turkish Order of the Crescent, and then em-
ployed in enforcing the neutrality of Tripoli
and Dearn. Among the numerous prizes
made by Captain Downman during his com-
mand of the Santa Dorothea, we may enumerate
the capture of the San Leon, Spanish man-of-
war brig, of 16 guns and 88 men—of three vessels
from Egypt, having on board General Desaix and
the staff of Bonaparte—of other craft cut out, with
the loss of 12 men, from the batteries of Bordiguera
and Hospitallier—and of the Bull-dog (formerly
British), of 16 guns, brought out from Gallipoli.
From April, 1801, to August, 1802, and from De-
cember, 1803, to November, 1805, he was subse-
quently employed as flag eaptain to Sir James
Saumarez in the Caesar, 80, and Diomede, 50, on
the Lisbon and Guernsey stations. He then
joined the Diadem '64, bearing the broad pendant
of Sir Home Popitam ; and after witnessing the
reduction of the Cape of Good Hope, brought home
the despatches announcing that event. Being im-
mediately ordered to the Rio de la Plata, he there
resumed command of his former ship, the Diomede,
in which subsequently to the fall of Monte Video,
be returned to England with the present Lord
Beresford, and was paid off in June, 1807. From

Sept. 8 following, Until appointed, Jan. 14, 1811,
to the Princess Caroline, 74, Captain Downtnan
next superintended the prison ships at Portsmouth.
After assisting at the destruction, on March 25th,
of the latter year, of the French 40-gun frigate
Amazoae, near Cape Barfleur, he convoyed a fleet
of Indiamen to Madeira, on his return from which
place he was sent to cruise in the North Sea,
where we find him early in 1814 landing the marines
of the ship at Scheveling for the support of the
Prince of Orange. He made a further voyage to
Spitzbeicren,and was put out of commission' Sept.
22, 1814. His last appointment appears to have
been on Dec. 2, 1824, to the Windsor Castle, 74,
at Portsmouth. He acquired the rank of vice-
admiral en the 10th of January,lB37, admiral on the
24th April, 1817. Admiral Downman was one of
the seniors to receive the offer of reserved half-pay
and a service pension, July 1, 1851.
A vacancy having now occurred in this list, the
promotion of the senior captain to flag rank will
take place. The first on the list of promo-
tion is Captain Edward Stanley (1838), but that
officer not having served his full time as a captain,
he will be placed on the rear admirals' reserved
half-pay list.
Captain Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, Bart.,
K.C.B. Surveyor of the Navy, being the next
senior eligible for promotion to the active list, be-

comes sear admiral of the blue. Sir Baldwin
Walker's cheer hasbeen an active and distinguished
one. According to " O'Byrne's Biography" he
entered the navy July, 1812. He was made a
lieutenant in' 1820, and served almost continuously
for 14 years in that rank. He was in the Brazen,
26, with Captain Willie, in South America and the
coast of Africa ; and in the Rattlesnake, 28, and
eilitna, bomb, in the Mediterranean. As first lieu-
tenant of the latter ship, in 1828, he was engaged
against the forces of the Ottoman Porte, and dis-
tinguished himself with Captain Lushington, in the
gallant attack and redaction of Morea Castle, the
last stronghold of the Turks at Pe'oponnesus. For
these services he was made a Knieht of the Legion
of Honour and of the Redeemer of Greece ; but he
served in the Asia, 84, and Britannia, 120, flag
ships of Sir Pulteuey Malcolm, and as senior of the
Barham, 50, until 1834, as " the ablest first lieu-
tenant in the service," before he got his promotion.
As a commander he served in Sir Wm. Symond's
new 80-gun ship, Vanguard, with Captain Hon.
D. P. Bouverie, and Sir Thomas Fellowes, from
September, 1836, to November, 1838, when leaving
been promoted to the rank of captain he volunteered
to serve in the Turkish navy, which he so re-orga-
nised and reformed that at least some efficient por-
tion of the fleet remained loyal amidst almost
universal treachery ; and under him as their
admiral, took a distinguished past with the British
fleet in all the operations on the coast of Syria. He
distinguished himself in the attack upon Beyrout,
as noticed in the official despatches published in the
Gazette in 1840, where his zealous, persevering,
and active exertions are warmly praised by the
commander-in-chief, Sir Robert Stopford, and
subsequently, in his flag ship led the fleet into the
attack upon St. Jean d'Acre. He was nominated
an honorary knight commander of the Bath in
1841, and in con,ideration of the eminent services
he had rendered to the government whilst, as
it were, self-expatriated from the Royal navy,
he was allowed by special order in council
to reckon his time served in the Turkish navy
as if he had commanded a British man-of-war. In
1846 he was appointed to the command of the three-
' decker Queen, 116, and sailing with the fleet from
Spithead in the presence of her Majesty and
the court, he commanded that ship in the important
experimental trial sailings that subsequently took
e
,place. His last command afloat was that of the
new 50-gun frigate Constance, us the West Indies
and Pacific, until 1848, when ee was appointed
succeed Sir William Symonds as Surveyor
the
only
thtoe
Navy. At that date, it is well known, ly
of
screw slips
the converted 74's—Blenheim, Ajax,
hips in the service, besidesthsge.inntergadlenHfssopaoroiglrtiuitege,
vessel&o.
paddle-wheeltlr e
steamer
beerendeasi
Royal navy.
In addition to the honours before enumerated
Sir Baldwin is a knight of the second class of the
Iron Crown of Austria, of the second class of St.
Anne of Russia ; and of the second class of the
Red Eagle of Prussia. For his services
ships
theps
ihacdeirstoselnitirsneoixlifng
tlaibtelewstarre,nwgliihentothereacaoteunfitereytspaunta
of all classes, Sir Baldwin Walker was created a
baronet.

By the promotion of Sir Baldwin Walker the
nomination of a naval aide-de-camp to the Queen
falls to the patronage of the First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, and Captain the Hon. J. R. Drummond,
C. 8., private secretary to the First Lord, becomes
a paid A.D.C.
Captain the Hon. Edward Howard (1838) will be
the senior on the active list, but not being eligible
for active flag rank, Captain Milne (1830), one of
the Lords of the Admiralty, is the senior for pro-
motion to rear-admiral of the blue.

FATAL FALL DOWN STAllM—Yesterday morning a
fatal accident happened to a female, named Ann Aid-
honour, aged 62 years, residing at 3, Cheshire-street,
Bethnal-green. It seems that the deceased was in the act
of descending the staircase, when she by some means
blipped and fell to the bottom, and when raised up she
was found to be in a state of paralysis. Mr. Rolph,
surgeon, was called, and pronounced the deceased to be
suffering from fracture of the upper cervical vertebra) of
the neck. The deceased shortly afterwards died from
the elects of the injury.