Humphrey Fleming Senhouse
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Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 29 June 1781 |
| Died | 13 June 1841 (aged 59) |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Service years | 1797–1841 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Wars | Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 First Anglo-Chinese War |
| Awards | KCH (1832) Kt (1834) CB (1841) |
Captain Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse[a] KCH CB (29 June 1781 – 13 June 1841) was a distinguished British Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the War of 1812, and in the First Anglo-Chinese War.
He was the senior Royal Navy officer of the British fleet in China from 31 March 1841 until his death on board his flagship, HMS Blenheim, in Hong Kong from fever during the capture of Canton.
Senhouse was born on 29 June 1781 in Barbados,[1] where he was baptised on 23 August 1781 in the Parish of Saint Philip.[2][3] He was the third son of William Senhouse (1741–1800) by the same's wife Elizabeth Ward Wood. William was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Surveyor-General of Barbados and of the British Leeward Islands. Elizabeth was the daughter of Samson Wood, the speaker of the Barbados Assembly. Senhouse's grandfather, who was also named Humphrey Senhouse, of Netherhall, Cumberland, married Mary, who was the daughter of Sir George Fleming, 2nd Baronet, Bishop of Carlisle.[3][4]
Senhouse joined the Royal Navy in January 1797 on HMS Prince of Wales, which was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey in the West Indies Station. Senhouse in November 1797 moved to the brig Requin, in which he arrived in England for the first time in 1799. Senhouse from March 1800 to April 1802 served in HMS Fisgard under Captains Thomas Byam Martin and Michael Seymour.[3]
Mediterranean and North America
On 7 April 1802, Senhouse passed the examination for promotion to lieutenant, and was attached to HMS Galgo two days later. In May 1803, he was appointed to HMS Conqueror with Captain Thomas Louis. With Israel Pellew, who relieved Louis in April 1804, Senhouse served in the Mediterranean, West Indies, and in the Battle of Trafalgar, until January 1806. He again went to the West Indies on board HMS Elephant, and was put on board the flagship of HMS Northumberland under Sir Alexander Cochrane. In September 1806, he was appointed to command HMS Express on the Spanish Main and Leeward Islands until March 1808, when he joined HMS Belleisle as a flag-lieutenant to Cochrane, who sent him home with despatches in July 1808 in HMS Subtle.[3]
On 26 January 1809, Senhouse rejoined Cochrane, now in command of HMS Neptune.[3] After assisting in the debarkation of troops in the invasion of Martinique, he was promoted on 7 March to HMS Wolverine, which he commanded in the West Indies until the following December. There, he also commanded HMS Ringdove and HMS Superieure. He was promoted to commander on 2 June. From 1810 to 1812, Senhouse commanded HMS Recruit at Gibraltar, Newfoundland, and the Halifax Station. He then commanded the 18-gun sloop HMS Martin from 1812 to 1814 in the Halifax Station.[3][5]
In the War of 1812 against the United States, he defended the Martin, aground in Delaware Bay, against a flotilla of eight gunboats and two blockships on 29 July 1813. He made prize of the 6-gun privateer Snap Dragon containing 80 men, assisted in the capture of Moose Island, and was sent home with despatches by Cochrane, announcing the success of the expedition in Castine, Maine.[5] He was promoted to post-captain on 12 October 1814, and from April to September 1815, commanded HMS Superb on the coast of France as flag-captain to Sir Henry Hotham.[3] From 25 February 1831 to 1834, he served in HMS St Vincent, most of the time as flag-captain to Vice-Admiral Hotham, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Station.[5] King William IV told Hotham at Windsor:
Sir Henry, you are most fortunate in having one of the cleverest fellows of the navy for your Captain. [...] Yes, I am sure I need not tell you so; he must be not only a clever man, but most zealous in his profession; few like him would have employed the leisure the peace has given him in gaining the information he has; there was not a question I asked him that he could not give me a ready and satisfactory reply. [...] You are lucky in having him.[6]
In July 1831, British warships in the Mediterranean observed smoke from the emergence of a volcanic island between Pantelleria and Malta. After being detached in the cutter Hind to ascertain the smoke's position, Senhouse landed on the volcanic island on 3 August, where he planted the Union Jack and named it Graham Island.[7] He was nominated a Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order on 13 April 1832,[3] and made a Knight Bachelor on 5 June 1834.[8]
Moody was a friend of the fellow freemason and Royal Engineer Colonel Thomas Moody ADC Kt., whom he consulted during 1838 for important engineering projects: including the Caledonian Railway, and the West Cumberland Railway, and the Furness Railway, and the embankments at Morecambe Bay and Duddon Sands.[9]
