When even these difficulties were overcome, he had still to undergo the task of teaching the inhabitants throughout the several districts, the art of fighting and managing this heterogeneous, though highly serviceable flotilla, in case the necessity of the country should be such as to require their personal exertions. To have overcome these multiplied difficulties would, in itself, be a matter of sufficient praise to entitle a man to the highest tribute public gratitude could bestow, were every other occasion that could call for it wanting.
In 1799, Captain Schanck was again appointed to superintend the transport service connected with the expedition to Holland; and on the formation of the Transport Board, he was nominated one of the Commissioners; a station he continued to hold with the highest credit and honour to himself, till the year 1802; when, in consequence of an ophthalmic complaint, he was under the necessity of retiring from the fatigues of public service,
On the promotion of Flag-Officers, which took place Nov. 9. 1805, Commissioner Schanck was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral. He became a Vice-Admiral, July 31. 1810; and an Admiral of the Blue, July 19. 1821.
Admiral Schanck was one of the original members of the Society for improving Naval Architecture, set on foot by the late eccentric John Sewell, the bookseller; and some of the papers published by that Institution were the productions of this ingenious officer. He appears also to have been the inventor of gun-boats with moveable slides, for firing guns in any direction. He likewise fitted the Wolverine sloop with the inclined plane in her gun-carriages, which is justly considered as the greatest modern invention in gunnery.
Admiral Schanck married Miss Grant, the sister of the late Master of the Rolls, by whom he had a daughter, who married, in 1800, Capt. John Wright, R. N. and who died May 6. 1812, leaving a young family.
On the 6th of March, 1823, Admiral Schanck died, at Dawlish, in Devonshire, in the 83d year of his age. We
cannot close this memoir of him more satisfactorily than with the following just eulogium on his character, which appeared in several of the public prints soon after his decease.
"All to whom Admiral Schanck was personally known, have lost a friend not likely to be replaced; the middle class for miles round his abode, a kind adviser in all their difficulties; the poor a hospitable benefactor, who never heard their tale of woe without administering to their wants. Like a great philanthropist, the late Doctor Jenner, he spurned at private aggrandisement, and, without ostentation, gave the results of his mechanical genius and fertile mind for the public good. From his loss of sight, he had for some years retired from public life; but nature appeared to have compensated for this privation by a pre-eminent extension of his other faculties. His mechanical inventions have been long before the world, and entitle him to rank with the ingenious of his day; while his character as an officer and a man gave him a claim to the respect and esteem of society at large."
COMPILED IN PART FROM ORIGINAL PAPERS, AND IN PART
FROM CONTEMPORARY PUBLICATIONS,
Edward, Esq.
M. D. of Danett's-Hall, near
Leicester; November 27, 1822; after
a series of intense and protracted suf-
ferings, which were borne with exem-
plary fortitude and resignation.
As the particulars of his distressing
case cannot properly be detailed here; it
will be sufficient to remark, that his
disorder, which had long been making
insidious approaches, first manifested
itself in June 1810, and soon began to
wear a formidable aspect. A state of
peculiarly painful and complicated dis-
ease gradually ensued, clouded all the
bright prospects which his successful
medical career had opened to his view,
and compelled him to relinquish the
practical part of an occupation, to which
he was exceedingly devoted and admira-
bly adapted. The few intervals Dr. A.
was permitted to enjoy of comparative
ease from agonizing pain, were usually
passed in reading, meditation, and do-
mestic society. Theology and medicine
were the subjects to which he princi-
pally directed his attention. On these
he had, for many years, read much, and
thought still more.
His purity of character from early
life, his extraordinary moral worth, as
well as knowledge and skill in his pro-
fession, have rarely been equalled. Nor
was his ardent and vigorous mind satis.
fied with the exercise of his medical
functions only: rising above every selfish
consideration, he carried into his prac-
tice the most exalted Christian virtues.
He was not merely the able physician,
but the sympathizing friend and com-
forter of his patients; he listened to
their wants and sorrows, was prompt
to aid them by his advice, to pour in
the balm of consolation, or to relieve
their necessities, as their respective situa-
tions and circumstances might require.
In the performance of his professional
duties he was strictly conscientious. No
"respect of persons" did he shew; the
rich and the poor partook impartially of
his care and assiduity. To the latter
his services were gratuitous; and like-
wise, in a considerable degree, to others,
who could not, without difficulty, afford
to make him a suitable remuneration.
His bountiful hand was ever open to
the claims of the indigent and the op-
pressed; and in all the relations of life,
the same ardour, the same uprightness.
and integrity, the same unwearied ac-
tivity, distinguished his conduct A re-
markable sweetness of disposition, and
strong intellectual powers, were in him
combined with uncommon "singleness
of heart." His ruling principle was love
to God, displayed in a warm and disin-
terested love of man, wholly free from
party spirit and narrow distinctions.
Devotion was his delight, studying the
Scriptures his dearest employment, and
his hope rested on the mercies of God in
Christ. Perhaps Dr. A. did not entirely
agree with any denomination of Chris-
tians; but serious reflection, and patient
investigation, led him to a conviction
of the truth of the leading tenets of
Unitarianism; and from the time of
his settling in the vicinity of Leicester,
he joined the congregation assembling
at the "Great Meeting" in that town.
In politics he embraced the liberal side
of the question, and was always the
firm and strenuous advocate of civil and
religious freedom. Every project for
the benefit of his country, and the ad-
vancement of knowledge, liberty, and
truth, obtained his zealous support.
His judgment of those who differed
from him was uniformly candid and
generous; and never did he retain the
slightest malevolent or unkind senti-
ment against persons, from whom he
had experienced undeserved or injurious
The subject of this brief imperfect
outline was the younger son of the late
John Alexander, M. D. of Halifax, was
born Nov. 25. 1767, and received his
classical education at Hipperholm school,
which then was, and still is, under the
superintendance of the Rev. Richard
Hudson, who, for more than half a cen-
tury, has officiated as afternoon lecturer
at the parish church in Halifax.
Dr. A. possessed the advantage of
being well initiated in the various
branches of his profession during his
early youth. At the usual period, he
went to London to pursue his anatomi-
cal studies, and there became a pupil of
Sir William Blizard. Having accom-
plished his object in the metropolis, he
repaired to Edinburgh, and finally took
his degree at Leyden, with the highest
honour, in October 1791.
In the year 1793 he married his first
cousin Ellen, the eldest daughter and
co-heiress of the late Samuel Water-
house, Esq. of Halifax, one of the jus-
tices of the peace for the West, Riding
of the county of York, and a deputy
lieutenant for the same district.
Dr. A. fixed at Stafford, and was di-
rectly appointed physician to the county
infirmary. He removed into the neigh-
where he continued to reside till his
deeply-lamented death. All who knew
him must regret him, and to his im-
mediate friends his loss is irreparable.
ARROWSMITH, A. Esq. April
16th; in Soho-square; aged 73; the
eminent geographer, celebrated as a
constructor of maps and charts, through-
out Europe and America.
ASGILL, General Sir Charles,
Bart. Colonel of the 11th regiment of
Foot. He was the third child and only
son of Sir Charles, first baronet, by his
second wife, a daughter of Daniel
Pratville, Esq. secretary to Sir Benj.
Harris, ambassador at the court of
Madrid.
Sir Charles entered the service on the
27th of February, 1778, as an Ensign in
the 1st Foot Guards, and obtained a
Lieutenancy, with the rank of Captain,
in the same regiment, on February 3.
1781. He went to America in the same
year, joined the army under the com-
mand of the Marquis Cornwallis, served
the whole of the campaigns, was taken
prisoner with the army in October, at
the siege of York Town in Virginia,
and sent up the country, where he re-
mained till May 1782, at which period
all the Captains of that army were or-
dered by General Washington to assem-
ble and draw lots, that one night be se-
lected to suffer death, by way of retalia-
tion, for the death of an American officer,
Captain Hardy, whom our Govern-
ment refused to deliver up, for political
reasons, although General Washington
demanded it. The lot fell on Sir
Charles Asgill, and he was, in conse-
quence, conveyed under a strong escort
to the place intended for his execution,
in the Jerseys, where he remained in
prison, enduring peculiar hardships
for the space of six months, expect-
ing daily that his execution would take
place.
Sir Charles was unexpectedly released
from his confinement by an Act of Con-
gress, passed at the intercession of the
Queen of France, who, deeply affected
by a most eloquent and pathetic appeal
from his mother, Lady Asgill, humanely
interfered, and obtained his release. He
returned to England on parole, and
shortly after went to Paris to make his
acknowledgments to the Queen of
France, for having saved his life.
He succeeded his father in the baro-
netcy in 1778; married in 1788 Jemima
Sophia,daughter of Admiral Sir Chaloner
pointed Equerry to his Royal Highness the
Duke of York, and promoted on the 3d of
March, 1790, to a company in the Guards,
with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
He was ordered, towards the end of
1793, to the Continent, joined the army
under the Duke of York, served the
campaign in Flanders, was present
during the whole of the retreat through
Holland in the severe winter of 1794,
and subsequently returned to England.
He received the rank of Colonel on the
26th of February, 1795, and command-
ed a battalion of the Guards the same
year, at Warley Camp. He was ap-
pointed, in 1797, Brigadier-General on
the Staff in Ireland; received the rank of
Major-General the 1st of January, 1798,
and was very actively employed during
the rebellion of that year. He was ap-
pointed Colonel of the 46th foot the 9th
of May, 1800, and placed in the com-
mand of the garrison of Dublin, and oc-
casionally of the Camps of Instruction,
which were formed on the Curragh. He
was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-
General on the 1st of January, 1805,
and appointed Colonel of the 5th West
India regiment in February, 1806. He
obtained the Colonelcy of the 85th foot,
in October, 1806, and that of the 11th
foot, on the 25th February, 1807, for
which regiment he raised a second bat-
talion in the space of six months.
Sir Charles Asgill continued on the
Staff till 1812, and was promoted on the
4th of June, 1814, to the rank of Ge-
neral.
He was educated in a thorough know-
ledge of the multifarious services and
duties of a military life, which he car-
ried into practice to his own fame, and
the advantage of his country. His ser-
vices in the American war, as a Captain
of the Guards, were of a pre-eminent
nature, and he also distinguished him-
self in the revolutionary war, and par-
ticularly during the rebellion in Ireland.
ASHBURNHAM, Sir William,
bart. Aug. 21st, at his seat, Broom-
ham Place, Guestling, aged 87 years.
He was eldest son of the Right Rev.
Sir William Ashburnham, bart. Lord
Bishop of Chichester, by Margaret,
daughter of Thos. Pelham, of Lewes,
co. Sussex, esq.; succeeded his father,
Sept. 4. 1797; married Anne, daughter
of Rev. Francis Woodgate, of Mount-
held, co. Sussex, by whom he had issue
four sons and one daughter.
lowed nourishment from his house; and
on Doling-day, Sir William had for se-
veral years made a practice of giving
each poor family flour, in proportion to
their number. So liberal was he to-
wards his tenants, that they paid only
the same amount of rent for their farms
as they did to his father.
ASHBURTON, the Right Hon.
Richard Barré Dunning, Baron of; Feb.
15th; at Friars Hall, near Melrose, in '
his 41st year. He was youngest, but
only surviving son of John, 1st Lord,
by Elizabeth, daughter of John Baring,
Esq. of Larkbear, county of Devon, and
was born Sept. 20. 1782. On the death
of his father, Aug. 18. 1783, who was
one of the most distinguished pleaders of
the English Bar, he, then only eleven
months old, succeeded to the title and
estates. He married, September 17.
1805, Anne, daughter of the late Wil-
liam Cunningham, Esq. of Lainshaw,
but leaving no issue, the title becomes
extinct. The death of this respectable
Nobleman will be felt in the county of
Sutherland, to which he was long and
sincerely attached, as an irreparable
loss. His Lordship was a kind and
steady benefactor to all the poor in the
neighbourhood of his romantic seat of
Rosehall, and spent annually large
sums of money in beautifying and im-
proving his property there, whereby he
gave constant employment to all his in-
dustrious tenants.
BABINGTON, Stephen, Esq. of
the Bombay Civil Service, May 19th,
1822, at Tannah, in his 32d year. Mr.
Babington's death was occasioned by an
accident which occurred while assisting,
with his characteristic humanity, to ex-
tinguish a fire. He was the son of Dr.
Babington, of London, and grandson
of Stephen Hough, of Tavistock-street,
Bedford-square, the amiable and excel-
lent friend of every charity in the me-
tropolis.
Mr. Babington was educated at the
East India College, at Hertford, where
he highly distinguished himself. He ar-
rived in India in 1808, and was succes-
sively Private Secretary to the Governor,
Secretary to the government, Judge and
Magistrate of the Northern Concan, and
fourth Judge of the Court of Sudder
Adawlut and Sudder Foujdary Adaw-
lut.
His death will be long lamented by
the poor, who, when ill, were always al-
As a Judge, his patience, his un-
|