Walter Bathurst (c. 1764 – 20 October 1827), was a captain in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

who was killed at the

Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O.S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied ...

Life

Bathurst's father was one of the thirty-six children of Sir Benjamin Bathurst MP, the younger brother of Allen, first Earl Bathurst. One of his uncles was Henry Bathurst, bishop of Norwich. After being on the books of the guardship at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

for more than a year, he was, on 5 October 1781, appointed to the , which, in the beginning of 1782, accompanied Sir George Rodney to the West Indies, and participated in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

off Dominica on 12 April. He afterwards served in , and was made lieutenant on 15 November 1790. In April 1791 was appointed to the brig on the home station. He continued in her for nearly three years, and on 30 December 1793 was appointed to the frigate , in which he served on the

Newfoundland Station The Newfoundland Station was a formation or command of, first, the Kingdom of Great Britain and, then, of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Its official headquarters varied between Portsmouth or Plymouth in England where a squadron of ships would s ...

, and afterwards with the fleet off Cadiz under Lord St Vincent. In May 1797 he was transferred to the , and on 3 July 1798 was appointed captain of the same ship by order from Lord St. Vincent. His promotion was not confirmed until 24 October 1799; but he continued to command the ''Ville de Paris'' until May 1800, and for a great part of the time with Lord St. Vincent's flag at the main. He afterwards commanded the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s , , and ''Pitt'', in the East Indies, in all of which he was fortunate in making several rich prizes. Having brought home ''Pitt'', renamed , he still commanded her in the Baltic in 1808, and in July 1809 was employed in escorting part of Lord Chatham's army to Walcheren. The following year he was appointed to the 74-gun ship in which he went out to the Mediterranean, and stayed there until the end of the war. He had no further service until 1824, when he commissioned the 74-gun ''Genoa'' which, on 20 October 1827, formed part of the fleet commanded by Sir

Edward Codrington Sir Edward Codrington, (27 April 1770 – 28 April 1851) was a British admiral, who took part in the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Navarino. Early life and career The youngest of three brothers born to Edward Codrington the elder (1732 ...

at Navarino. The accident of position caused the ''Genoa''s loss to be very heavy; her list of killed considerably exceeded that of any other ship in the fleet, and included Bathurst. Codrington wrote a personal letter of condolence to Bathurst's widow, the mother of five children. One of these, following his father's steps, entered the navy, and had attained the rank of commander, when he died at an early age.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathurst, Walter 1760s births 1827 deaths Royal Navy captains British military personnel killed in action

Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Greek War of Independence