Admiral Robert Gambier (1791-1872)

Post date: Aug 01, 2012 10:28:10 AM

Extract from London Standard 29 January 1872:

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. DEATH OF ADMIRAL ROBERT GAMBIER--The above gallant admiral, whose death we recorded in our obituary on Saturday last was born at Wateringbury, Kent, on August 3, 1791, and was the senior officer on the list of retired admirals on the pay of 26s. a day. He was brother of Admiral George Cornish Gambier, on the same list, and nephew of the late Admiral of tho Fleet, Lord Gambier, G.C.B. He entered the navy in August 3, 1804., on board the Lively, 38, lying in the River Thames, and afterwards assisted at the reduction of the Cape, Buenos Ayres, and Maldonado, in 1806; at the fall of Copenhagen, in September, 1807- and at the capture of Le Milan, French national corvette, of 18 guns, off Ushant, October 30, 1809 He was promoted to lieutenant in 1810, and after serving on the Channel, Baltic, and Mediterranean stations, assumed command, Sept. 30, 1812, of the Pelorus sloop, and was posted June 6, 1814. He was appointed to the Myrmidon, 20, on April 25, 1815, and was employed under Captain P. L. Maitland in blockading the Maumusson Passage until the surrender of Bonaparte, when he accompanied the Bellerophon to England, bringing with him several French officers, &c, belonging to the Emperor's suite. He next obtained an appointment in the Water Guard and on June 18, 1825, was appointed to the Pyrammus, 42, and conveyed to Vera Crus Mr. Morier, her Majesty's Commissioner to the Republic of Mexico, and Sir R. K. Porter, Consul General at Columbia.

Robert had been baptised in Wateringbury on 4th September 1791 the son of Samuel and Jane Gambier. His siblings Emily Jane (24th June 1789) and Charles Samuel (28th August 1790) were also baptised at Wateringbury Church. Samuel Gambier received a game certificate in 1790

Gambier was the maiden name (believed to be of Huguenot origin) of Sir Charles Middleton, Lord Barham's wife, Margaret who he married in 1761 and who died in 1792.