Charles Robert Malden

{{Short description|British naval officer, surveyor and educator}} {{Use British English|date=March 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2009}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = | name = Charles Robert Malden | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1797|08|09}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1855|05|23|1797|08|09|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Putney]], [[Surrey]] | death_place = [[Brighton]], [[East Sussex]] | burial_place = | burial_label = | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = [[Royal Navy]] | service_years = | rank = [[First Lieutenant]] | service_number = | unit = | commands = | battles = [[Napoleonic Wars]]<br />[[War of 1812]] | battles_label = | awards = | relations = | other_work = | signature = | website =  }}

'''Charles Robert Malden''' (9 August 1797 – 23 May 1855) was a nineteenth-century British [[Royal Navy|naval]] officer, surveyor and educator. He is the discoverer of [[Malden Island]] in the central [[Pacific]], which is named in his honour. He also founded [[Windlesham House School]] at [[Brighton]], England.

==Biography== Malden was born in [[Putney]], [[Surrey]], son of Jonas Malden, a surgeon. He entered British naval service at the age of 11 on 22 June 1809. He served nine years as a volunteer 1st class, [[midshipman]], and [[shipmate]], including one year in the [[English Channel]] and [[Bay of Biscay]] (1809), four years at the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and in the [[East Indies]] (1809–14), two and a half years on the North American and West Indian stations (1814–16), and a year and a half in the [[Mediterranean]] (1817–18). He was present at the capture of [[Mauritius]] and [[Java (island)|Java]], and at the battles of [[Battle of Baltimore|Baltimore]] and [[Battle of New Orleans|New Orleans]].

He passed the examination in the elements of [[mathematics]] and the theory of [[navigation]] at the [[Royal Naval Academy]] on 2–4 September 1816, and became a 1st Lieutenant on 1 September 1818. In eight years of active service as an officer, he served two and a half years in a surveying ship in the Mediterranean (1818–21), one and a half years in a surveying sloop in the English Channel and off the coast of Ireland (1823–24), and one and a half years as Surveyor of the frigate {{HMS|Blonde|1819|6}} during a voyage (1824–26) to and from the [[Hawaiian Islands]] (then known as the "Sandwich islands").<ref name="macrae">{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/withlordbyronat00macrgoog |title= With Lord Byron at the Sandwich Islands in 1825: Being Extracts from the MS Diary of James Macrae, Scottish botanist |publisher= W.F. Wilson |year=1922 |author= James Macrae |editor= William Frederick Wilson |isbn= 978-0-554-60526-5 }}</ref> In Hawaii he surveyed harbours which, he noted, were "said not to exist by Captains Cook and Vancouver." On the return voyage he discovered and explored uninhabited Malden Island in the central Pacific on 30 July 1825. After his return he left active service but remained at half pay. He served for several years as [[hydrographer]] to King [[William IV]].

He married Frances Cole, daughter of Rev. William Hodgson Cole, rector of [[West Clandon]] and Vicar of [[Wonersh]], near [[Guildford]], Surrey, on 8 April 1828. Malden became the father of seven sons and a daughter.

From 1830 to 1836 he took pupils for the Royal Navy at [[Ryde]], [[Isle of Wight]]. He purchased the school of [[Sir Henry Worsley, 2nd Baronet|Henry Worsley]] at [[Newport, Isle of Wight|Newport]], Isle of Wight, in December 1836, reopened it as a [[Preparatory school (UK)|preparatory school]] on 20 February 1837, and moved it to Montpelier Road in Brighton in December 1837. He built the [[Windlesham House School]] at Brighton in 1844, and conducted the school until his death there in 1855. He was succeeded as headmaster by his son [[Henry Charles Malden]].

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Malden, Charles Robert |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}} * {{cite book |first=John |last=Malden|title=The Voyage of the Blonde – A Biography of Charles Robert Malden|year=2023|publisher=TryMalden| url=https://trymalden.co.uk/product/the-voyage-of-the-blonde/}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malden, Charles Robert}} [[Category:1797 births]] [[Category:1855 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers]] [[Category:People from Putney]] [[Category:17th-century Royal Navy personnel]] [[Category:Military personnel from Surrey]]