Walter Bathurst

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Captain |name = Walter Bathurst |image = |image_size = |alt = |caption = |birth_date = c. 1764 |death_date = 21 October 1827 |birth_place = |death_place = |burial_place = |burial_label = |burial_coordinates =  |nickname = |birth_name = |allegiance = Great Britain <br /> United Kingdom |branch = Royal Navy |service_years = 1780–1827 |rank = Captain |commands = {{Plainlist | * {{HMS|Ville de Paris||6}} * {{HMS|Eurydice|1781|6}} * {{HMS|Terpsichore|1785|6}} * {{HMS|Salsette|1805|6}}/''Pitt'' * {{HMS|Fame|1805|6}} * {{HMS|Genoa}} }} |battles = {{Plainlist | * American Revolutionary War * French Revolutionary Wars * Napoleonic Wars * Greek War of Independence }} |awards = |relations = |other_work = }} '''Walter Bathurst''' (c. 1764 – 21 October 1827) was a Royal Navy officer who was killed at the Battle of Navarino.

==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.<ref name=DNB>{{DNB|wstitle=Bathurst, Walter}}</ref>

After being on the books of the guardship at Plymouth for more than a year, he was, on 5 October 1781, appointed to the {{HMS|Yarmouth|1745|2}}, which, in the beginning of 1782, accompanied Sir George Rodney to the West Indies, and participated in the Battle of the Saintes off Dominica on 12 April. He afterwards served in {{HMS|Perseus|1776|2}}, and was made lieutenant on 15 November 1790. In April 1791 was appointed to the brig {{HMS|Ferret|1784|2}} on the home station. He continued in her for nearly three years, and on 30 December 1793 was appointed to the frigate {{HMS|Andromache|1781|2}}, in which he served on the Newfoundland Station, and afterwards with the fleet off Cadiz under Lord St Vincent.<ref name=DNB/>

In May 1797 he was transferred to the {{HMS|Ville de Paris||2}}, 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 frigates {{HMS|Eurydice|1781|2}}, {{HMS|Terpsichore|1785|2}}, and ''Pitt'', in the East Indies, in all of which he was fortunate in making several rich prizes. Having brought home ''Pitt'', renamed {{HMS|Salsette|1805|2}}, 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 {{HMS|Fame|1805|2}} in which he went out to the Mediterranean, and stayed there until the end of the war.<ref name=DNB/>

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 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, who died of his wounds on 21 October. 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.<ref name=DNB/>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathurst, Walter}} Category:1760s births Category:1827 deaths Category:Royal Navy captains Category:British military personnel killed in action Walter Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Greek War of Independence