Charles Marsh Schomberg

Captain Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg (1779 – 2 January 1835) was a British Royal Navy officer, who served during French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and later served as Lieutenant-Governor of Dominica.

Biography

Family background Schomberg was born in Dublin, the youngest son of the naval officer Captain Sir Alexander Schomberg and Arabella Susannah, the only child of the Reverend Henry Chalmers, and niece of Sir Edmund Aleyn. His older brother was Admiral Alexander Wilmot Schomberg.

Early naval career Schomberg entered the navy in 1788 as captain's servant on the yacht of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, , under his father's command. From 1793, at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, he served as midshipman aboard and the 74-gun under Captain Thomas Louis. On 30 April 1795 he was promoted to lieutenant, and was transferred to , serving under the Commanders Willoughby Lake and John Cochet,

Schomberg then served as Flag Lieutenant to Lord Keith, aboard , during the Egyptian Campaign. He was sent to Cairo to act as a liaison officer between Keith and the Kapudan Pasha, the commander of Turkish naval forces, during the Siege of Alexandria. Following the evacuation of Egypt Schomberg was sent on a mission to Tunis, for which Sir Alexander Ball, the Governor of Malta, later presented him with a handsome piece of plate, and for his services in Egypt he was awarded the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Crescent. but on his return to Malta Madras was put out of commission, and he returned to England, after an absence of more than ten years. The Battle of Tamatave marked the last French attempt to operate in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. Nearly four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. In April 1813, following the unexpected death of Captain Beaver, Schomberg took command of , and sailed from the Cape to Brazil, and from there to Portsmouth escorting a large merchant convoy, arriving at Spithead in March 1814. Schomberg was preparing his ship for service in North America, when the Admiralty ordered her to be put out of commission. From April 1820 to April 1824 he commanded as flag captain to Sir Graham Moore in the Mediterranean, with as his flagship. On 21 September 1832 he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order. He died on 2 January 1835, while in that service, aboard , the flagship of Sir George Cockburn,