William Birchall

William Birchall (1769–1817) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Promoted to lieutenant in 1790, he served aboard at the Glorious First of June. Birchall was made a commander for acting with "zeal and intrepidity" during a boat action with a French privateer and promoted to post-captain following the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Later, in 1803, Birchall commanded the Chester region Sea Fencibles. He died in Exeter in 1817.

Early life and career Birchall was born in Bath, Somerset, in 1769. His father was a cabinetmaker and upholsterer. Very little is known about his early life but his examination for lieutenant in 1790 and eventual promotion on 18 June 1793, were recorded in the Bath Chronicle, which added that he had served 13 years as a midshipman. Birchall served on at the time of his promotion, continuing in her to the West Indies and was probably still on board when she fought at the Glorious First of June (1794).

quote = "but Mr Birchall, the first lieutenant, with a Degree of Zeal and intrepidity, volunteered to attack her [Potomac] in a boat" — — Extract from Captain Thomas Martin's dispatch to Vice-Admiral Kingsmill, 27 October 1796. The ship they eventually boarded and captured, turned out to be the Potomac, an ex-British merchantmen from Poole, possessed by a French prize-crew. Santa Margarita caught up with, and after a few more shots, forced the surrender of the 16-gun Vengeur. Being almost outnumbered by their prisoners, the British then put into Plymouth. A force was gathered at Margate, comprising 25 small vessels, of which Popham's 26-gun Expedition was the largest, and over 1,000 troops, a good proportion of which were held aboard Hebe. Immediately prior to the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801, Harpy was one of the smaller vessels that took soundings and marked channels in the Hollands Diep and around the Middle Ground shoal, allowing all but three of Horatio Nelson's squadron to pass safely and engage the Danish fleet. After the action, Birchall noticed the Danes attempting to warp away one of their ships. He ordered a line attached to Sjaelland and towed her away as a prize.

Birchall and Harpy were ordered to remain off Copenhagen to ensure that terms of the armistice were honoured and to let other British ships know that Nelson had taken the fleet to Bornholm. He was promoted to post-captain for his actions.

Marriage Birchall married three times during his life but left no children. He was very young and still a midshipman, when he met and married his first bride in Lyme Regis in 1786. Esther Delaney was his senior by some years and died in 1806 at Bathampton. Birchall took another wife almost immediately, marrying Jane Cross from Bath, in Marylebone. She died in 1811 in Ilfracombe. He eventually remarried again in 1815. His last wife was Leonora, one of the Binghams from Bingham's Melcombe in Dorset.

Later career and death In 1803, Birchall was given command of the Chester region Sea Fencibles and, according to the Bath Chronicle, caused a riot on 26 December when he impressed one of the local militia. Following their Christmas parade, the militia responded angrily, attacking the gaol and meeting house, where they tore down Birchall's flag. Birchall was asked to leave town while the army restored order.

Birchall died in Exeter in 1817, then was buried at its Sidwell's church (now chapel) which the Luftwaffe destroyed in the Exeter Blitz of 1942.