The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Peile, Lieutenant Mountford Stephen Loviele
b. 1824-08-27
d. 1885-09-23
Lieutenant Mountford Stephen Loviele Peile was born on 27 August 1824 in Benefiat,
Lausanne, Switzerland. Peile's life before he entered the Royal Navy (R.N.) is unknown,
but he likely entered earlier than 1850, as it was on 2 July 1851 that he became a
lieutenant.1 In the 1850s, Peile served as lieutenant commander of the HMS Drake and as a lieutenant
on the Satellite under James Charles Prevost until his assignment to the HMS Impregnable
on 4 September 1861. By 16 April 1862, he was promoted to commander and it was only
two months later that he gained sole command of the Royal Adelaide.2
On 1 November 1864, Peile became the commander of the HMS Espoir, located on the coast
of Africa, and filled the role of senior officer of the Bight of Benin division. He
remained in this position until 24 December 1867, when he was promoted to captain
in September of the same year. The last known ship that Peile captained was that of
the HMS Simoom from 5 May 1873 to 1875. Little else is known about Peile except for
his death on 23 September 1885 in Devon.3 He was described by Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes, as a very intelligent and trustworthy
senior lieutenant.4