Colonial Despatches

Born in Ireland in 1791, Sir Samuel Robert Wesley was the Deputy Adjutant General in the Royal Marines from 1854 to 1862.1 Beginning his career in 1809,2 Wesley's roles within the Royal Navy progressed from First Lieutenant-Colonel, Assistant Adjutant General, to Deputy Adjutant General.3 As the Deputy Adjutant General, Wesley was the executive head of the Royal Navy Office. He executed the orders of the Admiralty Board … and [took] charge of the Marine Recruiting Service.4 In a despatch from 16 March 1861 , Wesley addresses the missing salaries of marines reporting in the Vancouver Island Esquimalt base.5 In his report to the Admiralty Secretary, Wesley recounts that throughout the year no colonial or extra pay was received…for Captain Henry's embarkation on the H.M.S. Satellite.6 Highlights in Wesley's career include serving in the U.S. and Lower Canada in the War of 18127 and directing the marines in the Crimean War.8 In 1862, Wesley retired from the Royal Marines and retained the title of Major General. 9 Notably, after retiring from the Royal Navy, he was knighted under the Most Honourable Military Order of Bath, KCB.10 He married Mary Butt, sister to Queen's Counsel M.P. Isaac Butt, in 1835.11 In 1877, Wesley passed away at the age of 86 in Blackheath, England.12

• 1. Summary of the Morning's News. Pall Mall Gazette,15 January 1877.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire on the System of Purchase and Sale of Commissions in the Army, vol. 18, (London, George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1857), 170; Ibid.;Sir R. Vesey Hamilton, Naval Administration, the Constitution, Character, and Functions of the Board of Admiralty, and of the Civil Departments It Directs,(London: G. Bell and Sons, 1896), 105.
• 4. William Govett Romaine to Thomas Frederick Elliot, public offices despatch, 18 March 1861,CO 60:12, no. 2499, 15.
• 5. Sir Samuel Robert Wesley, Secretary of the Admiralty, despatch report, 16 March 1861, CO 60:12, no. 2499, 15.
• 6. Summary of the Morning's News. Pall Mall Gazette, 15 January 1877.
• 7. W. Edmund M. Reilly, Siege of Sebastopol: An Account of the Artillery Operations Conducted By the Royal Artillery and Royal Navy Brigade Before Sebastopol in 1854 and 1855, (London: George Routledge and Sons,1859), 260.
• 8. Summary of the Morning's News. Pall Mall Gazette, 15 January 1877.
• 9. Adam Bisset Thom, The Upper Ten Thousand in Alphabetical Order, (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1875), 497.
• 10. Ibid.
• 11. Ibid.
• 12. Obituary of Sir General Samuel Robert Wesley, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 18 January 1877 9.

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