Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
NameAdmiral Sir John KINGCOME KCB , 3862
Birth1793, Revelstoke, Devon
Death1871
FatherHenry KINKHAM , 3873 (1762-1849)
MotherMary PERRING , 3876 (1768-1835)
Spouses
Birth1794
Death1869
FatherWiliam SHOLL , 3870
MotherMaria Teresa JUSTA , 3871
Marriage1820
ChildrenLouisa Teresa , 3858 (1835-1864)
 Frederick Maitland , 3863 (1832-1847)
 Ellen Clara , 3864 (1838-1923)
 Maitland Ferguson Toby , 4250 (1821-1822)
Notes for Admiral Sir John KINGCOME KCB
Commander in Chief Pacific Station.


From Wikipedia:

Kingcome joined the Royal Navy in 1808 and was present at the destruction of the French ships during the Battle of the Basque Roads the following year. He also served in the First Anglo-Burmese War from 1824 to 1826.

Promoted to Captain in 1838, he commanded HMS Belleisle during the First Opium War in 1841. He later took charge of HMS Simoom and HMS St George and then commanded HMS Royal William in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station in 1862 and retired as a full Admiral in 1869.
Kingcome Inlet on the British Columbia Coast is named after him.


From Jennifer Crosland’s Researches

John Kingcome and his family lived in the naval town of Plymouth. In the censuses it is clearly a fairly affluent household with servants. In 1841 the family consists of John and Louisa, their children Frederick 10, Louisa 6 and Ellen 3, along with a servant, Mary Easterbrook. A previous daughter, Louisa Teresa had died in 1833 a few months after birth. In 1851 they are still in Plymouth but have moved to Athenaeum Street, their household includes their two daughters but not Frederick. Also with them is their niece, Eliza Sholl aged 28, born in Isle of France (Mauritius) she is the daughter of one of Louisa’s brothers. In 1861 only one daughter, Ellen, is still living with them. Eliza Sholl is no longer with them, she is living with another uncle, Alexander Penpran, a retired quartermaster and his wife Teresa who is almost certainly Louisa Kingcombe’s sister. Kingcombe is described as a Rear Admiral.

Kingcome had at least two brothers. Richard, a ship-broker died in 1853 and a C. Kingcombe, noted in the press as a brother.

His career covered range of duties and activities, he is noted in the press as he gets promotion or his ship appears in the naval news. He attends formal occasions, and represents his country as a senior naval officer.

In 1863 he was involved in a near diplomatic disaster during the difficult years of the American Civil War. An unidentified armed ship entered San Francisco Bay, with no wind, the flag hung limp and men in rowboats towed the ship. The ship did not head toward the San Francisco docks. Instead, it travelled toward Angel Island to the North Bay where there was an army arsenal and the navy shipyard. The commanding officer at Alcatraz had a duty to ensure that no hostile foreign warship entered the bay. Captain William Winder ordered the Alcatraz artillery to fire a blank charge as a signal for the ship to stop.

The rowboats continued pulling the ship. Winder then ordered his men to fire an empty shell toward the bow of the ship, a challenge to submit to the local authority. The ship halted and responded with gunfire, which Winder confirmed was a 21-gun salute. Through the smoke, the Alcatraz troops could finally see the British flag waving on the H.M.S. Sutlej, flagship of Admiral John Kingcombe. Alcatraz responded with a return salute. Soon messages were exchanged rather than gunfire. As Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy in the Pacific, Kingcombe wrote that he was displeased at his reception in San Francisco. Captain Winder explained his actions by saying, ‘The ship's direction was so unusual I deemed it my duty to bring her to and ascertain her character.’ The U.S. Commander of the Department of the Pacific supported Winder and replied that Kingcombe had ignored the established procedures for entering a foreign port during war. Winder later received a letter of gentle reminder to act cautiously.

He died in 1881. His obituary from the Plymouth Times 12th August suggests he was an active and able man even late in life.

On the 7th August, at No. 6, Windsor Villas, Plymouth (England), Admiral Sir John Kingcombe, K.C.B., aged 77. He entered the navy in1808 as second class volunteer on board the ' Emerald,' and was present at the destruction of the French Fleet in Aix Roads in 1809. He became commander in 1828, captain in 183S, and rear-admiral in 1857. In November, 1861, he was appointed to the command of the Pacific station. This appointment he held for only two years, having been superseded in consequence of his promotion to the rank of vice-admiral. In 1865 he was made K.C.B., and retired from the service on full pay, and with a Greenwich Hospital pension in 1866, and became a full admiral on 10th September, 1869.

Sir J. Kingcombe, notwithstanding his advanced age, was, until within the past two years, in the habit of bathing regularly, summer and winter, at the Plymouth Hoe, and his capabilities us a swimmer have more than once been instrumental in saving life, he having jumped overboard four times to rescue his shipmates.
Plymouth Times 12th August 1881
Last Modified 19 Feb 2011Created 4 Mar 2023 using Reunion for Macintosh