Sunday, October 5, 2008

63

Francis Werry (c.1744 - 7 July1832)



Golfe De Smyrne, Vue Générale De Kara Tach et De Gioz-Tépé

Turkey. Original wood engraving drawn by Taylor, engraved by Hildibrand. 1884.







WERRY, Francis, Esq., late his Britannic Majesty's Consul at Smyrna; 7 July 1832; at Boudgea, near Smyrna; after a few days' illness; in his 88th year.

Mr. Werry in the first American war commanded armed letters of marque; and in 1779 was appointed, by the Reprisal Association of the city of London, to the command of the private ship of war King George, when on the 2d of August, 1779, he fell in with the French frigate La Concorde, and after a severe and obstinate resistance of near two hours, the King George had forty-two men killed and wounded; and on a Spanish ship of the line bearing down, she was
obliged to surrender to her opponent, which was four times her size and weight of metal, and had double her number of men.

He afterwards served his country thirty-four years as Consul at Smyrna. He discharged his magisterial and judicial duties (attributes peculiarly
appertaining to the Consuls in the Levant) with independence and uprightness, to the satisfaction of his superiors and of the public; and in all the events during the French revolutionary war, and the critical position of Smyrna in 1797, and during the insurrection of the Greeks, he rendered essential service to His Majesty's subjects, to the Europeans in general, and to the Christian population of Smyrna. By his firmness and experience, and his personal influence in treating with the chiefs of the local government during the power of the Janissaries, he more than once prevented the European quarter of the town being a scene of fire and bloodshed. During the successive rapid military, naval, and political events in the Mediterranean and Levant, from the commencement of the war with France to the close of the same (1814), the various political intelligence which he caused to be conveyed to the Admirals Earl St. Vincent, Lord Nelson, Lord Keith, Sir Sidney Smith, and Lord Collingwood, and to His Majesty's respective Ambassadors residing at the Porte, was highly valued by them, proof of which is to be seen in their autograph letters to him. For this long course of zealous and faithful service to his country, His Majesty George IV was graciously pleased to grant him a retiring pension equal to his full salary.
The Annual Biography and Obituary 1832

A Street in Smyrna, Turkey. Original steel engraving drawn by T. Allom, engraved by T. Higham. ca 1840


Smyrna 1850











Smyrna about 1900



Note: images of Smyrna are not from the album.

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