Hall, William

Epithet: Carthusian; preacher to James II

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x000288

Epithet: of Egerton MS 3006

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x00028f

William Hall was a contemporary of the Arctic explorer and whaler William Penny (1809-1892), in 1850 Penny led the British Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-1850 to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in search of the missing British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin)

From the guide to the William Hall collection, 1850, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)

Epithet: brother of Sir T Hall, of Bradford, county Wiltshire?

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x000286

Epithet: attorney, of Dublin

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x000285

Epithet: of Eccleshall, county Staffordshire

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x00028c

Epithet: of Add MS 38307

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001190.0x00028b

William Hutcheon Hall (?1797-1878) entered the navy in 1811 and served in the North Sea and the Baltic (1811-15), China (1815-17) and West Africa (1817-1820s) where he was promoted to master. He continued in this rank serving actively on the West Indian, Mediterranean and Home Stations until 1836. His interest then turned to steam ships and he was employed in steamboats in the United States of America on the Hudson and Delaware rivers (1836-39). He then obtained command of the Nemesis, an iron paddle steamer, and made a valuable contribution to operations in the Chinese war (1840-43) for which he was awarded naval rank. He subsequently commanded the Dragon steam frigate in the Mediterranean (1847-50), and the Hecla and the Blenheim in the Baltic (1854-55).

Hall was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1847; and after his retirement from active service, he became a rear-admiral in 1863, vice-admiral in 1869 and admiral in 1875. He was nominated a KCB in 1867. He also published two pamphlets: Sailors' Homes, their Origin and Progress (1852, 2nd edition 1854) and Our National Defences .

For more biographical information, see Hall's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography and in O'Byrne (ed), A naval biographical dictionary (1849).

Reference: University of Birmingham, Special Collections Department, Online Archive Catalogue (http://calm.bham.ac.uk/DServeA/). Accessed May 2002.

From the guide to the Journal of William Hall, 1822-1871, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)