The very fine Naval General Service Medal 1793-1814, 1 Clasp: Algiers, with additional silver straight top bar suspender awarded to Midshipman, later Rear Admiral Sir William Dickson, Royal Navy, the son of Rear-Admiral Sir Archibald C. Dickson, who would see service as a Midshipman aboard Minden at the Battle of Algiers, where Minden was left suppressing the remaining Algerian batteries whilst the rest of the fleet withdrew at the end of the Battle. In 1827 William Dickson would take over his father’s Baronetcy upon his death, becoming the 3rd Baronet of Hardingham Hall, Norfolk. He would later see service on the Lisbon Station and in the East Indies including during the First China War as well as in North America and in the West Indies. He is last noted as a Retired Vice-Admiral on 11th January 1864 and died on 4th January 1868.
Naval General Service Medal 1793-1814, 1 Clasp: Algiers, with additional silver straight top bar suspender; (WILLIAM DICKSON. MIDSHIPMAN.)
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
William Dickson was born on 10th June 1798, the eldest son of the late Rear-Admiral Sir Archibald C. Dickson, Baronet by Harriet, daughter of the late Admiral John Bourmaster.
Dickson became a student at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, Aug 1st 1811 and was discharged from there into Cumberland, under Captain (later Sir) Thomas Baker on 16th May 1814, between 26th July 1815 and 24th March 1816, he served onboard the Caledonia, Rochfort (commanded by his father) and Eridanus Frigate.
On the later date he joined Minden under Captain William Paterson, fitting out for the flag of Sir Richard King, commander-in-chief on the East India station, in which ship he bore a part of the Battle of Algiers.
At the Battle of Algiers, Exmouth in Queen Charlotte anchored approximately 80 yd (73 m) off the mole, facing the Algerian guns. However, a number of the other ships anchored out of position, notably Admiral Milne aboard HMS Impregnable, who was 400 yards from where he should have been. This error reduced the effectiveness of these ships and exposed them to fiercer Algerian fire. Some of the other ships sailed past Impregnable and anchored in positions closer to the plan. The unfortunate gap created by the misplaced HMS Impregnable was closed by the frigate HMS Granicus and the sloop Heron.
We afterwards find him in the Trincomalee, Vengeur, Atholl, Liffey, Ramillies, and Royal Sovereign Yacht, from which vessel he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant on 16th October 1822. His subsequent appointments were to the Queen Charlotte, Seringapatam, Revenge and Raleigh.
In their earlier negotiations, both Exmouth and the Dey of Algiers had stated that they would not fire the first shot. The Dey's plan was to allow the fleet to anchor and then to sortie from the harbour and board the ships with large numbers of men in small boats. But Algerian discipline was less effective and one Algerian gun fired a shot at 15:15. Exmouth immediately began the bombardment. The Algerian flotilla of 40 gunboats made an attempt to board Queen Charlotte while the sailors were aloft setting sail, but twenty-eight of their boats were sunk by broadsides, and the remaining ran themselves on shore. After an hour, the cannon on the mole were effectively silenced, and Exmouth turned his attention to the shipping in the harbour, which was destroyed by 19:30. One unmanned Algerine frigate was destroyed after being boarded by the crew of Queen Charlotte's barge, who then set it on fire. Three other Algerine frigates and five corvettes were destroyed by the fire of mortars and rockets. The burning shipping drifting in the harbour forced some bombarding ships to manoeuvre out of their way.: Impregnable was isolated from the other ships and made a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, severely damaging her. 268 shots hit the hull, and the main mast was damaged in 15 places, with 50 killed and 164 wounded.
One sloop had been fitted out as an explosion vessel, with 143 barrels of gunpowder aboard, and Milne asked at 20:00 that it be used against the "Lighthouse battery", which was mauling his ship. The vessel was exploded, but to little effect, and against the wrong battery.
Despite this, the Algerian batteries could not maintain fire and, by 22:15, Exmouth gave the order for the fleet to weigh anchor and sail out of range, leaving HMS Minden to keep firing to suppress any further resistance. The wind had changed and was blowing from the shore, which helped the fleets depart.: By 01:30 the next morning, the fleet was anchored out of range. The wounded were treated, and the crew cleared the damage caused by the Algerian guns. Casualties on the British side were more than 900 killed and wounded,: a casualty rate that was most sanguinary. For comparison, British casualties at the Battle of Trafalgar had been only 9 percent of those engaged. The allied squadron had fired over 50,000 round shot using 118 tons of gunpowder, and the bomb vessels had fired 960 explosive mortar shells. The Algerian forces had 308 guns and 7 mortars.: The translator of the letter Exmouth sent to the Dey left an eye-witness account of the damage done to the city, which he saw when he accompanied the letter under a flag of truce. The construction of the mole could not be discerned, neither could the positions where the batteries had been sited. No more than four or five guns that were still mounted were visible. The bay was filled with the smoking hulks of the remains of the Algerine navy and by many floating bodies
Lieutenant Dickson succeeded to the Baronetcy as the 3rd Baronet Dickson of Hardingham Hall, Norfolk., on the demise of his father, in June 1827, and was ship-wrecked on the coast of Portugal, when proceeding to the Mediterranean, as passenger on board the Terror bomb, Captain David Hope, 19th February 1828. He was promoted to the command of the Raleigh, 4th March 1829, and appointed to the Orestes sloop, at Portsmouth on 28th September 1833, since then he has been employed on the Lisbon station.
Sir William Dickson’s brothers were Archibald, an officer in the army, Colpoys, in the Hon E.I. Company’s military service; Alexander Collingwood Thomas, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and John Bourmaster, Midshipman. One of his sisters, Harriet Jane, is married to Captain Thomas Wren Carter, Royal Navy, and another Mary Madline to Captain Claud Douglas H.E.I. Company’s Army.
On 10th January 1837 he would be appointed Captain, and would serve as the Captain in Volage from 30th August 1841 to 1st February 1845 being present in the East Indies including the first Anglo-Chinese War, then North America and West Indies.
He would be noted as a retired Rear-Admiral on 22nd April 1857 and then retired Vice Admiral on 11th January 1864. He died on 4th January 1868.
