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 Gentlemans Magazine |
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 Death Announcements 1845-1854
| Transcribed by | Steve van Dulken |
| | Surname | De Vitré | | | First names | John Denis | | | Rank / occupation | Lieutenant |  | Unit | Royal Navy | | | Death date | 29 Dec 1846 | | | Place of death | Lancaster  | | | Source | Gentleman's Magazine | | | Date | Feb 1847 | | | Page number | 219 | | | Detail | At Lancaster, aged 89, John Denis De Vitré, esq. Lieut. in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, and late of West Knoll, Cumberland, for many years the oldest Lieut. in Her Majesty's service. In 1781, when Lieut. of the Chaser, 18-gun ship, and whilst cruising off the Madras coast, she was fallen in with by the Bologna, French frigate, of 36 guns, and, after engaging her in a severe but unequal contest for two hours and upwards, was compelled to surrender. For four months the officers of the Chaser were kept as prisoners of war on board the French vessel, but were afterwards unjustifiably transferred to the tender mercies of Hyder Ali, under whom it is well known all English prisoners were most cruelly treated. Lieut. De Vitré was chiefly confined in a loathsome dungeon at Bangalore, but was occasionally marched under a vertical sun to other places of confinement, whilst heavily laden with irons. He was subjected to these cruelties for nearly two years, and it is believed that he was the last survivor of all the British prisoners who had been in confinement under the tyrant Hyder Ali, or his still more inhuman and perfidious successor, Tippoo Sultan. |
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