Portrait of Vice-Admiral Sir William H. Essington, K.C.B, half-length, in full naval uniform, wearing his insignia of the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and the gold medal for the battle of Camperdown, with his naval sword tucked under his left arm

Vice-Admiral Sir William Essington, K.C.B. (1753-1816) was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy in February 1777 and, by the time the American War of Independence ended in 1783, he had attained the rank of Captain thanks to his diligent service. At the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, he was in command of the 28-gun frigate Aurora in which he captured the French armed cutter Narcisse off Shetland in June 1794. Transferred into the 64-gun Sceptre, he was in action against the Dutch off the Cape of Good Hope with Admiral Elphinstone's squadron in August 1796 but the following year was given command of the 74-gun Triumph. Attached to Admiral Duncan's North Sea fleet, Triumph took part in the battle of Camperdown on 11th October 1797 where, despite the ultimate victory over the Dutch, Triumph was badly damaged and Essington himself wounded. Promoted Rear-Admiral in 1804, Essington selected the 74-gun Minotaur as his flagship for the operations against Copenhagen in September 1807 which resulted in the surrender of the Danish fleet and his conduct there undoubtedly assisted with his later promotion to Vice-Admiral. Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) in January 1815, he died the next year on 12th July at the age of sixty-three years.