Pryce-Cumby, William, Captain, 1771-1837.

The papers consist of a book containing copies of orders and memoranda, 1796 to 1798, 1801 and 1804, a watch, station and quarter bill for the Thalia, a private letterbook, 1803 to 1808, night order books, 1807 and 1814, and passwords in use in Pembroke Dockyard in 1837.

Administrative / biographical background
Pryce-Cumby entered the Navy in 1784 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1792. Between 1795 and 1798 he served in the Astrea and then in the Thalia, being present at the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797. Following three years as Flag-Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Alexander Graeme (d.1818) at the Nore, he was appointed to command the Swift in the North Sea between 1803 and 1804. In 1804 he was appointed to the Bellerophon and, when the captain was killed at Trafalgar, took command of the ship. He was promoted to captain in 1806 and in the following year was appointed to the Dryad on the Irish Station. From 1808 to 1811 he was Captain of the Polyphemus, having command of a squadron at San Domingo in 1809, and from 1811 to 1815 of the Hyperion. In 1812 he was ordered to Davis Strait to protect the whale fishery and in 1813 was on convoy duty in the Atlantic. From 1814 to 1815 he was in the Channel. Pryce-Cumby had no further service until 1837, when he was appointed Superintendent of Pembroke Dockyard; he died in the same year.