William H Bound

1844 - 1919

BiographyWilliam H Bound, RN was born on 20 January 1844 and joined the Royal Navy on 22 December 1855 at the age of 11. He served as a seaman for four years before being promoted to Petty Officer in 1859. Bound was assigned the rank of Gunner 2nd Class on 15 September 1870 and detached to the 104-gun First Rate ship of the line HMS Royal Adelaide. He joined the crew of the 22-gun corvette HMS CLIO for passage to Sydney (where CLIO was serving as the flagship of the Australia Station) and was transferred to SANDFLY upon his arrival. Following his service on SANDFLY, Bound transferred to the 21-gun screw corvette HMS PEARL (which replaced CLIO as the flagship of the Australia Station) on 11 January 1876. He returned to the United Kingdom in June 1876 and was assigned to HMS EXCELLENT, a shore-based installation in Portsmouth, where he served as a 'theoretical instructor' of naval gunnery.

Bound served as a Gunner 2nd Class on several other British warships between 1882 and 1892, including HM Ships MONARCH (the first seagoing British warship with gun turrets), HIBERNIA (which transported convicts to New South Wales in 1818-1819), NEPTUNE (an ironclad turret ship originally built for Brazil, but acquired by the Royal Navy in 1878), and PEMBROKE (a 74-gun Third-Rate ship of the line). On 1 August 1889, Bound was assigned to HMS PRESIDENT, a drill and training ship berthed at London's West India Docks, and served there until January 1896. During his time aboard PRESIDENT he was promoted to Chief Gunner. Bound's final assignment with the Royal Navy was at the Admiralty, where he was promoted to Honorary Lieutenant and served between 20 January 1896 and 31 March 1904. He was pensioned on 1 April 1904 and died at the age of 75 on 12 January 1919.

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