William Hall (Admiral)
Sir William Hutcheon Hall, (1797?–1878), naval officer
In 1839 John Laird, the Birkenhead shipbuilder and advocate of iron ships, built, in secrecy, on speculation, the first iron warship, the paddle-steamer Nemesis. Laird, as owner, appointed Hall to command her, and in 1840 sent her as a private armed steamer to the First Opium War. Her voyage out was the longest yet by a steam-assisted vessel, and she reached China in January 1841. She served with the East India Company's Bengal marine (that is, navy), and was bought by the company in 1841. She had a prominent, successful, and well-publicized role in the war, including assisting at the capture of Chuenpe (Chuanbi) Fort on the Canton River in January 1841.
Hall, by his energy and his skilful handling of the Nemesis, won mention in dispatches and the commendation of the naval officers under whom he served. Consequently, an order in council permitted his promotion to lieutenant (the commission was dated back to 8 June 1841); another order in council sanctioned his time on the Nemesis as though on a queen's ship; and on 10 June 1843 he was promoted commander. The Nemesis was paid off at Calcutta, and Hall returned overland. His report had considerable influence on the Admiralty decision to use iron ships from 1844 or 1845. Partly to distinguish him from Sir William King Hall, with whom he was sometimes confused, Hall became known in the navy as ‘Nemesis’ Hall. He invented iron bilge tanks for ships, adopted by the navy, and ‘Hall's patent anchor’.
On 1 July 1843 Hall was appointed to the royal steam yacht Victoria and Albert, from which, on 22 October 1844, he was advanced to post rank. He served in Ireland in 1847 during the famine, and in 1848 against the attempted uprising, and then until 1850 commanded the steam paddle frigate Dragon in the Mediterranean. On 28 October 1849, when Sir William Parker brought the fleet to Besika Bay to show support to the Turks against the demands of Austria and Russia on the Hungarian refugees, Hall was sent with the news to the British minister at Constantinople.
1845 Hall married the Hon. Hilare Caroline Byng, third daughter of his first captain, Viscount Torrington
1847 Elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
1854 accepted command of the Hecla, a small paddle-steamer. In June 1854 the Hecla and two other ships under Hall's command, on his initiative, bombarded the Bomarsmund fortifications, but caused little damage.
1855 he commanded the blockship Blenheim, in which he was present at the successful bombardment of Sveaborg' in July was made a CB.
1863 became rear-admiral
1867 KCB
1869 Promoted vice-admiral on the retired list
1875 became an admiral.
1879 Their daughter married Captain C. D. Lucas RN, who, as a mate in the Hecla, had won the Victoria Cross by throwing a lighted shell overboard, before Bomarsmund, on 21 June 1854.