Eldest son of the late Rev. John Baptist Proby, rector of St. Mary’s, Lichfield, co. Stafford, by Mary Susannah, youngest daughter of the late Sir Nigel Gresley, Bart.
This officer was born at Lichfield, on the 15th Oct. 1794; and entered the royal navy, in Mar. 1807, as midshipman on board the Centaur 74, hearing the broad pendant of his cousin-in-law, the late Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, K.B., under whose auspices he continued to serve until the demise of that highly distinguished officer, in Dec. 1814. He was consequently present at the bombardment of Copenhagen, and surrender of the Danish navy, in Aug. and Sept. 1807; the occupation of Madeira, Dec. 26th, in the same year; and the capture and destruction of a Russian 74, on the Baltic station, in Aug. 1808. He was also at the reduction of Walcheren, in Aug. 1809.
In 1810, M. Proby followed Sir Samuel Hood into the Hibernia 120, on the Mediterranean station. He subsequently accompanied him to the East Indies; and on the 28th June, 1813, then serving as midshipman of the Hussar frigate, Captain the Hon. George Elliott, assisted in storming the defences of Sambas, a piratical state on the western coast of Borneo. The following is a copy of the senior officer’s official report to Captain George Sayer, commanding a squadron in the Eastern Seas.