3-065-901 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Captain Percy Pitt Luxmoore, C.B., 1874. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. Jabez Hughes. 'The services of this gallant officer of the Royal Navy in the late war on the Gold Coast have been rewarded by his promotion from the rank of Commander to that of Captain...He was a midshipman in H.M.S. Boscawen, in the Baltic, during the first year of the Russian War...He next served as Lieutenant on board H.M.S. Roebuck in India and China, and was at Calcutta during part of the Indian Mutiny...Luxmoore was engaged in the taking of the Taku forts, in 1860, and in the previous conflict with the Tartars...[In] March, 1873...he was appointed to the command of H.M.S. Argus, in which he proceeded to the West Coast of Africa...Commander Luxmoore, as our readers know, was present at the destruction of Elmina, on June 13; and on Aug. 14...[he was] exploring the Prah near Chamah, where the natives behaved so treacherously. Commander Luxmoore received six severe wounds on that occasion; but he still kept the command...it was not until some time afterwards it was discovered he was wounded so severely that he nearly fainted; yet he continued to remain at his post until the last moment, when the heavy fire from our boats had driven the enemy out of the bush...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.