Miller Worsley

Miller Worsley (8 July, 1791 - 2 May, 1835) was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for playing a major part in the Engagement on Lake Huron in the Anglo-American War of 1812.

He was the son of a clergyman, and first joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1803 and became a Midshipman in 1805. He was present at the Battle of Trafalgar, aboard HMS Swiftsure. Although he passed the examination for Lieutenant in 1810, owing to the large numbers of officers in the Royal Navy at the time he was still a Midshipman when drafted from Bermuda in 1812 with several other officers to serve in Canada. He was promoted Lieutenant on 12 July, 1813 and served in the Raid on Fort Oswego in the following year.

He was then appointed to command the Royal Naval detachment on Lake Huron, succeeding Lieutenant Newdigate Poyntz, who had quarreled with the Army Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall, over the degree to which the Naval personnel should be subject to McDouall's orders.

Worsley made his way overland to the base at Nottawasaga Bay in July and took command of the only naval vessel on the lake, the schooner Nancy. Before he could sail to Fort Mackinac with urgently needed rations and powder, he was warned that an American force was lying in wait. He attempted to conceal the Nancy and constructed a blockhouse to defend the schooner, but the Americans discovered the Nancy, and landed a superior force supported by artillery. Worsley (or American shells) destroyed the schooner. Worsley withdrew his small party unmolested.

After the Americans withdrew, he then proceeded by boat and canoe to Fort Mackinac, at one point passing only a few yards from an American gunboat. He obtained reinforcements of marines from Lieutenant Colonel McDouall, and captured the two American naval vessels on the lake, securing British supremacy there for the remainder of the war.

Worsley fell ill in October, and saw no further active service, although he was appointed half-pay Commander on 13 July, 1815.

After the war, he returned to his parental home on the Isle of Wight, and married in 1820. In 1832 he became an Inspecting Commander in the Coastguard. He left in 1834 and died the next year.

Worsley Street in the City of Barrie, Ontario, is named after him; this street crosses Poyntz Street at the southeast corner of the Barrie courthouse.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

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Name	Worsley, Miller
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Date of birth	1791
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Date of death	1835
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