This sub-collection mainly relates to Commander John Oldershaw Bathurst (1817-1861) and forms part of the Wrey and Greive family papers. It consists of commissions and letters, 1828-1879; and a remark book, 1845.

Administrative / biographical background
Bathurst was born in Marylebone, Middlesex, in 1817. He was the youngest son of Captain Walter Bathurst and Marianne Bathurst née Wood. His father was killed at the Battle of Navarino in 1827. He first went to sea in 1832, joining HMS CASTOR as a volunteer from the Royal Naval College. Between 1834 and 1836 he served on HMS JASEUR in the Mediterranean. After receiving his commission as a lieutenant in 1838 he served on the North America and West Indies station, suffering twice from yellow fever. In 1844 he was appointed to HMS COLLINGWOOD on the Pacific station. As a lieutenant-commander he was given command of the paddle packet HMS MEDUSA in the Mediterranean in 1848 and married Flora Robertson, daughter of Daniel Robertson, in Malta in 1850. Bathurst was promoted to the rank of commander in 1853. He died at Southsea in 1861, while serving as Inspecting Commander of Coastguard for the Western District. Lieutenant Walter Bathurst, the only child of Commander Bathurst and his wife Flora Bathurst, died of pneumonia at Malta in 1880.