[Illustration: _From a_| AGE 22. |_Painting._]
SIR PROVO WILLIAM PARRY WALLIS, R.N., G.C.B., Senior Admiral of the
Fleet, was a hundred years of age on the 12th of last month. Sir Provo,
now the oldest naval officer alive, was born at Halifax, in Nova
Scotia. At thirteen he fought his first engagement, at seventeen was
made lieutenant, and went through several fierce encounters with the
French. At twenty-two, the age at which our first portrait shows him,
he was second lieutenant of the _Shannon_ on the famous day when that
gallant vessel was challenged by the American frigate _Chesapeake_.
The ships met; a desperate fight ensued; the captain of the _Shannon_
was disabled, and Lieutenant Wallis was called upon to take command,
both of his own ship and of the captured enemy. For his gallantry
on this occasion he was made commander. Subsequently he rose to be
vice-admiral, admiral, and admiral of the fleet. It is the rule for
admirals to retire from active service at the age of seventy; but
Sir Provo enjoys the unique honour, which he owes entirely to his
reputation as a gallant warrior, of having been retained, by a special
Order in Council, on the active list for life. Sir Provo now resides at
the village of Funtington, near Chichester, where his striking face and
figure, as represented in our second portrait, are familiar to every
inhabitant of the place.
For the first of the above portraits we are indebted to the courtesy of
Messrs. Brock, of Sydenham.
[Illustration: _From a_| AGE 100. |_Photograph._]