Bingham joined the Royal Navy in 1781 as a
midshipman on
HMS Dublin and took part in the
relief of Gibraltar. In January 1793 while serving as third lieutenant on
HMS Ganges he assisted in the capture of Le Général Dumourier and other ships, and received his portion of a large amount of prize money. When the wind began to fail, Bingham sent three of his boats after the quarry. Once alongside, in two minutes the British had captured the French vessel, despite fire from two brass six-pounder guns, six brass
swivel guns and small arms. Out of her 25-man crew,
Passe-Portout had two dead and five seriously wounded, including the captain, who was mortally wounded; the British suffered only one man slightly wounded. Bingham discovered that the French had outfitted
Passe Partout to land three officers on the coast to incite the
Mahratta states to attack the British. Bingham passed on the intelligence with the result that the British at
Poona were able to capture the Frenchmen. In 1804, he was appointed to
HMS Sceptre. He accompanied the expedition sent to the
Scheldt under
Admiral Strachan and caught the
Walcheren Fever. After partially recovering in 1811 he was appointed to
HMS Egmont. Promoted to
rear-admiral in 1819, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief,
East Indies Station but died on 10 December 1825 before he could take up the post. ==References==