Rowland Mainwaring: from midshipman to rear-admiral

One of my 4th great grandfathers was a British naval officer, Rowland Mainwaring (1782 – 1862). I have written about the early years of his career in my post Midshipman Rowland Mainwaring.

At the Battle of the Nile, Rowland Mainwaring was a midshipman on HMS Majestic, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, George Blagdon Westcott, captain. Westcott was killed, and Mainwaring moved to the Thalia, a 36-gun frigate.

In about 1799 Mainwaring moved to the Defence, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, commanded by Lord Henry Paulet. Mainwaring completed his time as midshipman under Paulet.

The Defence served off Lisbon and Cadiz, and in the Mediterranean. During 1800 the boats of the Defence were active in inshore operations, capturing the Nochette and several gunboats at St. Croix on 11 June, and assisting in the capture and destruction of boats in Bourgneuf Bay on 1 July. Head-money (a reward paid per head of captured enemy personnel) was distributed 25 years later to those involved in the action of 1 July and for capturing the ship La Thérèse of 20 guns, a lugger of 12, a cutter, and two schooners of 6 guns each.

Mainwaring was present on the Defence at the Battle of Copenhagen of 2 April 1801. The Defence was in the reserve and did not see action.

Nelson Forcing the Passage of the Sound, 30 March 1801, prior to the Battle of Copenhagen painting by Robert Dodd in the collection of the Royal Museums Greenwich.
The leading British ship, the ‘Monarch‘, 74 guns, is in the right foreground. She is followed to the right by the ‘Elephant‘, 74 guns, with Nelson flying his flag as Vice-Admiral of the Blue. These leading ships and several others following to the left have passed the batteries of Kronborg Castle. Although the Defence is not pictured it was also a 74 gun ship.

Mainwaring was made lieutenant on 7 December 1801 and was appointed to the Harpy sloop. His later appointments were:

• 4 August 1802 to the Leda, Captain Robert Honeyman, 38 guns
• 8 November 1804 to the Terrible, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, serving again under Lord Henry Paulet
• 7 October 1806 as first lieutenant to the Narcissus, a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate

On the Leda, Mainwaring was entrusted with the command of a boat fitted with what was called an ‘explosion-machine’ in an attack upon the Boulogne flotilla.

The attack on Boulogne Oct 1804: ‘A S. E. View of the Town and Harbour of Boulogne with the Encampments on the Heights. Shewing also the situation of the French and English Squadrons as taken at anchor by E. D. Lewis H.M.S. Tartarus off Boulogne’. The flagship, centre bottom is identified as the ‘Monarch‘, 74, Admiral Lord Keith, then in charge of the anti-invasion blockade. The Leda is the second in from the bottom left-hand corner.
Drawing held in the collection of the Royal Museums Greenwich.

In August 1806 the Terrible was caught in a hurricane and dismasted. The Terrible was at the time in pursuit, in the West Indies, of a French squadron under the command of Jérôme Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon.

An account of the dismasting of the Terrible from The Annual Biography and Obituary, Volume 17 (1833) retrieved through Google Books.

In later life Mainwaring commissioned seven marine paintings. These are mentioned in his will. Two have been mislaid; five are at Whitmore Hall. One is of the extant paintings is ‘The Battle of the Nile’ (mentioned in an earlier post). Another appears to be of a dismasted ship, perhaps the Terrible.

One of the marine paintings at Whitmore Hall

Mainwaring had been on continuous service from 1795 to the end of 1810. In December 1810, he took leave to marry Sophia Duff. This was followed by eight months of half-pay. On 16 August 1811 he was appointed to the Menelaus, a 38-gun fifth rate frigate.

His service on the Menelaus included the following:

• the capturing, without loss, of the St. Josef, a French brig, pierced for 16 guns, lying within pistol-shot of one battery, flanked by another, and also by musketry from the shore, near the Bay of Fréjus in the south of France. The account was gazetted on 25 April 1812.

From The London Gazette Publication date: 25 April 1812 Issue:16597 Page:781

• in 1812, Menelaus was part of the blockade of Toulon in the Mediterranean and operated against coastal harbours, shipping and privateers off the southern coast of France with some success. Mainwaring was noticed for the following:
  • the attention and assistance he afforded on the occasion of the Menelaus (together with the Havannah and Furieuse frigates and Pelorus brig) being chased by the French Toulon fleet
  • by his admirable gallantry and good conduct when the Menelaus, having pursued the French 40-gun frigate Pauline and 16-gun brig Ecureuil under the batteries in the vicinity of Toulon, once more effected a masterly retreat from the fleet that had come out to their protection, by passing through its line ahead of one 74, and astern of another
  • by the manner in which, under circumstances peculiarly honourable to him, he boarded and brought out the French xebec or zebec La Paix, mounting 2 long 6-pounders, with a complement of 30 men, from within pistol-shot of the towers of Terracina, under a galling fire
  • by his highly creditable behaviour in cutting out, under a heavy fire from the batteries in the river Mignone, near Civita Vecchia, the French letter-of-marque St. Esprit, pierced for 12 guns, but with only 2 6-pounders mounted
  • by his conspicuous gallantry in burning the enemy’s vessels in the port of Mejan (Méjean), Marseilles, in September 1812.

Watercolour Painting by Nicholas Pocock of the British ship, HMS Menelaus. HMS Eclair is on the left, Menelaus, right of centre in in starboard bow view. To the far right is a Mediterranean setee. Pocock served as a lieutenant in the Adriatic from 1811 to 1814. From the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, UK.

On 13 August 1812 Mainwaring was awarded a second promotal commission to the rank of commander for gallantry and valor.  He later served in these vessels:

• Edinburgh, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line
• Gorgon, a hospital-ship at Malta
• Undaunted, a Lively-class fifth-rate 38-gun frigate
• Euryalus, a 36-gun Apollo-class frigate
• Caledonia, a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line; she was Admiral Pellew’s flagship in the Mediterranean.
• Kite, a 16-gun brig-sloop
• Paulina, a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class

Rowland Mainwaring kept a diary all his life. He published several books based on his diary. One of these was ‘The First Five Years of My Married Life‘ (1853), a record of Mainwaring’s activities afloat and of his domestic life. The book includes a detailed account of 1815, his last year of active service.

In 1815 Mainwaring was engaged in operations against American privateers operating in the Mediterranean against English shipping as a consequence of the ongoing Anglo-American war of 1812. Although the war officially ended in December 1814, Mainwaring received communication only on 26 April of the ratification on 17 February of the treaty of peace with America, and thus all hostilities in the Mediterranean ceased 40 days after that date, that is by 29 March.

In February 1815 on the Paulina Mainwaring was directed to proceed from Palermo to Corfu with dispatches and from there to Zante (Zakynthos, Greece), with the transport (chartered vessel) Enterprise, and embark the Phygalian Marbles, later known as the Elgin Marbles or Parthenon Marbles, for conveyance to Malta; they were then to be transported England. Mainwaring was annoyed by the orders for he had hoped to collect bounty from capturing privateers instead. He estimated his loss as £2,000 (between £150,000 and £1.5 million in today’s money).

There was a flurry of activity after Napoleon escaped from Elba in late February 1815. The Paulina was first involved in escorting a convoy of transports from Bona, present-day Annaba in Algeria, and Cagliari in Italy. The Paulina then proceeded to Naples and Gaeta in charge of a convoy with arms and ammunition for the Austrian forces. On arrival there was news of the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and Gaeta surrendered.

He proceeded to Genoa and Marseille and at Marseille attended a grand civic ball. In September he was back in Valetta and reunited with his wife and her third child who had been born on 14 August. This son was named in honour of Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean, and who had consented to be the child’s godfather. The Paulina was then ordered to proceed to Plymouth. He sailed on 30 September with his “family, goods and chattels, a milch goat, and various little comforts and luxuries for the voyage home.”

Map showing the Mediterranean ports mentioned by Mainwaring in 1815

Mainwaring was paid off in November 1815 and did not serve afloat again.

On the accession of William IV, Rowland Mainwaring was one of the old war-officers selected by Lord Melville as deserving of promotion. He was posted by commission–made captain–on 22 July 1830, one of 18 commanders elevated to the rank at that time.

On 29 September 1855 he was promoted to Rear-Admiral. He was one of 11 Captains on the Retired List promoted to be Retired Rear Admiral without increase of pay, on terms proposed in the London Gazette of September 1, 1846. Of the 11 captains promoted on 29 September 1855, 9 had been promoted to captain at the same time as Mainwaring.

Portrait of Captain Rowland Mainwaring painted by Mr. John Phillip, afterwards R.A., at Whitmore in May 1841

Sources

• O’Byrne, William R. A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty’s Navy, from the Rank of Admiral of the Fleet to that of Lieutenant, Inclusive. 1849. Page 711. Retrieved through archive.org.
• Marshall, John. Royal Naval Biography : Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers, Superannuated Rear-admirals, Retired-captains, Post-captains, and Commanders, Whose Names Appeared on the Admiralty List of Sea Officers at the Commencement of the Present Year, Or who Have Since Been Promoted, Illustrated by a Series of Historical and Explanatory Notes … with Copious Addenda: Captains. Commanders. 1832. Pages 126 – 130. Retrieved through Google Books.
• Mainwaring, Rowland. The First Five Years of My Married Life. 1853. Retrieved through Google Books.
• Cavenagh-Mainwaring, James Gordon. The Mainwarings of Whitmore and Biddulph in the County of Stafford; an account of the family, and its connections by marriage and descent, with special reference to the manor of Whitmore, with appendices, pedigrees and illustrations. 1934. Pages 104 – 115. Retrieved through archive.org
• Cavenagh-Mainwaring, Christine and Britton, Heather, (editor.) Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. Pages 82 – 92.

Related posts

• Midshipman Rowland Mainwaring
• Trove Tuesday: Obituary for Admiral Mainwaring
• Jemmett Mainwaring and the start of a Mainwaring naval tradition – part 1
• Jemmett Mainwaring and HMS Babet

Wikitree: Rowland Mainwaring (1782 – 1862)

Surgeon James Gordon Cavenagh at Waterloo

A guest post by Diana Beckett; great great granddaughter of James Gordon Cavenagh.

Miniature of James Gordon Cavenagh in the possession of a granddaughter of Lt Col W.O. Cavenagh

 

Lt Col W.O. Cavenagh, (Wentworth Odiarne / WOC / Cousin Wenty) who did extensive research on our Cavenagh ancestry, was the grandson of the surgeon. The latter died in 1844 and WOC was born in 1856, so they never met. However, WOC knew as family tradition related by his father (Gen Sir Orfeur Cavenagh) that the surgeon had served at Waterloo, but was puzzled that he never received the Waterloo medal awarded to all those who served there. This therefore raised the question to later generations as to whether it was indeed true.

J G Cavenagh was the Staff Surgeon of the Royal Staff Corps, a regiment responsible for short term military engineering, which was stationed in Flanders from April to July 1815. The Battle was on June 28th.

In his book “The Bloody Fields of Waterloo”, M.K.H Crumplin, a retired surgeon, medical military historian much involved in Waterloo re-enactments,  meticulously lists all the surgeons present at Waterloo or working with the wounded in the aftermath. Cavenagh is listed on page 157 as a late arrival. Presumably he was not ordered from his Flanders base to the battlefield in time.

On page 148 Crumplin explains that surgeons who arrived late were not awarded the Waterloo medal nor the two years added pension rights.

“There must have been many a military medical man who wished he had been present at this monumental battle. The staff who were there, were mostly surgeons both in regimental and staff posts. Some arrived late and would not receive the coveted Waterloo medal and two years added pension rights.” See Appendix below.

Arriving late, Cavenagh would have worked after the battle in one of the several hospitals in either Brussels or Antwerp where the wounded were treated. We do not know how long he stayed in Belgium but WOC records that sometime after the battle he proceeded to Paris where he was joined by his wife. (GO471 p 29)
An internet search shows that at least 3 officers of the Royal Staff Corps did receive the Waterloo medal.

Cavenagh is also mentioned in the Medico Chirurgical Transactions 1816 (Volume 7, part 1) when he was consulted about an operation on the jaw and mouth of a young drummer. The wound healed and the young man was discharged on August 16th.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=XvK3l9ZKvHsC&pg=PA108

P148 Crumplin Bloody Fields of Waterloo.

Related post

• N is for neighbours

Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny (1785 – 1875)

Charles Fox Champion Crespigny, son of Philip Champion Crespigny and Dorothy Scott was born on 30 August 1785 in Hintlesham Hall, Hintlesham, Suffolk, England. He died on 4 March 1875 in 11 Royal Parade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. He married Eliza Julia Trent (1797-1855) on 20 March 1813 in St. George Hanover Square, London, England. He was my fourth great grandfather.

Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny about 1858, aged about 73, cropped from a photograph taken with his grandson Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny

 

I have inherited through my father a photocopy of nine hand written pages written about Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny by his grandson Charles Stanley Champion de Crespigny (1848-1907) in about 1908. The photocopy has a brief annotation by Charles’s son Charles Leonard C de C (1898-1977). My father received his copy from our cousin Stephen C de C who made annotations in 1964.

Charles Stanley was the child of Charles John Champion de Crespigny (1814-1880) and Emma Margaret nee Smith (c 1820-1848). Emma died just over two months after Charles Stanley was born and Charles Stanley was brought up by his grandparents.

To my Readers
Every word in This Booklet is true. Much is suppressed & names are changed that neither pain nor shame may attach to the dead who are beyond reach of ink or pen or to those living whom I love.
But in every essential particular it is true & in no single fact is it untrue or imaginary in this history of a Human Document.

My first memories are of a large country house not many miles from London.(1) I can just see its lovely grounds its quaint old world house. I can still see & hear the old Parson of the Parish (2) who would come across every Sunday after his honest but dreary discourse to dine at my Grandfather’s Table. A worthy man – a Doctor of Divinity- doing his little – his very little best — but still his best according to his lights, in his Master’s name. I still sleep the troubless innocent sleep of a child lulled by his dreary diatribes. I remember that village choir, that vacillating violin that terrible treble. And I remember asking my

dear old Grandmother if that holy man in white surplice & hood & afterwards in black gown & white bands was the God whom I was taught to love & fear.
For I was living with my Grandparents then. My father had left me in their loving care for my Mother died within two months of my Birth. And I doubt if it were not for her at least for the best. Of my Grandfather what can I say? The greatest Gentleman, the truest Simplest most lovable man, I ever knew. Sustained in my boyish memories still at my nearly sixty years of age, I have never looked upon his like again – A grand old head – with the whitest of

white hair, the Silken Touch of which my childish fingers loved to feel & which the fingers of an old man still dream the can feel now as in the long ago. A grand old man hating shams of all kind, gentle to a woman whatever her degree, politer to his tradesman than his peers, loved by his servants & hated only, if hated by anyone, by some parvenu upstart who would presume that a well lined pocket entitled its owner to be braggart & bully. “What is not good enough for my servants is not good enough for me” – I have often heard him say & the fare of the Servants’ Halls was every whit as good as the fare of the Master’s table

A gentleman as the French say to the tip of his fingernails – never discourteous to anyone, in his quarrels of word or pen attacking with the rapier of an honourable foe not with the dagger of the Assassin. In his youth an officer of Dragoons (3) – present at that celebrated Ball in Brussels on the Eve of Waterloo anent which he told me a curious tale.(4) He was dancing in a Quadrille & in one of the figures he noticed a Colonel of British Cavalry suddenly turn pale & stagger as if about to faint. In the dance my Grandfather asked what ailed him. “My dear C” said the Colonel, “I had a dreadful vision I saw my body dressed as I am now without a head.” Not long afterwards

the Bugles sounded & the British officers marched off to that Battle, which was the triumph of Wellington & the Downfall of Napoleon – Waterloo.
The Colonel’s body was found decapitated the head having been carried off by a round shot – & never being found.
He had faults, but such faults as has a child, such faults – as I believe are better than some men’s virtues. He did not know the value of money (5) – “dirty money” as he called it. But no tramp passed his house that could not get a glass of beer & a hunk of bread & cheese – & no beggar asked for alms in vain if he seemed feeble or was short of limb or had not the capacity – to work-

“You Encourage imposters” I once heard a friend say to him. “Perhaps I do”, said the dear old man, “ but if I help one poor devil in real distress out of ten who beg the other nine may go hang & my dole is well given. Had I waited to make enquiries & get characters & references the one deserving man would have suffered & the nine imposters would have cared not one jot.”
A hint that the Charity organizations might well take! To me there is something incongruous between the idea of “Charity” & “organization” – As well “Purity-Chastity” & say “Insurance”!

A grand old man too – a breed that is dying out if it be not already dead. He could tell & hear & enjoy a good story of even what is termed today a blue one but he could not treat a woman save as a woman. Peasant or Duchess had equal measure of courtesy from him & even to courtesan he would speak as if she might be his Daughter or sister – & was certainly the one or the other to some other man. He would drink his fill of good old Port too & enjoy his liqueur of good old Brandy but even after I held her Majesty’s commission I remember his saying to me – “Don’t drink spirits in the Daytime like a groom my boy.”

Ah well he lies buried in an old world Churchyard in the shadow of the Cotswold Hills & may the turf lie lightly upon him. (6) I do not think he left an enemy behind him & if he had as many thousands a year at the beginning of his life as he had of fifty pounds at its close I believe he lived the life. I have often heard him talk of “Be brave & a Gentleman” heard say “wd you can do no wrong that God will not forgive.”
And they are wise words. For all punishable crime is cowardly & no other crimes could be committed by any one who claims the gentleman’s only motto “Sans peur et sans reproche”. [fearless and above reproach]

He was nearly a centenarian when he died & remembered & recite the odes of Horace but a few days before the End & to his loving tuition do I owe a knowledge of Latin & Greek & the English Language which made me successful in Army & other examinations.
I must note before I regretfully pass from my memories of my grand old man refrain from repeating oft told test of a real gentleman “Ask him to dinner” he would say & I will quickly tell you if he is a real gentleman -”
And when I see the Youth of today – the “about town” youth – not the “Sort” that fought & died in South Africa – but the

[it ends here, either pages missing or never completed – annotation by Charles Leonard Champion de Crespigny, only son of Charles Stanley].

(1) the large country house not many miles from London is probably Harefield House. On the 1851 census Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny was living there with his half-brother Philip (1765-1851), wife Eliza, son Charles John, daughter Eliza (1825-1898) and grandson Charles Stanley (aged 2). There were 12 live in servants. Charles Fox lived at Harefield until about 1856/7. 1851 census for Harefield, Middlesex (2B) page 35: Class: HO107; Piece: 1697; Folio: 376; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193605

(2) On the 1851 census the perpetual curate (incumbent) of Harefield is John Lightfoot then aged 66. 1851 census for Harefield, Middlesex (2B) page 21: Class: HO107; Piece: 1697; Folio: 369; Page: 21; GSU roll: 193605. He was still at Harefield in 1861 aged 76 Class: RG 9; Piece: 768; Folio: 23; Page: 4;GSU roll: 542698. He died in 1863 aged 79.

(3) Stephen Champion de Crespigny note that Charles Fox entered the Army, 1st or Royal Regiment of Dragoons became a cornet 16 January 1806, Lieutenant 1808, Captain in 1810. He resigned in 1811 as a Lieutenant by sale of Commission.

(4) He may have been in Belgium in a civilian capacity but is not mentioned in the Waterloo Muster rolls. His second child George was born at Antwerp, Belgium on 31 October 1815, just over four months after the Battle of Waterloo which was fought on 18 June. The Duchess of Richmond’s Ball held on 15 June has a known invitation list and Charles Fox is not on that list. However, Sir Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) was on the list and did attend, writing about the ball to his wife Eliza, who was the sister of Charles Fox. Perhaps Vivian took his brother-in-law Charles Fox. The sources for Vivian’s attendance are:

Sir Hussey Vivian confirms that he attended the ball in:
– his letter to his wife dated 23rd June 1815. In: Vivian, Cl. R.H.Vivian, first baron Vivian p.264
– his diary, cited in: Vivian, Cl. R.H.Vivian.First baron Vivian etc. p.263
– his undated letter to E.Vivian, in: Vivian, Cl. R.H.Vivian, first baron Vivian p.266

Claud Vivian’s memoir of Richard Hussey Vivian, digitised and available through archive.org, shed no light light on Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny’s presence in Belgium, he is not mentioned by his brother-in-law.

(5) Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny inherited a considerable fortune but it dwindled away during his life. At this stage I don’t know how, perhaps there were some significant failings in investments or a bank. He does not appear to have been a gambler.

(6) Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny is buried at St Peter’s, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire with his wife and his grandson Constantine Pulteney Champion de Crespigny (1851-1883)

Related posts

• Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution
• Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 – 1883) He was the cousin of Charles Stanley and also brought up by his grandfather Charles Fox

G is for Gretna Green

Eliza Champion Crespigny (1784-1831), my 5th great aunt, was the 11th of 14 children of my 5th great grandfather Philip Champion Crespigny (1738-1803), second of four children by his fourth wife Dorothy Scott (1765-1837). Eliza was born on 29 July 1784 at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk, ten miles from Ipswich in the east of England. Three of her half-siblings had died before she was born. At the time of her birth, her father was a member of Parliament for the seat of Aldeburgh.

Eliza’s father died on 1 January 1803 and his wife married Sir John Keane on 27 March 1804. 1804 seems to have been a year of changes for the de Crespigny family.

• On May 19 1804, at the age of twenty-one, by purchase George became an ensign, a regiment’s lowest-ranking officer, in the 13th Regiment of Foot.
• On 17 July 1804, at the age of twenty-eight, Maria married John Horsley Esquire, a Captain of Royal Horse Guards at St George’s, Canterbury.
• Eliza, aged twenty, eloped with Richard Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) and they married at Gretna Green on 14 September 1804.

record of marriage of Richard Hussey Vivian to Eliza Champion Crespigny from the Gretna Green marriage register retrieved through ancestry.com. Original data: “The Lang Collection of Gretna Green Marriages Records.”

Eliza and Richard had five children

• Charles Crespigny Vivian 1808–1886
• Charlotte Elizabeth Vivian 1815–1877
• John Cranch Walker Vivian 1818–1879
• Jane Frances Anne Vivian 1824–1860
• Georgina Agnes Augusta Vivian 1828–1835

 

Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian, by William Salter (died 1875). Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Richard, later Sir Hussey Vivian, joined the army in 1793 and had a successful career. He served in Flanders and the Netherlands. In 1800 he was promoted to Major and served in the Peninsular War. On 20 September 1804, one week after his Gretna Green marriage, Richard was promoted lieutenant-colonel in the 25th light dragoons, but he never never joined the regiment, and on 1 December exchanged back into the 7th light dragoons. He was an aide-de-campe to the Prince Regent and was promoted to Major General in 1814. In 1815 he was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Vivian served at Waterloo; the account in Wikipedia summarises his achievements in that battle:

After the enemy were repulsed, Vivian’s hussars made the final charge of the day between Hougomont and La Haye Sainte, sweeping the Middle Guard and Line units before them before breaking upon the squares of the Old Guard, which they soon learned to avoid. This service was rewarded by the thanks of both houses of Parliament, an award of the KCH (Royal Guelphic Order from the House of Hannover), and the Orders of Maria Theresa and St. Vladimir from the emperors of Austria and Russia.

After the war, Vivian entered politics and sat in Parliament from 1821 to 1831. The History of Parliament states that Vivian described his wife as:

‘violent, jealous and touchy, but she has a good heart at bottom and is open and honourable to an extreme’.

The History of Parliament also quotes a description of Lady Vivian and her husband by Mrs Arbuthnot, whose stepson later married Charlotte, the Vivian’s oldest daughter. Mrs Arbutnot described the couple:

a very pretty woman, a great coquette … [who] practises her art with great success on my eldest brother … I don’t like her at all, for she is the most complete Mrs. Candour I have ever met with, and an amazing gossip. He is a good-natured, rough hussar.

In June 1830 Eliza became ill and Vivian left his parliamentary business, despite at that time Parliament considering a proposed legislative restriction on smoke emissions from factories; the legislation posed a threat to the Hafod copper works, a Vivian family business. At the time Vivian also wished to sell his house, Beechwood House, near Lyndhurst in Hampshire as it was considered too damp for his wife’s good.

Vivian was offered an appointment to command the forces in Ireland and to leave Parliament. However, he initially turned down the Irish appointment on account of his wife’s health. He wrote to his brother:

‘in poor Eliza’s dreadful state I can think of but one thing’. The following day, contemplating her inevitable early death, which would leave him with ‘three motherless girls’, he confided to [his brother] John Henry:
I sometimes think I shall give up Ireland altogether and go abroad with my whole family for two or three years. In short, I know not what to think or determine on. It is a grievous affliction to look forward to, but it must come ere long.

He left Parliament and withdrew from politics on account of the desperate condition of his wife, who died five months later aged 47.

Following her death, Vivian took on the Irish command of the forces and remarried in 1833. Vivian died in 1842.

Sources

• Dictionary of National Biography: Vivian, Richard Hussey from Wikisource 
• Wikipedia: Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian
• History of Parliament Online: VIVIAN, Sir Richard Hussey (1775-1842), of Beechwood House, nr. Lyndhurst, Hants.

Related posts

• Eliza’s father: Philip Champion Crespigny (1738-1803)
• Eliza’s brother’s and sister’s:
  • Philip (1765-1851) was a civilian prisoner of the French from 1803 to 1811.
  • Maria (1776-1858) married John Horsley, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, in July 1804.
  • Fanny (1779-1865) remained unmarried.
  • George (1788-1813) served in the Durham Light Infantry and was killed in Spain

J is for jaundiced in Jamaica

Augustus James Champion de Crespigny (1791-1825), my second cousin five times removed, died of yellow fever on board HMS Scylla. and was buried at Port Royal, Jamaica. Augustus was the third son of the second baronet, Sir William Champion de Crespigny (1765-189) and his wife Lady Sarah née Windsor (1763-1825).

Augustus James Champion de Crespigny, portrait in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall. Published on artuk.org

The monumental inscription at the Port Royal Parish Church in Jamaica reads:

Sacred to the memory of Augustus James DE CRESPIGNY, 3d son of Sir W. Chn & Lady Sarah De Crespigny, who died on board H.M.Ship ‘Scylla’, Oct. 24, 1825. Capt De Crespigny went first to sea under the patronage of Ld. St Vincent & served under the flag of Nelson, at Trafalgar. From thence he was taken under the patronage of Ld. Collingwood, who made him study the duties of a seaman, under his particular care. The above gallant officer saved no less than sixteen lives of his fellow creatures during his naval career for which he was presented with a service of Plate from his Ship’s crew, as well as a medal from the R.H.S. in the annual report of which society an account is given, the last paragraph is as follows: These are to certify to the principal officers of the Royal Humane Society that Lieutenant Augustus C. De Crespigny served with me as a volunteer midshipman from His Majesty’s Ship ‘Tonnant’ in the gunboat service in Cadiz in 1810, during which time I had opportunities of seeing his noble conduct on three very particular occasions. First, in jumping from a boat in a very strong tide way and saving a Marine, Second, a boy in the same way, and thirdly, in taking to a small boat & pulling into the very muzzles of the enemy’s guns, and evidently saving five men that were near drowning, by the ‘Achilles’ barge being sunk: his conduct on the last occasion was so truly noble that he not only gained the admiration of the whole flotilla but the envy of the French Commanding Officer, who at last ordered his men to cease firing on him. Given under my hand, this 12th Day of July 1815, West Cowes. This tribute to a father’s memory was erected by his eldest son, Sir Claude Chn. De Crespigny, BT 1841. (from findagrave.com ) 

Yellow fever is a potentially fatal viral disease, transmitted primarily by mosquitoes. It is called ‘yellow fever’, from the French ‘jaune’, ‘yellow’, because the infected person’s skin takes on a characteristic yellowish colour.

According to the caption of a photograph of the church at Port Royal taken by the International Mission Photography Archive (IMPA), the church has numerous plaques commemorating men lost in gales, killed in action or by the sinking of their ships, but more numerous than the others put together, are those commemorating men struck down by yellow fever.

Photograph of the Church of England Parish Church, Port Royal. The church is a stone built building with a red tiled roof. A number of parishioners can be seen approaching the building. The church was rebuilt 1725-1726.; Memorial tablets cover the interior walls of the church commemorating men lost in gales, killed in action or by the sinking of their ships, but more numerous than all the others put together are those commemorating those struck down by yellow fever. From the International Mission Photography Archive (IMPA) – http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll123/id/64458, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30916044

Augustus was born  6 March 1791 at Nice in the south of France. He had two older brothers and seven younger siblings:

• Claude 1787-1813
• William Other Robert 1789-1816
• Augustus 1791-1825
• Sarah 1792-1805
• Frances 1793-1793
• Patience Anne 1795-1831
• Heaton 1796-1858
• Emma Honoria Dorothy 1800-1883
• Herbert Joseph 1805-1881
• Mary Catherine 1810-1858

Augustus and his brother Claude entered the Royal Navy in the war against France.

Their grandfather, Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734-1818), was Receiver-General of the droits of Admiralty, traditional rights or perquisites of the Crown, which included proceeds from the sale of enemy ships seized in time of war. With this connection it is perhaps not surprising that two of his grandsons were enlisted in the Navy.

Augustus first went to sea at the age of 14 under the patronage of John Jarvis, First Lord of the Admiralty, later Earl of St Vincent, who was then First Lord of the Admiralty. In October 1805 Augustus was at the Battle of Trafalgar on board HMS Spartiate.

He was later a volunteer midshipman on HMS Tonnant in the gunboat service in 1810 at Cadiz. While serving on the Tonnant he rescued drowning sailors on three separate occasions.

Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Part 1, 1816, page 609: Review of New Publications – Annual Report of the Royal Humane Society for the recovery of Persons Apparently Dead 1816. Retrieved from Google Books https://books.google.com.au/books?id=wc9KAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA609 (click on image to zoom in)

from page 610 of the 1816 Gentleman’s Magazine

Augustus de Crespigny became a Lieutenant on 1 April 1811. (The Commissioned Sea Officers Of The Royal Navy 1660-1815 Volume 1 viewed on ancestry.com)

Augustus’s brother Claude died of dysentery in July 1813 on board the HMS Gorgon off Palermo. The HMS Gorgon was serving as the flagship for Vice Admiral Francis Pickmore. Commander Claude de Crespigny replaced Commander Rowland Mainwaring at Port Mahon, Menorca, in 1813. Coincidentally Rowland Mainwaring (1783-1862) is my fourth great grandfather on another branch of my tree.

Augustus’s second oldest brother William, was a lawyer and called to the bar in 1814. He served with the Surrey local militia promoted to lieutenant on 9 July 1813. He died of illness in January 1816.

Neither Claude nor William had married.

On 29 May 1817 Augustus James Champion de Crespigny, bachelor of Kensington, married Caroline Smyth, spinster, by licence, in the parish of St George Hanover Square. They had three children:

• Claude William (1818-1868) – he succeeded his grandfather as the third baronet
• Henry Other (1822-1883)
• Frederick John (1822-1887)

Heraldic Illustrations, page 84, by Bernard Burke published in 1853 repeats the facts contained on the plaque in Jamaica.

Augustus-James, Capt. R.N., gallant officer, who served under Nelson and Collingwood, and whom the latter took under his especial care. On board the Ocean, he saved no less than Gorgon, nine of his fellow subjects from a watery grave, at the imminent risk of his own life, for which he received a medal from the Royal Humane Society, and a service of plate from his ship’s crew. His last gallant feat, was his taking to a small boat, and pulling into the very muzzles of the enemy’s guns, whereby he saved five men who were near drowning by the Achilles Barge being sunk. His conduct on this last occasion was so truly noble, that he not only gained the admiration of the whole Flotilla, but the envy of the French commanding officer, who at last ordered his men to cease firing on him. Capt. de Crespigny, d. on board H. M. S. Scythe, off Port Royal, Jamaica, 24 Oct. 1825.

Further reading

• Australian Government fact sheet on yellow fever http://www.health.gov.au/yellowfever

Related blog posts

• Q is for quarrelling including a duel  from the 2014 AtoZ challenge concerning Augustus’s younger, and less gallant, brother Heaton.

1892 journey on the Ballaarat

 

 

Portrait of Wentworth Cavenagh, Commissioner of Public Works of South Australia from 4 March 1872 to 22 July 1873 from the State Library of South Australia

Browsing the National Library of Australia’s ‘Trove’ digitised newspaper collection recently, I came across a shipping departure notice which gives a succinct family history of my Cavenagh and Mainwaring great great and great great great grandparents. The Cavenagh-Mainwaring family were about to sail for England on the Ballaarat.

The Ballaarat was a P & O ship of 4752 tons built in 1882, designed for service between the United Kingdom and Australia. The P&O history site remarks that “Her dining saloon was considered particularly fine, and patent iron beds replaced bunks for her first class passengers.”

Ballaarat – 1882 Greenock retrieved from http://www.findboatpics.com.au/sppo2.html

 

Latest News. (1892, April 27). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 2 Edition: SECOND EDITION. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204477375

Lots of information to follow up and facts to check.

Until I came across this information I did not know that James Gordon Cavenagh, my great great great grandfather, an army surgeon with the Royal Staff Corps, was at Waterloo. He is listed on page 20 in the list of officers as a surgeon in the Royal Staff Corps in John Booth’s 1816 book of The Battle of Waterloo. He is also listed in The Bloody Fields of Waterloo: Medical Support at Wellington’s Greatest Battle by Michael Crumplin published in 2013.

I also didn’t know very much about his son, my great great grandfather, Wentworth Cavenagh. It appears that he was educated at Ferns Diocesan School in Wexford, Ireland. When he was 18 years old he went to Canada, Ceylon, and Calcutta and from there to the Bendigo diggings.

D is for Durham Light Infantry

Major George Champion Crespigny, 68th Foot, was killed on 30 July 1813 in the Battle of the Pyrenees during the Peninsular War against Napoleon’s forces in Spain.

Major George Champion de Crespigny (1788–1813) by British School Date painted: c.1810 Oil on canvas, 76 x 65 cm Collection: Durham Light Infantry Museum from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/major-george-champion-de-crespigny-17881813-46147 retrieved 24 March 2014

George was the son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) and his fourth wife Dorothea née Scott (1765-1837).  He was born in 1783 at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk. He was the tenth of fourteen children. Three of his older siblings died before he was born.

On May 19 1804, at the age of twenty-one,  George became an ensign, a regiment’s lowest-ranking officer,  in the 13th Regiment of Foot by purchase.

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 15702, 15 May 1804, page 622

George’s father Philip had died the year before, on 1 January 1803.  His mother married Sir John Keane on 27 March 1804. In 1804 his surviving half-siblings and siblings were:

• Philip (1765-1851) was a civilian prisoner of the French from 1803 to 1811.
• Anne (1768-1844) had married Hugh Barlow of Pembrokeshire Wales in 1791.
• Maria (1776-1858) married John Horsley, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, in July 1804.
• Fanny (1779-1865) remained unmarried.
• Eliza (1784-1831) eloped with Richard Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) and they married at Gretna Green in September 1804. Vivian, later Lord Vivian, was a major in the 7th Light Dragoons. Vivian was soon to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
• Charles Fox (1785-1875) had been at Cambridge University in 1803. 

As a younger son, George was probably destined for a career in the church, army, navy or possibly  law. Although his father had been a lawyer, George chose the army. George had not been to Cambridge like his brother, so perhaps George was not suited to the career of a lawyer.

An ensign was the most junior commissioned officer. In 1871 the rank was replaced with 2nd lieutenant. The duties of the officer included carrying the regimental colours, the flag or ensign of the regiment.


In May 1812 George de Crespigny, Captain from the 68th Foot, became a captain in the 89th Foot. He exchanged with Captain Peter le Mesurier. (The Royal Military Chronicle VOL.IV May,1812 By The Duke of York pages 476-7)

On 17 October 1812 George, promoted by purchase to be Major, was back with the 68th Foot. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 10 October 1812 Issue: 16657 Page: 2065)

John Green, late of the 68th Durham Light Infantry, that is the 68th Regiment of Foot, wrote of his experiences in the Peninsular War from 1806 to 1815.

Green writes of the unnecessary strictness of a major when he, Green, was ill in the middle of July 1813.

Green, John. ‘Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life‘, 1827. Louth. page 171 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n185/mode/2up

The major is almost certainly George de Crespigny. Green records the death of the Major ten pages later in his account of this part of the campaign.

Major Crespigny was killed on the 30th of July. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 16 August 1813 Issue: 16763 Page: 1609)

John Green wrote of the 30th of July and the events leading up to it including “Pampeluna” (as the siege of Pamplona was called by Green), the division being stationed at “Marcelain” (Marcaláin is 11 kilometres or 2 1/2 hours walk north of Pamplona).

Green, John. ‘Vicissitudes of a Soldier’s Life‘, 1827. Louth. pages 179-181 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n193/mode/2up

Another modern account of the 68th Foot’s action may be found in “Notes on Wellington’s Peninsular Regiments: 68th Regiment of Foot (Durham Light)” by Ray Foster at http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/WellingtonsRegiments/c_68thFoot.html

21st June 1813 (after the battle at Vittoria)                                                                                                                
Present after battle (PAB) 484

Grant has been badly wounded so that Inglis will return for a while to hold the brigade and in fact will have it for a considerable time onward. There is much marching and counter-marching about the foothills of the Pyrenees in the Bastan Region during the next month ending with a night march in teeming rain to come up to the concentration of the army about Sorauren, for a while during all of this Inglis will be in charge of the whole of 7th Division but, when the CIC decides for the offensive on 30th July Dalhousie is back in command ready to send Inglis and his men forward and down into the Ulzama valley just west of Sorauren village, they meet General Vandermaesen’s  men who put up a stout resistance trading volley for volley in a sustained fire-fight which is only broken off when Soult’s men are streaming off in rear of these others who effectively become a rearguard as the whole enemy array attempts to disengage, going off to the rear at some pace. The Major of 2/68th one George Crespigny is shot through the throat and killed during the pursuit, a great relief it seems to most of his junior officers and men who saw him as a martinet, Captain Henry Irwin and Ensign John Connell fell seriously wounded and Lieutenant James Leith lightly so, of the men, three died and another sixteen were injured so that:

30th July 1813 (after the second battle at Sorauren)                                                                                                
PAB 461

 Foster’s theory of the reasons for the relief felt by de Crespigny’s men on his death is based largely on Green’s book. (email 6 July 2014)

Additional sources

• On younger sons at the time of Jane Austen:  Handler, Richard, and Daniel Alan Segal. “Jane Austen and the Fiction of Culture.” Google Books. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
• Durham Light Infantry Museum frequently asked questions http://www.dlidurham.org.uk/Pages/HistoryFAQs.aspx 

Philip de Crespigny in the French Revolution

 

I came across a mention of a Philip de Crespigny being a prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1889 book Englishmen in the French Revolution:

Philip Champion de Crespigny, brother of the first baronet—he was married at the Danish Embassy, Paris, in 1809, his bride having apparently gone over to share his detention—escaped from St. Germain in May 1811. He lived to be eighty-six, dying in 1851. ( From Alger, John Goldworth & Robarts – University of Toronto (1889). Englishmen in the French Revolution. London S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/295. (2011, April 1). In Wikisource, . Retrieved 23:10, August 31, 2013, from http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Englishmen_in_the_French_Revolution.djvu/295&oldid=2641334 )

 

The first baronet was Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734 – 1818). His siblings, the children of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1701 – 1765) and his wife Anne nee Fonnereau (1704 – 1782), were:

• Susan (1735 – 1766)
• Anne (1736 – 1738)
• Philip (1738 – 1803), my fifth great grandfather
• Anne (1739 – ?)
• Jane (1742 – 1829)
• a child of whom I do not know the name, born 1733 and presumably died young

 

Philip, the brother of the first baronet, had died in 1803, so who was the Philip who was imprisoned? My family tree currently has ten Philip Champion de Crespignys though many of these are quite obviously not the man referred to in this book. My fourth great grand uncle Philip (1765 – 1851), son of Philip the brother of the first baronet seems to be the right man.

 

Philip married Emilia Wade on 21 October 1809. She died in 1832.

Family history notes compiled by Stephen de Crespigny state:

Philip was in France when Napoleon’s detenu order was signed in May 1803 and was held at the fortress town of Verdun for some years , then moved to St Germain from where he escaped in May 1811. But during the time he married Emelia Wade in Paris in November 1809, a lady with a considerable fortune. (photocopy of handwritten notes on the family history compiled by Stephen de Crespigny and in possession of my father)

The Treaty of Amiens had been signed on 25 March 1802 and meant peace between the French Republic and the United Kingdom.  The peace lasted only until 18 May 1803 when Britain declared war on France.  Issues leading to the recommencement of hostilities seemed to include the British not withdrawing from Malta in accordance with the treaty terms. The Wikipedia article on the recommencement of war between France and Britain states:

On 17 May 1803, before the official declaration of war and without any warning, the Royal Navy captured all the French and Dutch merchant ships stationed in Britain or sailing around, seizing more than 2 million pounds of commodities. In response to this provocation, on 22 May (2 Prairial, year XI), the First Consul [Napoleon Bonaparte] ordered the arrest of all British males between the ages of 18 and 60 in France and Italy, trapping many travelling civilians. This act was denounced as illegal by all the major powers. Bonaparte claimed in the French press that the British prisoners he had taken amounted to 10,000, but French documents compiled in Paris a few months later show that the numbers were 1,181. It was not until the abdication of Bonaparte in 1814 that the last of these imprisoned British civilians were allowed to return home.(Treaty of Amiens. (2013, August 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:15, September 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Treaty_of_Amiens&oldid=570571270)

In 1851 Philip was recorded on the census as living at Harefield House in Middlesex with his half brother, my fourth great grandfather, Charles Fox. Charles Fox Champion de Crespigny was twenty years younger than his brother. Philip was described as a lunatic, by which I assume he was suffering from old age dementia.

 

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1697; Folio: 376; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193605. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Stephen’s notes tell us a little more of Philip:

It was said of him that he was a gay fellow with a happy talent for drawing. He lived for many years in Harefield House, near Uxbridge, where he kept a dozen or more servants. Towards the end of his life he became a little senile, and his half brother Charles Fox looked after his estate for [him (remainder of note missing)] (photocopy of handwritten notes referred to above)

Philip died on 22 May 1851, only a few months after the census was taken. He died without issue.

Harefield House was used as a military hospital by the Australian Army in World War I.

ID number P02402.005 Photographer John H Avery & Co Description Harefield, England. c. 1915-06. Exterior of `Harefield House’ the former stately home taken over by the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (1AAH) in 1915-03. On the right is the corner of one of the first wards and hidden from view behind the shrubbery is the bay window of the first operating theatre (formerly the sitting room). (Original housed in AWM Archive Store) (Donor R. Brown). Retrieved from http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02402.005  1 September 2013