• About
  • Ahentafel index
  • Books
    • Champions from Normandy
    • C F C Crespigny nee Dana
    • Pink Hats on Gentle Ladies: second edition by Vida and Daniel Clift
  • Index
    • A to Z challenges
    • DNA research
    • UK trip 2019
    • World War 1
    • Boltz and Manock family index
    • Budge and Gunn family index
    • Cavenagh family index
    • Chauncy family index
    • Cross and Plowright family index
    • Cudmore family index
    • Dana family index
    • Dawson family index
    • de Crespigny family index
    • de Crespigny family index 2 – my English forebears
    • de Crespigny family index 3 – the baronets and their descendants
    • Edwards, Ralph and Gilbart family index
    • Hughes family index
    • Mainwaring family index
      • Back to 1066 via the Mainwaring family
    • Sullivan family index
    • Symes family index
    • Way and Daw(e) family index
    • Young family index

Anne's Family History

~ An online research journal

Anne's Family History

Category Archives: navy

Everywhere

09 Tuesday May 2023

Posted by Anne Young in Cavenagh-Mainwaring, navy

≈ 2 Comments

The motto of the Royal Artillery is the single word ‘Ubique’, ‘Everywhere’. It would serve as well for my family, whose members seem to have a talent for being on the spot whatever is going forward, wherever something is happening. Recently, in a series of British Empire posts I found relatives, distant and close, in all the red parts of the map. Today, I’m pleased to say, I’ve turned up a cousin who was part of an expedition to Antarctica.

This was Hugh Mainwaring Millett (1903–1968), my first cousin twice removed. He was born in Gibralter in 1903, the son of Helen Millett née Cavenagh (1877–1918) and Thompson Horatio Millett (1870–1920), a Royal Navy paymaster. Hugh had one brother, Guy (1907-1978).

The 1921 census records Hugh Mainwaring Millett as a naval cadet at Rosyth near Edinburgh on HMS Thunderer, a decommissioned Orion class Dreadnought used a training ship.

He did well. In 1934, Hugh Millett, now an Engineer Officer with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander (roughly equivalent to an Army Major), joined the British Graham Land Expedition. This small group of sixteen men under the leadership of an Australian John Rymill , was the first full-scale British expedition to winter in the Antarctic since Shackleton’s expedition of 1914-1917. Graham Land is an Antarctic peninsula, the closest point to continental South America.

Research yacht Penola under sail from Southern lights; the official account of the British Graham Land expedition, 1934-1937 by John Rymill published 1938. Image from State Library of South Australia.
The seven members of the crew of S.Y. Penola. Lieutenant R E D Ryder was Captain and Lieutenant-Commander H Millett the chief engineer. To the right are the other nine members of British Graham Land Expedition
From Southern lights; the official account of the British Graham Land expedition, 1934-1937, by John Rymill published 1938. plate opp. pp. 28 and 28. Images from State Library of South Australia.

Hugh Millett was responsible for the expedition’s engines, an important and technically challenging task. A fellow member of the expedition described him as “a man of great mechanical ingenuity”, in the circumstances no doubt highly valued.

From the introduction to British Graham land expedition, 1934-37. Scientific reports volume 1:

THE British Graham Land Expedition, 1934-37, under the leadership of Mr. John Rymill, an Australian, was the first full-scale British Expedition to winter in the Antarctic since Shackleton’s men returned in 1916. It was mainly financed from funds at the disposal of the Colonial Office. In addition, it received substantial monetary help from the Royal Geographical Society and many private benefactors, chief amongst whom was Lord Wakefield.
The Expedition sailed in the three-masted topsail schooner, R.Y. Penola, of 150 tons nett, which was manned entirely by the members of the Expedition, who were all volunteers. The following in brief is the story of their travels. On 10 September, 1934, the Penola sailed from the Thames; a fortnight later she touched at Madeira and reached the Falkland Islands at the beginning of December. 
Port Stanley was left at the new year and the Argentine Islands on the west coast of Graham Land were finally reached on 14 February, 1935, after considerable trouble with the ship’s engines, troubles which had far-reaching effects on the Penola’s subsequent capabilities. At the Argentine Islands a base was established and there too the ship wintered.
Owing to poor winter ice conditions work during that first year was limited, apart from flights by a small Fox Moth aeroplane, to the islands and mainland coast within a hundred miles of the base. Then, in January 1936 the Penola, with the ship’s party on board, visited Deception Island. Her next task was to transport the whole Expedition in mid-February to the Debenham Islands in Marguerite Bay where a new base was erected. Here the shore party was left while the ship sailed north to the Falklands and South Georgia for a refit.
The main geographical work of the Expedition was carried out from this southern base between March 1936, and February 1937. The chief result of this part of the work was the proof of the peninsularity of Graham Land and the discovery of King George VI Sound.
The Penola returned to Marguerite Bay in February 1937, and the whole Expedition sailed for home.
A general narrative of the Expedition has been provided by its leader in his Southern Lights, published by Chatto & Windus in 1938.
Graham Land map from the State Library of South Australia

In 1939 members of the expedition including Hugh received the Polar Medal, awarded by the Sovereign, worn higher than campaign Medals and Stars. In 1955 a glacier was named after him.

from the UK, Naval Medal and Award Rolls. The Polar Medal is octagonal in shape and features an image of the monarch on the obverse. It’s accompanied by a clasp that’s placed on the ribbon of the medal in order to signify which region or regions service was completed.
The Millet Glacier from Google Maps

Hugh served in World War 2. He was mentioned in despatches in 1942 and received an O.B.E. in 1944 for distinguished service during the landings of Allied Forces in Normandy.

Hugh retired from the navy with the rank of Commander.

Related posts and further reading

  • N is for Naval husbands: Hugh’s mother Helen was one of six daughters, five of whom including Helen married naval officers
  • Rymill, John (1938) Southern Lights through archive.org
  • Bertram, C., & Stephenson, A. (1985). Archipelago to Peninsula. The Geographical Journal, 151(2), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.2307/633530 
  • TWO ANTARCTIC YEARS. (1937, August 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 12. Retrieved May 9, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205576014

Wikitree:

  • Hugh Mainwaring Millett (1903 – 1968)
  • John Riddoch Rymill (1905 – 1968)

X is for Xiānggǎng

28 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2023, Hong Kong, Mainwaring, navy

≈ 5 Comments

Xiānggǎng, with an X, is the modern, pīnyīn, transcription of 香港 ‘fragrant harbour’ pronounced in Mandarin.

The name first came to Western notice in the so-called ‘First Opium War’, a series of skirmishes fought between Britain and imperial China from September 1839 to August 1842 over British insistence on their ‘right’ to trade opium in defiance of a Chinese ban.

The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended the war in favour of the British. The Chinese were forced to make concessions; one was the ceding of Hong Kong island and, later, following the Second Opium War of 1856 to 1860, Kowloon Peninsular. On 26 January 1841 Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer raised the Union Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony. Construction of a naval base began. In 1898 Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.

‘China Station‘, which referred both to the Royal Navy naval base and the admiral in command, was created in 1865. It had as its area of responsibility the coast of China and its navigable rivers, and beyond this to the western part of the Pacific Ocean and the waters around the Dutch East Indies.

In 1866 my fourth great uncle Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring (1837–1906) was stationed in Hong Kong as a naval lieutenant in the China Squadron, on HMS Princess Charlotte.


HMS Princess Charlotte painted 1838 by James Kennett Willson. Image from Wikimedia Commons
Kellett’s Island, looking west across Wanchai towards Central and the Peak, with HMS Princess Charlotte on the right (1869 – 71). Image from BlouinArtinfo



HMS Princess Charlotte was a receiving ship, a harbour-bound hulk used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base at Hong Kong in 1858.

In July 1866 Lieutenant Mainwaring was given charge of HMS Opossum, a 4-gun screw gunboat with a crew of 38. Given the task of destroying Chinese pirates Mainwaring was notably successful. (See ‘X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)‘)

‘Expedition against the Chinese Pirates’ from The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865 page 409 with illustration: Fleet of Chinese junks, with HMS Opossum, preparing to attack pirates at How-Chow.

Karl Mainwaring was promoted to commander in 1867. In 1868 he transferred to Jamaica where he served on HMS Aboukir, a receiving ship used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base. (See (J is for Jamaica)

In 1869 Karl Mainwaring’s brother Guy (1847–1909) passed through Hong Kong as a lieutenant on HMS Galatea, a steam-powered wooden frigate, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria.

HMS Galatea, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, during the visit of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh. Tuesday 2nd November 1869.
Photograph by John Thomson, first published in Thomson’s ‘Illustrations of China and Its People‘.
Image from Historical Photographs of China, University of Bristol.
A fellow officer on the Galatea, Lord Charles Beresford, danced the hornpipe. While in Hong Kong, Guy Mainwaring and Charles Beresford were photographed together in costume. (This is the Charles Beresford who as Admiral became notorious for his bitter dispute with Sir John (Jackie) Fisher, First Sea Lord.)
Guy Mainwaring is in the striped shirt.
Photographed by William Floyd of Hong Kong; from the Library of Nineteenth Century Photography

In 1941 China Station was merged with the East Indies Station in December 1941 to form the Eastern Fleet.

Related posts

  • X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)
  • J is for Jamaica
  • Trove Tuesday: Cricket and the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit in 1867

Wikitree: 

  • Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring (1837 – 1906)
  • Guy Mainwaring (1847 – 1909)

J is for Jamaica

12 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2023, Mainwaring, navy

≈ 18 Comments

My fourth great uncle Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring (1837-1906) was tenth of the seventeen children of Rowland Mainwaring (1783-1862), eldest of the eight children of Rowland’s third wife Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard (1811-1891). He was born on 4 September 1837 in Mannheim and died on 21 August 1906 at Saint Helier, Jersey.

On 19 September 1856 Karl Mainwaring was taken on as a mate in the Royal Navy—a junior petty officer of rank roughly equivalent to sub-lieutenant. I do not know where he was educated nor where he had served previously. According to his obituary, Karl entered the service in 1850, probably as a midshipman, so it seems likely that mate was his first promotion.

Karl Mainwaring’s younger brother Guy later entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman when he was thirteen. It appears that Guy had followed a similar path, joining the Navy with a very junior apprenticeship, a method of entry common enough for a boy with a little education and a family sufficiently well-connected for patronage to secure an appointment.

Two years later, in 1858, Karl was promoted from mate on HMS Marlborough to lieutenant. He afterwards served on HMS Hibernia, HMS Conqueror, HMS Haughty, and HMS Princess Charlotte.

In 1866 we find him with the China Squadron in Hong Kong. On 18 July, in a widely-reported engagement, HMS Osprey with HMS Opossum commanded by Lieutenant Mainwaring attacked pirate vessels near Hainan Island, destroying 22 junks and 270 cannon. A hundred pirates were killed. (See ‘X is for destruction of a pirate fleet near Xiānggǎng‘.)

Mainwaring was promoted to commander in 1867. From 1868 to 1871 he served on HMS Aboukir, stationed at Jamaica. The Aboukir had been a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line but was now a receiving ship, a harbour-bound hulk used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base. 

Kingston Harbour, Jamaica about 1870

 From 1871 to 1874 Mainwaring was in command of HMS Cameleon in the Pacific. The Cameleon (also spelled “Camelion”, and “Chameleon”) was a 17-gun screwsloop corvette, with a crew of 165.

HMS Camelion. Believed to be at British Columbia, Canada, in the 1860s. Image from the City of Vancouver Archives.

Newspapers reported the activities of Commander Karl Mainwaring and the Cameleon:

  • 22 July 1871 Appointments : “Commander — Karl H. A. Mainwaring from the Aboukir to the command of the Cameleon, vice Commander Josiah Hatchard, invalided.”  
  • The Cameleon, 17, screwsloop, Com. Karl Mainwaring, was at Callao, with orders to leave on the 20th October, for the Coast of Mexico and Mazatlan.
  • The Cameleon, 17, screwsloop, Com. Karl Mainwaring, on the Pacific station, has been caulked and newly coppered at Callao.   
  • The Cameleon, 17, screwsloop, Com. Karl Mainwaring, was at Callao on the 8th of December, having been undocked on the 4th. She has undergone considerable repairs.
  • …arrived at Valparaiso on the 30th December from Callao.
  • …was at  Panama by last accounts.
  • …left Panama on the 8th of August 1872 for Esquimalt.
  • …had received orders to leave Esquimalt for Sandwich and Society Island, returning to Valparaiso.
  • … at Esquimalt, had by last accounts received orders to proceed to Valparaiso.
  • the Cameleon, 17, screwsloop, Com. Karl Mainwaring ; and [several other ships], were in Esquimalt harbour, Vancouver’s Island, on the 1st of November. 
  • … arrived at Honolulu on the 31st of January from Esquimalt.
  • … was at the Sandwich Islands on the 7th February 1873 , whence she was to sail in a day or two for Marquesas, Society Islands, and Valparaiso. 
  • … sailed from Honolulu for the Marquesas Islands on the 16th of February.
  • In July 1873 H.M.S. Chameleon, Karl H.A. Mainwaring, commander, visited Pitcairn Island, where descendants of the Bounty mutineers had established themselves. He found seventy-six inhabitants, noting that that epidemic and endemic diseases were unknown.
  • The Cameleon, 17, screwsloop, Com. Karl Mainwaring, which was refitting at Valparaiso on September 4th had orders to proceed from the coast of Mexico, to cruise for two months, and then proceed to Panama.
  •  … arrived at San Jose on the 1st of October, and awaited orders from Guatemala. She expected to go to La Union and wait for a mail there, then proceed to Mazatlan, and do the usual coast cruise back to Panama. The health of the ship was pretty good.
  • … was at San Jose de Guatemala on the 2d of October. She ordered thither from Coquimbo on account of the unsettled state of political affairs in Guatemala. From San Jose she was able to sail for Mazatlan and Panama.
  • … was at Mazatlan on the 18th of October, and would leave on that day for Guayamas, Gulf of California.

In November 1873 Commander Karl Heinrick Augustus Mainwaring retired, with permission to assume the rank of Retired Captain.

For the next nineteen years, from 1874 to 1893, Captain Karl Mainwaring served as harbour master in Kingston, Jamaica. He also served as a stipendiary magistrate and acted as Inspector General of Police. He was a director and managing director of the Kingston Sailors’ Home.

In 1876, at the age of thirty-nine, he married Florence Foley age 32 at the Church of St Mary Bredin, Canterbury. Florence’s younger sister Edith married Karl’s younger brother Randolph in 1883. Karl and Florence had no children.

Mrs Mainwaring was on the committee of the Lady Musgrave Womens’ Self Help Society founded by Lady Lucinda Musgrave. The society’s aims included:

  • to enable industrious women of all classes to help themselves and others by providing a sale room for all kinds of work
  • to provide occasional employment to distressed needlewomen by executing orders for plain work for ladies and gentlemen and for servants and working people
  • to teach plain needlework, and the cutting out of garments in a more thorough and systematic manner than is usually possible in schools, where so little time can be devoted to that branch. For this purpose, a lady, already a skilled needlewoman, has been so taught at the Shortwood Training College, that her pupils at the Women’s Self Help Society will now be able to compete for certificates, with a view to affilation with the London School of Needlework in England.

In 1893 Karl and his wife retired to St Helier on the Island of Jersey, where he died in 1906. His obituaries mentioned his role in the suppression of piracy and his civil roles in Jamaica.

Obituary in the Army and Navy Gazette 1 September 1906

Related posts

  • X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)

Wikitree: Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring (1837 – 1906)

Trafalgar Day 21 October

22 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by Anne Young in Bayley, Bayly, Baillie, Champion de Crespigny, Mainwaring, Napoleonic wars, navy

≈ 3 Comments

In Great Britain 21 October is celebrated as Trafalgar Day. During the Napoleonic Wars, as part of Napoleon’s plan to invade England, the French and Spanish Naval fleets combined forces to take control of the English Channel. On this day in 1805, the Royal Navy under the command of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson intercepted the would-be invasion off Cape Trafalgar, on the south-west coast of Spain. Nelson’s battle tactics claimed 22 of the 33 allied ships, while the smaller British fleet lost none. Nelson was fatally wounded in the battle.

The Battle of Trafalgar painted by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield retrieved from Wikimedia Commons
Order of battle
Nelson’s message via flag signal – “England Expects Every Man Will Do His D U T Y” from the The Boy’s Own Paper, 1885, employing the flags as shown in the 1804 copy of the Signal-Book.
Nelson instructed his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco, to signal to the fleet, as quickly as possible, the message “England confides [i.e. is confident] that every man will do his duty.” Pasco suggested to Nelson that expects be substituted for confides, since the former word was in the signal book, whereas confides would have to be spelt out letter-by-letter. Nelson agreed to the change (even though it produced a less trusting impression).
Image retrieved from http://navalmarinearchive.com/research/signalflags10.html

Naval General Service Medal*

The Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847, and issued to officers and men of the Royal Navy in 1849. It was awarded retrospectively for various naval actions during the period 1793–1840.  Each battle or campaign covered by the medal was represented by a clasp on the ribbon. The medal was never issued without a clasp, 231 of which were sanctioned. The clasps covered a variety of actions, from boat service, ship to ship skirmishes, and major fleet actions such as the Battle of
Trafalgar. The medal was awarded only to surviving claimants. A combination of factors, from illiteracy to limited publicity, meant that many of those eligible did not apply for the new medal. The Admiralty awarded 20,933 medals in total.

I have several relatives who served in Trafalgar. They are remembered in the 1913 book compiled by Colonel Robert Holden Mackenzie: “The Trafalgar Roll : Containing the Names and Services of All Officers of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines Who Participated in the Glorious Victory of the 21st October 1805, Together with a History of the Ships Engaged in Battle.” Mackenzie’s Trafalgar Roll, compiled 107 years after the battle, was the first attempt to list “the names of all the officers of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines who by their valour contributed to the day’s success”.

Mackenzie wrote: “… with the exception of the admirals, and the captains of ships, who were rewarded with gold medals, comparatively few of those who contributed to the victory of Trafalgar received any official recognition of their services: the majority had gone to their last berths by the time Queen Victoria, on the 1st June 1847, nearly forty-two years after the fight, graciously repaired the omission of her predecessors by bestowing a silver medal with clasps on the survivors of the various actions, including Trafalgar, fought between 1793 and 1840.”

James Bayly was a midshipman on the Euryalus, a 36 gun frigate

Captain J. Bayly, one of five brothers in the navy and army, was the son of the Rev. Henry Bayly, Rector of Nenagh and Nigh, Co. Tipperary. Born at Nenagh, and entered the service in 1799 as a Volunteer. Served in Penelope at blockade of Malta, and at the capture of the Guillaume Tell, 1800 ; and in the expedition to Egypt in 1801. Served as Mid. of Euryalus at Trafalgar, 1805—promoted to Lieutenant. Lieutenant of the Ganges at capture of the French frigate Le President, 1806; and in the expedition to Copenhagen, 1807. Did good service in rescuing the Euryalus and Shearwater, brig, from six of the enemy’s ships in a gale off Toulon, 1810. Commander, 1828. Retired Captain, 1856. War medal and three clasps. Died in 1857.

August James De Crespigny was a midshipman on the Spartiate, 74 guns

Commander A. J. De Crespigny, was 3rd son of Sir William Champion De Crespigny, 2nd Bart., M.P., and Sarah, daughter of the 4th Earl of Plymouth. Born in Italy. Entered service as Volunteer 1st Class, 1805. Mid., 1805. Mid. in the Spartiate at Trafalgar, 1805. Lieut., 1811. Received Royal Humane Society’s medal, 1815, for gallantry in saving life from drowning. Commander, 1825. In command of Scylla, and died off Port Royal, Jamaica, of yellow fever, 1825.

Benjamin Mainwaring was a volunteer 1st class (rated as A.B. able seaman) on the Temeraire, 98 guns

Lieut. B. Mainwaring was son of Edward Mainwaring, and second cousin of Vice-Admiral T. F. C. Mainwaring, who served in the Naiad at Trafalgar, and died in 1858. Born in 1794. Borne on ship’s books of Temeraire as A.B. at Trafalgar, 1805. Served in boats of Revenge at cutting out of two privateers from under the enemy’s battery on the coast of Catalonia, 1814. Lieut., 1814. Served in Coastguard, 1831-36. Medal and clasp. Died in 1852.

Thomas Francis Charles Mainwaring was a lieutenant on the Naiad, a 36 gun frigate

Vice-Admiral T. F. C. Mainwaring was the eldest son of Charles Henry Mainwaring, of Whitmore Hall, Co. Stafford, and Julia, daughter of Rev. Philip Wroughton. He was second cousin of Lieut. Benjamin Mainwaring, R.N., who served in the Temeraire at Trafalgar. Born in 1780, he entered the service from the Royal Naval Academy in 1796, as a Volunteer 1st Class. Lieut., 1800. Lieut, of Naiad, 1802-6, including the battle of Trafalgar, 1805. Commander, 1806. Commanded the Tartarus, fireship, in the expedition to Copenhagen, 1807; at the sinking of two French privateers off Pillau, 1810; and conveying the ex-King of Sweden from Riga to England, 1810. Captain, 1810. Retired Rear-Admiral, 1846. Medal and clasp. Died in Marlborough Buildings, Bath, 1858.

Further reading and related posts

  • Mackenzie, Robert Holden. “The Trafalgar Roll : Containing the Names and Services of All Officers of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines Who Participated in the Glorious Victory of the 21st October 1805, Together with a History of the Ships Engaged in Battle.” G. Allen, [London : Cornmarket Press], 1913, retrieved through archive.org
  • Naval General Service Medalpictued above was awarded to Corporal Henry Castle, Royal Marines, with clasps ‘Trafalgar’ (HMS Britannia) and ‘Java’ (HMS Hussar). From the Auckland Museum, CC BY 4.0, image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons
  • Jemmett Mainwaring and the start of a Mainwaring naval tradition – part 1
  • J is for jaundiced in Jamaica

Wikitree:

  • James Bayley (1784 – 1857)
  • Augustus James Champion de Crespigny (1791 – 1825)
  • Benjamin Mainwaring (1794 – 1852)
  • Thomas Francis Charles Mainwaring (1780 – 1858)

J is for jaundiced in Jamaica

21 Friday Oct 2022

Posted by Anne Young in Champion de Crespigny, navy

≈ 1 Comment

Today is Trafalgar Day. In Napoleon’s effort to invade England, the French and Spanish Naval fleets combined forces to take control of the English Channel. On 21 October 1805, under the command of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, the British Royal Navy intercepted the would-be invasion off Cape Trafalgar, along the south-west coast of Spain. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Nelson’s battle tactics claimed 22 of the 33 allied ships, while the British fleet lost none, though Nelson was fatally wounded during the battle.
Augustus James Champion de Crespigny (1791-1825) was at the battle on board HMS “Spartiate”. He was 14 years old.

Anne's Family History

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…

View original post 1,068 more words

Lieutenant John Walker R.N.

04 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by Anne Young in Adelaide, Chauncy, navy, Tasmania

≈ 4 Comments

On 17 May 1838 at Launceston, Tasmania, one of my fourth great aunts, Theresa Susannah Eunice Snell Chauncy (1807-1876), married John Walker (1796-1855), a retired officer of the Royal Navy. He was forty-two; she was thirty-one.

The Naval Biographical Dictionary compiled in 1849 by William Richard O’Byrne, has a brief account of Walker’s career.

At the age of ten or so, he entered the Royal Navy on 9 May 1806 as a First class volunteer [cadet] on the Swallow sloop (387 tonnes, 121 men) under Captain Alexander Milner. The Swallow patrolled the Channel and the coasts of Spain and Portugal. He attained the rating of midshipman in early 1809.

In August 1809, five months later, he was transferred to HMS Norge, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. The Norge was commanded as follows:

  • 1808 – 1809 Captain Edmund Boger
  • 1810 – 1811 Captain John Sprat Rainier
  • 1811 Captain William Waller
  • 1812 – 1814 Captain Samuel Jackson
  • 1814 – 1815 Captain Charles Dashwood

Walker served on the Norge off Lisbon, at the defence of Cadiz, in the Mediterranean, in the North Sea, and on the North American and West India stations. From late 1813 held the rank of Master’s Mate, a midshipman who had passed the exam for Lieutenant, and was eligible for promotion when a vacancy became available. In 1814-15 he took part in the operations against New Orleans. HMS Norge was paid off in August 1815. On leaving the Norge Walker was presented with a commission bearing the date 17 February 1815. He was on half-pay from 1815.

In 1821 the crew of the Norge and other members of an 1814 convoy shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked “14 Dec. Boat Service 1814” to survivors of the boat service, including the crew of the Norge, who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.

HMS ‘Norge’ (captured from the Danes 1807) off Pendennis Castle. 1811 watercolour by artist W.H.
In the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Object: PAF5858

When John Walker married Theresa Chauncy on 17 May 1838 in Launceston, Tasmania, the Launceston Advertiser of 24 May 1838 reported:

MARRIED.—At St. John's Church, on the 17th inst., Lieut. JOHN WALKER, R.N., to THERESA, daughter of W.S. CHAUNCY, Esq., of London.

John and Theresa Walker moved to Adelaide, where John Walker carried on business as a general merchant and shipping agent. The Walkers established a farm called Havering on the banks of the River Torrens.

Havering about 1839 pastel on paper by Theresa Walker. Havering was a farm established by the Walkers on the banks of the River Torrens, Adelaide.

John Walker chaired a local landowners meeting and in 1839 the village of Walkerville was named after him.

From The Colonist (Sydney, NSW), Saturday 19 January 1839, page 3:

WALKERVILLE.-At a recent meeting of the proprietors of the preliminary section on the Torrens, immediately adjoining North Adelaide, purchased from Governor Hindmarsh for 1100l,. and now laid out by Messrs, Hindmarsh and Lindsay, surveyors, as a village, containing 100 acre allotments, it was proposed that the name of Walkerville should be given to the property, in compliment to our excellent colonist, Captain Walker, R. N., who is also a considerable proprietor. The proposal was agreed to unanimously; and Walkerville promises speedily to rival Hindmarsh Town, and become the most delightful suburb of Adelaide. Allotments, we are informed, are selling in both villages at from 25l. to 50l. each, according to situation

During the 1840s, John Walker fell victim to overspeculation in land value and a South Australian financial depression. He was imprisoned briefly for debt in 1841. In 1849 he left the colony with wife Theresa to take up a government position in Tasmania.

John Walker painted in 1846 by his sister-in-law Martha Berkeley (Theresa’s sister). The painting is now hanging in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

John Walker died 8 January 1855. From the Hobart Colonial Times of 11 January 1855:

On Monday, the 8th of December, at Government Cottage, Launceston, LIEUT. WALKER, R.N , Port Officer, aged 58 years, deeply lamented by a large circle of friends, whose esteem he had gained by his affability of manner, and his undeviating rectitude in the discharge of his duty The funeral will leave Government Cottage on Wednesday, the 10th instant, at 4 p m. [Should be January but misreported in newspapers.]

From the The Cornwall Chronicle of 10 January 1855 and repeated in the Adelaide Times 27 January 1855 :

DEATH OF LIEUT. JOHN WALKER, R.N.
The death of this gentleman, who was formerly a well known merchant of this city, is thus recorded in the Launceston Cornwall Chronicle of the 10th inst. :—
It is our painful duty to record the death on Monday evening, of Lieutenant John Walker, who for some years past has filled the appointments of Port Officer of Hobart Town, and Harbour Master of this port. Lieutenant Walker, as will be seen by the following extract from O'Byrne, has been on half-pay since 1815. He commanded in the mercantile marine, trading to India and these colonies, until about the year 1839, when he removed to Adelaide, and entered largely into mercantile transactions, in which not being successful he returned to this colony, where he has since been employed in the Port Office department. Lieutenant Walker was of amiable temperament, and accommodating and courteous in the discharge of his official duties. In private life he was the warm hearted friend and excellent companion. He lived respected and died lamented. O'Byrne furnishes the following brief sketch of Lieutenant Walker's naval career :—
WALKER (Lieut. 1815, F-P., 10 ; H-P., 31.) — John Walker, (a) entered the Navy 9th May, 1806, as Fst-cl. Vol. on board the Swallow sloop, Capt. Alex. Milner, employed in the channel, and off the coast of Spain and Portugal. In August, 1809, five months after he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he removed to the Norge, 74; and in that ship commanded by Capts. John Sprat, Rainer, and Chas. Dashwood, he continued to serve off Lisbon, at the defence of Cadiz, in the Mediterranean, and North Sea, and on the North American and West India stations, until August, 1815 —the last 19 months in the capacity of Master's Mate. He took part, in 1814 15, in the operations against New Orleans, including the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1815. On leaving the Norge he was presented with a commission bearing date 17th February, 1815. He has since been on half-pay.

John Walker and his wife had no children, and he appears never to have made a Will. After his death his widow lodged a claim for oustanding half-pay from the navy. She received 28 pounds 5 shillings.

RELATED POST AND FURTHER READING:

  • T is for Theresa

  • O’Byrne, William R. (1849). “Walker, John (a)” . A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 1239. retrieved through Wikisource.org
  • Harrison, Cy. “British Third Rate Ship of the Line ‘Norge’ (1807).” Three Decks – Warships in the Age of Sail, https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=5577
  • Wikipedia entry for HMS Norge (1807)

Wikitree:

  • John Walker (abt. 1796 – 1855)

Cerise Boyle née Champion de Crespigny 1875 – 1951

25 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by Anne Young in artist, CdeC baronets, navy, Wedding

≈ 4 Comments

Cerise Boyle née Champion de Crespigny, one of my 5th cousins twice removed, was born on 6 December 1875 in Ringwood, Hampshire. She was the third of nine children and second of four daughters of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny the fourth baronet and Georgiana Lady Champion de Crespigny née McKerrell.

On 3 August 1899 Cerise married Commander Robert Boyle of the Royal Navy in the fashionable church of St George’s Hanover Square. Robert was a son of the fifth Earl of Shannon and brother of the then present Earl.

The Queen magazine of 12 August 1899 reported the marriage, with illustrations of the wedding gown, bridesmaids’ dresses, and the bride’s travelling dress.

Fashionable Marriages
Boyle-Champion de Crespigny

On the 3rd inst., at St George's Church, Hanover-square, the marriage was solemnised of Commander the Hon. Robert Boyle, R.N., son of the fifth Earl of Shannon, and brother of the present peer, with Cerise, second daughter of Sir Claude and Lady Champion de Crespigny, of Champion Lodge, Heybridge, Essex. The church was prettily decorated with palms and white flowers, and the service was choral. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a dress of ivory satin Duchesse, the skirt edged with flounces of chiffon arranged in waves ; the bodice had a chiffon fichu and yoke, and sleeves of silver embroidered lace, and old Venetian lace fell from the left side, where it was fastened with orange blossoms. The Court train of handsom Louis XV brocade fell from both shoulders, and her ornaments were pearls. She was attended by four bridesmaids, wearing dresses of pale poudre blue silk voile, the skirts having flounces edged with narrow Mechlin lace ; draped tucked bodices with tucked chiffon collar edged with frills bordered with narrow lace. They carried bouquets of Germania carnations, and wore gold curb bracelets set with turquoises, the gifts of the bridegroom. The officiating clergy were the Rev. Dr Porte, vicar of St. Matthew's Church, Denmark-hill, and the Rev. E. Galdart, rector of Little Braxted, Witham, Essex. Commander C. Craddock, R.N., was best man. After the ceremony a reception was held at 31, Curzon-street, Mayfair, and later the bride and bridegroom left for Scotland, where the honeymoon will be spent. The bride's travelling dress was of pale Parma violet cloth, the bodice having an inner vest of tucked velvet of a paler shade, and applications of guipure lace, and with it was worn a toque of cloth to match, with velvet and black ostrich tips. Lady de Crespigny wore blue crêpe de Chine, with lace appliqué on the skirt and bodice, and toque en suite ; she carried a bouquet of pink carnations.

They had four children. In 1916 a photograph of Cerise and her oldest son appeared in The Sketch. He was 14 and had just joined the navy.

From The Sketch 17 May 1916 page 144

Cerise painted, and her work was exhibited with the Society of Miniaturists in 1901. Among other exhibitions in 1921 and 1937 she exhibited watercolours at Walkers Galleries. In 1945 the Hon. Mrs Robert Boyle raised £115 for King George’s Fund for Sailors from the sale of her water colour sketches exhibited at the University College Buildings in Exeter. Two of her paintings have been sold in recent times. “A Hunter in a Wooded Landscape” painted in 1900 was sold by Christies in December 2012 as part of a collection from the attic of Harewood House. It had been owned by H.R.H. The Princess Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood (1897-1965) and her husband Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, (1882-1947). In 2006 Gorringes sold “Portrait of a horse Benedict”.

Benedict by Cerise Boyle

Robert Boyle died in 1922. His obituary in The Times of 12 September 1922 gives an account of his career:

DEATH OF VICE-ADMIRAL,R. F. BOYLE.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
Vice-Admiral the Hon. Robert Francis Boyle, M.V.O., R.N., retired, died suddenly yesterday at Harewood House, Leeds. He had been staying with his cousin, the Earl of Harewood, for the last fortnight. A week ago he did not feel very well, and a nurse and a doctor were called in. He was better on Sunday, but yesterday became suddenly worse. During the early part of his stay Admiral Boyle had a good deal-of shooting on Rigton moors with Lord Harewood. Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles were staying at Harewood at the time, and Admiral Boyle was to have been one of the visitors to Doncaster races.

Admiral Boyle was the third son of the fifth Earl of Shannon by his marriage to Lady Blanche Emma Lascelles, daughter of the third Earl of Harewood, and was uncle and heir presumptive to the present Earl of Shannon. Born on December 12, 1863, the late admiral was a half-brother of Captain the Hon. Edward Boyle, R.N., and of Rear-Admiral the Hon. Algernon Boyle, C.B., C.M.G., M.V.O., now Fourth Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Entering the Navy in 1877, he was midshipman of the Minotaur during the Egyptian War of 1882, for which he received the medal and the Khedive's bronze star, and he obtained his promotion to lieutenant in 1886. Selected to qualify in gunnery, he joined, in 1891, as gunnery lieutenant, the Raleigh, flagship at the Cape. From her he was landed for service in Rear-Admiral Bedford's punitive expedition at Bathurst, on the River Gambia, in February, 1894. In this undertaking, for which he was mentioned-in dispatches, he was dangerously wounded, and had been in receipt of a special wound pension from August 1, 1896, until his death. On returning home he was appointed to the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, and promoted commander from her in 1897. He afterwards commanded the Caledonia, boys' training ship at Queensferry, and was made captain in 1903. He then served as a member of the Cookery Committee appointed by the Admiralty, but from 1905 to 1911 was continuously afloat, commanding during this period the Leviathan, Prince George, Antrim, and Duke of Edinburgh, in home waters and the Mediterranean. From 1911 to 1914 he had charge of the Eastern Coastguard District, with headquarters at Harwich, until promoted to flag rank.

During the early months of the European War he was on half-pay, but in April, 1915, was appointed in command of the Marne patrol area, and remained in the auxiliary patrol service until after the Armistice. Promoted vice-admiral in February, 1910, he retired forthwith, and last year was appointed a nautical assessor to attend the hearing of Admiralty appeals in the House of Lords.

Vice-Admiral Boyle married, in 1899, Cerise, third daughter of Sir Claude Champion-de-Crespigny, and had two sons and two daughters. The elder son, Vivian Francis, entered the Navy during the war and was promoted sub-lieutenant last January.

Cerise died on 7 April 1951 in Kingston, Jamaica, at the age of 75. Her death was announced in The Times of 12 April 1951:

BOYLE.-On April 7 1951, peacefully, in Jamaica, CERISE, wife of the late VICE-ADMIRAL the HON. ROBERT FRANCIS BOYLE, second daughter of Claude Champion de Crespigny, Fourth Baronet, of Drakelow, Virginia Water, Surrey, aged 75 years.

RELATED POSTS

  • Index to articles concerning the de Crespigny baronets including her father the 4th baronet and her brothers: de Crespigny family index 3 – the baronets and their descendants
  • S is for St George’s Hanover Square

Wikitree: Cerise (Champion de Crespigny) Boyle (1875 – 1951)

The sailor and the princess

12 Thursday May 2022

Posted by Anne Young in CdeC baronets, navy, probate

≈ 10 Comments

Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny, one of my 5th cousins twice removed, was born on 3 August 1880 in Maldon, Essex. He was the sixth of nine children of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny the fourth baronet, and Georgiana Lady Champion de Crespigny née McKerrell. The five sons of the fourth baronet all had the first name Claude. Accordingly the four younger sons, including Philip, went by their middle name.

In 1896 Philip joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman. He was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant on 15 November 1899 and a year later, on 31 December 1901, he became a Lieutenant. From 28 May 1906 to 1 August 1909 he served as captain of the destroyer HMS Dove. On 31 December 1909 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander. Philip was placed on the Retired List at his own request on 17 August 1910, but he remained eligible to apply for the rank of Commander on reaching the age of 40. While retired he attended several short Mine-Sweeping Courses.

During World War I he came out of retirement and was initially engaged in mine-sweeping operations. On 6 June 1915 Claude was appointed to command of the monitor M.32 (a monitor was a small heavy vessel designed for shore bombardment). He was Captain of the patrol boat HMS P13 from January to July 1917, and in command of the monitor M.24 on 24 July 1917 until April 1919. He was mentioned in despatches and in 1919 was awarded the Croix de Guerre. On 11 December 1919 he became Commander (Retired).

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN, APRIL 1915-JANUARY 1916 (Q 13541) Lieutenant Commander Claude Champion de Crespigny, who was in command of one of the monitors engaged in the Dardanelles operations.
Copyright: IWM. Original Source and reused under the IWM Non-commercial Licence: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205248723

Philip is mentioned in various memoirs as well as in the social pages of newspapers and magazines. In 1914 he was photographed by Tatler with Princess Hatzfeldt, an American heiress and the widow from 1910 of a German prince, attending the National Hunt Steeplechases at Cheltenham.

Tatler 18 March 1914 page 303. British Newspaper Archive.

The Princess knew the de Crespigny family; a dinner party she gave at Claridge’s Hotel in 1904 included Philip’s oldest brother Claude, who was also at a shooting party the Prince and Princess held on their estate at Draycot Cerne in Wiltshire. Several other social occasions included various members of the de Crespigny family and the princess, and she was also at the 1910 funeral for Claude. In 1913 the princess lent her Draycot Cerne manor for the honeymoon of Raul de Crespigny. In 1919 Commander Philip de Crespigny and the princess were seen dining at the London Flying Club at Hendon.

In 1923 The Bystander reported a number of English guests at the Imperial Hotel at Menton in January, including Commander P. de Crespigny and Princess Hatzfeldt. In October 1925 Princess Hatzfeldt and Commander P. de Crespigny, the Duke of Devonshire and various others were reported in the Derbyshire Advertiser to be taking the treatment at the spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire.

Princess Clara Hatzfeldt died in 1928. In her will she left bequests to friends. Philip was one of the principal heirs. She left nothing to her relatives.

“£100,000 for ‘one of the Best.” Chelmsford Chronicle, 12 Apr. 1929, p. 7. British Library Newspapers.

The will was contested by her nephew but a settlement was reached.

When Philip died in 1939 he left his estate, including his interest in the estate of the late Princess Hatzfeldt, shared equally between his brother Raul and his niece Valencia Lancaster. Philip’s estate was probated at £37,902 ( millions in today’s pounds).

Valencia Lancaster inherited Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire from her brother and set up a trust in 1982 for its conservation. Many portraits of the Champion de Crespigny family hang on the walls, including a portrait of Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny.

British (English) School; Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny (1880-1939); Kelmarsh Hall; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/claude-philip-champion-de-crespigny-18801939-49108

Related posts

  • V is for Valencia
  • A visit to Kelmarsh Hall

Wikitree:

  • Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny (1880 – 1939)
  • Claude Raul Champion de Crespigny (1878 – 1941)
  • Cicely Valencia Lancaster (1898 – 1996)
  • Clara Elizabeth (Prentice) von Hatzfeldt (1860 – 1928)

Rowland Mainwaring: from midshipman to rear-admiral

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by Anne Young in Mainwaring, Napoleonic wars, navy

≈ 3 Comments

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)

Remembering Captain Gordon Skelly

22 Tuesday Jun 2021

Posted by Anne Young in Canada, navy, Northumberland, Skelly, Yorkshire

≈ 2 Comments

My sixth great grandfather Gordon Skelly was a Captain of the Royal Navy. He died on 22 June 1771, 250 years ago today.

He was born in 1741 at Warkworth, Northumberland, England to the Reverend John Skelly and Lady Betty Skelly née Gordon, daughter of Alexander the second Duke of Gordon.

He first joined the merchant navy in 1755, when he was about 14 years old. From 1757, probably as a midshipman, Skelly served on HMS Devonshire, a 66-gun third rate ship of the line. The commanding officer was William Gordon (1705 – 1769); it sounds as though they were related. William Gordon later became a Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

In June 1758 Skelly saw action at the Siege of Louisbourg and at the Capture of Quebec in September 1759. He kept a journal from 1757 to 1759. This account seems to hold considerable importance to historical collectors. It was sold in 2003 for $US141,900.

Burning of the French ship Prudent and capture of Bienfaisant, during the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, Richard Paton. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Skelly’s journal has the title “A Journal of two Voyages to North America. In his Majesty’s Ship ye Devonshire, From June 1757 to December 1759. Containing the Expedition against Louisbourgh under the Admirals Holburne and Boscowen; with the Reduction of some places of less note after the Surrender of Louisbourgh in the year 1758. The transactions during the winter at Hallifax in 1759–The arrival of Admiral Saunders with a Fleet against Quebec…to the Surrender of Quebec, and our return to England….“. Skelly recorded the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, on 13 September 1759. Just outside the walls of Quebec City, “the whole line of the enemy soon gave way, ours pushing on with their bayonets till they took to their heels and were pursued with great slaughter to the walls of the town.”

“Slipping and stumbling the men went on” The British under General Wolfe climbing the heights of Quebec, 1759. Illustration by J. R. Skelton for the book Our Empire Story by H. E. Marshall. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Gordon Skelly passed his lieutenant’s examination on 5 August 1761 and was commissioned as lieutenant on 1 October 1761. He served on several ships, among them HMS Baltimore, where from 10 October 1762 to 3 December 1762 he kept the Lieutenant’s logbooks.

On 10 January 1771 Skelly was appointed commander of the Royal Navy 10 gun sloop Lynx, stationed at Shields in north-east England. He and seven others were drowned there when the ship’s longboat was overturned by breakers when crossing the harbour bar.

Newcastle Courant 29 June 1771 page 2. Image (and subsequent newspaper image) retrieved through FindMyPast.com.au and reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive.
Leeds Intelligencer 2 July 1771
Entrance to Shields Harbour from The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1 by William Findon retrieved from Project Gutenberg

Gordon Skelly married Dorothy Harrison on 6 June 1766 at Yarm, Yorkshire, the ceremony conducted his father the Reverend John Skelly, Vicar of Stockton.

They had three children:

  • Gordon 1767–1828
  • Dorothy 1768–1840, mother of Sophia Mainwaring née Duff
  • Andrew 1772–1785

His granddaughter Sophia née Duff (1790 – 1824) married Rowland Mainwaring (1783 – 1862).

Wikitree:

  • Gordon Skelly (1741 – 1771)
← Older posts
Follow Anne's Family History on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

  • . Surnames (572)
    • Atkin (1)
    • Bayley, Bayly, Baillie (4)
    • Beggs (11)
    • Bertz (3)
    • Bock (1)
    • Boltz (18)
    • Branthwayt (1)
    • Bray (2)
    • Brown (1)
    • Budge (7)
    • Cavenagh (24)
    • Cavenagh-Mainwaring (24)
    • Champion de Crespigny (151)
      • apparently unrelated Champion de Crespigny (5)
      • CdeC 18th century (3)
      • CdeC Australia (23)
        • Rafe de Crespigny (10)
      • CdeC baronets (11)
    • Chauncy (29)
    • Clark (1)
    • Corrin (2)
    • Crew (4)
    • Cross (18)
      • Cross SV (7)
    • Cudmore (60)
      • Kathleen (15)
    • Dana (28)
    • Darby (3)
    • Davies (1)
    • Daw (4)
    • Dawson (6)
    • Duff (4)
    • Edwards (13)
    • Ewer (1)
    • Fish (8)
    • Fonnereau (5)
    • Furnell (2)
    • Gale (1)
    • Gibbons (2)
    • Gilbart (7)
    • Goldstein (8)
    • Gordon (1)
    • Granger (2)
    • Green (2)
    • Grueber (2)
    • Grust (2)
    • Gunn (5)
    • Harvey (1)
    • Hawkins (8)
    • Henderson (1)
    • Hickey (4)
    • Holmes (1)
    • Horsley (2)
    • Hughes (20)
    • Hunter (1)
    • Hutcheson (3)
    • Huthnance (2)
    • James (4)
    • Johnstone (4)
    • Jones (1)
    • Kemmis (2)
    • Kinnaird (4)
    • La Mothe (2)
    • Lane (1)
    • Lawson (3)
    • Leister (6)
    • Mainwaring (47)
    • Manock (14)
    • Massy Massey Massie (1)
    • Mitchell (4)
    • Morley (4)
    • Morris (1)
    • Movius (2)
    • Murray (6)
    • Niall (7)
    • Nihill (9)
    • Odiarne (1)
    • Orfeur (2)
    • Palliser (1)
    • Peters (2)
    • Phipps (3)
    • Plaisted (9)
    • Plowright (16)
    • Pye (2)
    • Ralph (1)
    • Reher (1)
    • Reveley (2)
    • Richards (1)
    • Russell (2)
    • Sherburne (4)
    • Sinden (1)
    • Skelly (3)
    • Skerritt (3)
    • Smyth (6)
    • Snell (1)
    • Sullivan (18)
    • Symes (11)
    • Taylor (5)
    • Toker (5)
    • Torrey (1)
    • Tuckfield (4)
    • Tunks (2)
    • Vaux (4)
    • Wade (2)
    • Way (14)
    • Whiteman (7)
    • Wilkes (1)
    • Wilkins (9)
    • Wright (1)
    • Wymer (2)
    • Young (30)
      • Charlotte Young (3)
      • Greg Young (9)
  • .. Places (399)
    • Africa (4)
    • Australia (177)
      • Canberra (10)
      • New South Wales (10)
        • Albury (2)
        • Binalong (1)
        • Lilli Pilli (2)
        • Murrumburrah (2)
        • Orange (1)
        • Parkes (3)
        • Wentworth (1)
      • Northern Territory (1)
      • Queensland (5)
      • Snowy Mountains (1)
      • South Australia (43)
        • Adelaide (30)
        • Glenelg (1)
      • Tasmania (13)
      • Victoria (105)
        • Apollo Bay (2)
        • Ararat (1)
        • Avoca (10)
        • Ballarat (14)
        • Beaufort (5)
        • Bendigo (3)
        • Bentleigh (2)
        • Betley (1)
        • Birregurra (1)
        • Bowenvale (1)
        • Bright (1)
        • Brighton (4)
        • Carngham (3)
        • Carwarp (1)
        • Castlemaine (3)
        • Charlton (2)
        • Clunes (1)
        • Collingwood (1)
        • Creswick (2)
        • Dunolly (2)
        • Eurambeen (4)
        • Geelong (6)
        • Heathcote (5)
        • Homebush (12)
        • Lamplough (3)
        • Lilydale (1)
        • Melbourne (12)
        • Portland (8)
        • Prahran (1)
        • Queenscliff (1)
        • Seddon (1)
        • Snake Valley (4)
        • St Kilda (1)
        • Talbot (4)
        • Windsor (1)
        • Yarraville (1)
      • Western Australia (2)
    • Belgium (1)
    • Canada (5)
    • China (3)
    • England (113)
      • Bath (5)
      • Cambridge (5)
      • Cheshire (2)
      • Cornwall (14)
        • Gwinear (1)
        • St Erth (9)
      • Devon (6)
      • Dorset (2)
      • Durham (1)
      • Essex (1)
      • Gloucestershire (10)
        • Bristol (1)
        • Cheltenham (5)
        • Leckhampton (3)
      • Hampshire (2)
      • Hertfordshire (2)
      • Kent (4)
      • Lancashire (3)
      • Lincolnshire (3)
      • Liverpool (10)
      • London (9)
      • Middlesex (1)
        • Harefield (1)
      • Norfolk (2)
      • Northamptonshire (11)
        • Kelmarsh Hall (5)
      • Northumberland (1)
      • Nottinghamshire (1)
      • Oxfordshire (6)
        • Oxford (5)
      • Shropshire (6)
        • Shrewsbury (2)
      • Somerset (3)
      • Staffordshire (11)
        • Whitmore (11)
      • Suffolk (1)
      • Surrey (3)
      • Sussex (4)
      • Wiltshire (4)
      • Yorkshire (3)
    • France (14)
      • Normandy (1)
    • Germany (22)
      • Berlin (12)
      • Brandenburg (2)
    • Guernsey (1)
    • Hong Kong (3)
    • India (24)
    • Ireland (40)
      • Antrim (2)
      • Cavan (3)
      • Clare (2)
      • Cork (4)
      • Dublin (9)
      • Kildare (2)
      • Kilkenny (4)
      • Limerick (6)
      • Londonderry (1)
      • Meath (1)
      • Monaghan (1)
      • Tipperary (5)
      • Westmeath (1)
      • Wexford (3)
      • Wicklow (1)
    • Isle of Man (2)
    • Jerusalem (3)
    • Malaysia (1)
    • New Guinea (3)
    • New Zealand (4)
    • Scotland (17)
      • Caithness (1)
      • Edinburgh (1)
    • Singapore (4)
    • Spain (1)
    • USA (9)
      • Massachusetts (5)
    • Wales (6)
  • 1854 (6)
  • A to Z challenges (271)
    • A to Z 2014 (27)
    • A to Z 2015 (27)
    • A to Z 2016 (27)
    • A to Z 2017 (27)
    • A to Z 2018 (28)
    • A to Z 2019 (26)
    • A to Z 2020 (27)
    • A to Z 2021 (27)
    • A to Z 2022 (28)
    • A to Z 2023 (27)
  • AAGRA (1)
  • Australian Dictionary of Biography (1)
  • Australian War Memorial (2)
  • Bank of Victoria (7)
  • bankruptcy (1)
  • baronet (13)
  • British Empire (2)
  • cemetery (23)
    • grave (2)
  • census (4)
  • Cherry Stones (11)
  • Christmas (2)
  • Civil War (4)
  • class (1)
  • cooking (5)
  • court case (12)
  • crime (11)
  • Crimean War (1)
  • divorce (8)
  • dogs (5)
  • education (10)
    • university (4)
  • encounters with indigenous Australians (8)
  • family history (53)
    • family history book (3)
    • UK trip 2019 (36)
  • Father's day (1)
  • freemason (3)
  • French Revolution (2)
  • genealogical records (24)
  • genealogy tools (74)
    • ahnentafel (6)
    • DNA (40)
      • AncestryDNA (13)
      • FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) (2)
      • GedMatch (6)
    • DNA Painter (13)
    • FamilySearch (3)
    • MyHeritage (11)
    • tree completeness (12)
    • wikitree (8)
  • geneameme (117)
    • 52 ancestors (22)
    • Sepia Saturday (28)
    • Through her eyes (4)
    • Trove Tuesday (51)
    • Wedding Wednesday (5)
  • gold rush (4)
  • Governor LaTrobe (1)
  • GSV (3)
  • heraldry (6)
  • illegitimate (2)
  • illness and disease (23)
    • cholera (5)
    • tuberculosis (7)
    • typhoid (7)
  • immigration (35)
  • inquest (1)
  • insolvency (2)
  • land records (3)
  • military (147)
    • ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day (7)
    • army (8)
    • Durham Light Infantry (1)
    • Napoleonic wars (11)
      • Waterloo (2)
    • navy (22)
    • prisoner of war (11)
    • Remembrance Day (5)
    • World War 1 (63)
    • World War 2 (19)
  • obituary (10)
  • occupations (49)
    • artist (7)
    • author (5)
    • aviation (3)
    • British East India Company (6)
    • clergy (2)
    • farming (1)
    • lawyer (8)
    • medicine (14)
    • public service (1)
    • railways (4)
    • teacher (2)
  • orphanage (2)
  • Parliament (5)
  • photographs (12)
    • Great great Aunt Rose's photograph album (6)
  • piracy (3)
  • police (2)
  • politics (17)
  • portrait (17)
  • postcards (3)
  • prison (4)
  • probate (8)
  • PROV (2)
  • Recipe (1)
  • religion (27)
    • Huguenot (9)
    • Methodist (5)
    • Mormon pioneer (1)
    • Puritan (1)
    • Salvation Army (1)
  • Royal family (5)
  • sheriff (1)
  • shipwreck (3)
  • South Sea Company (2)
  • sport (14)
    • cricket (2)
    • golf (4)
    • riding (1)
    • rowing (2)
    • sailing (1)
  • statistics (4)
    • demography (3)
  • street directories (1)
  • temperance (1)
  • Trove (37)
  • Uncategorized (11)
  • ward of the state (2)
  • Wedding (20)
  • will (6)
  • workhouse (1)
  • younger son (5)

Pages

  • About
  • Ahentafel index
  • Books
    • Champions from Normandy
    • C F C Crespigny nee Dana
    • Pink Hats on Gentle Ladies: second edition by Vida and Daniel Clift
  • Index
    • A to Z challenges
    • DNA research
    • UK trip 2019
    • World War 1
    • Boltz and Manock family index
    • Budge and Gunn family index
    • Cavenagh family index
    • Chauncy family index
    • Cross and Plowright family index
    • Cudmore family index
    • Dana family index
    • Dawson family index
    • de Crespigny family index
    • de Crespigny family index 2 – my English forebears
    • de Crespigny family index 3 – the baronets and their descendants
    • Edwards, Ralph and Gilbart family index
    • Hughes family index
    • Mainwaring family index
      • Back to 1066 via the Mainwaring family
    • Sullivan family index
    • Symes family index
    • Way and Daw(e) family index
    • Young family index

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Anne's Family History on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Anne's Family History
    • Join 308 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Anne's Family History
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...