Category Archives: Mainwaring

I is for Ilmenau

11 Monday Apr 2022

Posted by in A to Z 2022, England, Germany, Mainwaring

≈ 7 Comments

The third wife of my fourth great grandfather Rowland Mainwaring was a part-Austrian woman named Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard (b.~1811). Her house in Bournemouth was called ‘Ilmenau‘, after a small town near Weimar, where Laura had spent much of her childhood.

Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard was born about 1811 in Prague. She was the daughter of an Austrian woman (about whom I know almost nothing) and Florian Chevillard, an officer in the army of Napoleon.

When Flora’s father Florian Chevillard, an officer in the army of Napoleon, died in Spain about in 1812, Laura was adopted by Caroline Jagemann (1777 – 1848), a notable German tragedienne and singer.

Caroline Jagemann was the mistress of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who raised her to the nobility as Freifrau (Baroness) von Heygendorff. He bequeathed her one of his properties, the ‘Heygendorf‘ manor. Caroline had three children by Karl August. Laura Chevillard was brought up with one of these, Marianne (1812 – 1836).

Caroline von Heygendorff born Jagemann portrayed in the role of Portia in the Merchant of Venice. 1828 portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
The house in Weimar at Herderplatz 16 where Caroline Jagemann lived from 1806 to 1848 and where Laura Chevillard grew up.
Photograph by Krzysztof Golik – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

One of the first teachers of Laura and Marianne was a Weimar French fashion entrepreneur named Marie Iffernet. When Laura was 14 she and Marianne attended a Strasbourg boarding school from 1826 to 1828.

In 1830 Laura was living in Mannheim with her adopted mother Baroness von Heygendorff and the three children of the Baroness. 

Joseph Maximilian Kolb: Mannheim, market square with town hall and St. Sebastian’s Church. Steel engraving, coloured.

Laura met Rowland Mainwaring at Mannheim. A retired naval captain and widower, Mainwaring had travelled to Germany for the education of his younger children. He became acquainted with Laura at a Christmas party hosted by one of her adopted mother’s relatives.

Rowland and Laura were married on 11 November 1836 at Frankfurt by the Rev. Mr. Lindsay at the Hotel de Russie, the residence of the British Ambassador. Laura was Rowland Mainwaring’s third wife. Rowland was 54 and Laura about 25. They had eight children:

  •    Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring 1837–1906
  •    Randolph Mainwaring 1839–1902
  •    Eugene George Henri Mainwaring 1841–1911
  •    Laura Chevillard Mainwaring 1843–1843
  •    Frederic Mainwaring 1844–1922
  •    Guy Mainwaring 1847–1909
  •    Horatio Mainwaring 1848–1913
  •    Algernon Mainwaring 1852–1926

In 1837 Rowland Mainwaring applied for Laura’s denization. Denization gave foreigners certain rights normally enjoyed only by the King’s (or Queen’s) subjects, including the right to hold land. Mainwaring wished to settle 500 pounds per annum upon his wife on his decease; this would not have been possible had she not received Letters of Denization.

At the time of the censuses of 1841, 1851, and 1861, Laura was living at Whitmore Hall with a dozen servants, her husband and some of her younger children.

Rowland died in 1862.

Laura with her youngest son Algernon probably about 1862

In the 1871 census Laura was living at 68 Castle Street, Reading, Berkshire, with one female servant, Katherina Freyberger, age 24, born in Bavaria, who was described as a lady’s maid. Katharina was still with Laura 10 years later in 1881. By then Laura, aged 70, was an annuitant, living in Weimar Lodge, Craven Road, Reading. There were two servants in the household: Catherine Freyburger, aged 34, now described as maid and domestic servant, and Sarah Mansell, age 27, born Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the cook.

Laura’s home at 22 Craven Road Reading was named ‘Weimar Lodge’. Laura had spent much of her childhood at Weimar, the home of her adopted mother’s lover and where her mother was director of the theatre. The site of Weimar Lodge is now part of Reading Hospital.

Laura died on 17 March 1891 in Bournemouth.

Her will, that of Louisa [a transcription error for ‘Laura’? ] Maria Walburga Julia Mainwaring was proved at the Principal Registry on 28 April by her son the Reverend Algernon Mainwaring of Ilmenau, Bournemouth. She was described as formerly of Whitmore Hall, Staffordshire, but late of Ilmenau, Knyveton Road, Bournemouth in the county of Southampton.

At the time of the 1891 census, shortly after Laura’s death, Laura’s son Algernon, 38, an Anglican priest, was head of the household, residing at Knyveton Road, Bournemouth. Living with him was his brother Randolph, a widower aged 51, described as a journalist. The household had three servants, two of them Bavarians.

Ilmenau is a town in Thuringia, 60 kilometres south of Weimar. From 1800, it was the favourite resort of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832).

Ilmenau and Umgebungen
Taken from nature and drawn on wood by Herm. Heubner in Leipzig.
Image from page 474 of journal Die Gartenlaube, 1873. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

It is interesting to note that Goethe was the godfather of Caroline Jagemann’s oldest son Carl. Goethe’s portrait was painted several times by Ferdinand Jagemann, the brother of Caroline Jagemann, Laura’s adopted mother. Goethe was a close associate of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August, Caroline Jagemann’s lover.

Map of places associated with the life of Laura

Further reading

Wikitree: Laura Maria Julia Walburga (Chevillard) Mainwaring (abt. 1812 – 1891)

A is for Addiscombe

01 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by in A to Z 2022, British East India Company, education, Mainwaring

≈ 29 Comments

Between 1832 and 1834 Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872), one of my 3rd great grandfathers, was enrolled as a cadet at Addiscombe Military Seminary, military academy of the British East India Company. The Academy, in Surrey near Croydon, had been founded two decades previously, in 1809, occupying a 1702 mansion called Addiscombe Place.

Before his enrollment in the Academy, Gordon had been a pupil of a private master named Adam Thom in Tooting, some five miles distant. On 1 August 1832 Thom certified that:

“Mr Gordon Mainwaring has resided in my house during the last three months – that he has studied Caesar’s commentaries, Vulgar [common] and decimal fractions, and that he has displayed praiseworthy diligence and that his general conduct has been marked by exemplary propriety.”

Before they were admitted cadets were required to have a fair knowledge of Arithmetic, write a good hand, and possess a competent knowledge of English and Latin Grammar. They should also have learnt Drawing, and have some knowledge of French, Mathematics and Fortification.

In the 1830s there were two regular admissions to the Seminary, in January and in July. Cadets, aged 14 to 16 when they entered, normally remained for 2 years (4 terms), although it was possible to pass the final examination within a shorter period. The intake comprised about 75 cadets a year, with about 150 cadets in residence at any one time.

Cadets or their families were required to pay fees (£30 a year when the Seminary first opened; £50 a term by 1835), but these fees represented only a small proportion of the real costs of their education and were heavily subsidised by the East India Company to secure a satisfactory class of officers for their armies in India.

Besides the £30 tuition fee cadets were obliged to provide two sureties who signed a bond for this payment and “for the reimbursement to the Company of all expenses incurred upon his account which shall not be defrayed by the said sum in the event of his not proceeding to India.” By 1835 the fees were £50 a term. (The relative value of £50 from 1835 in 2020 ranges from £5,000 in simple purchasing power to £60,000 in income value.)

Addiscombe Military Academy, with 9 cadets posing in foreground. Photographed in about 1859 from Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note. The Academy’s motto “Non faciam vitio culpave minorem” (I will not lower myself by vice or fault) was the motto of the Draper family who built the mansion in 1702.

According to Colonel Vibart in Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note, necessaries to be provided by the cadet when he joined, were :

  • One military great-coat
  • One uniform jacket, waistcoat and pair of pantaloons
  • One military cap and feather, with plate in front embossed with the
    Company’s arms
  • Ten shirts
  • Six pairs of cotton socks
  • Six pairs of worsted socks
  • Two pairs of gaiters
  • Two pairs of military gloves
  • Two pairs of strong shoes
  • Six towels
  • Six night-caps
  • Six pocket-handkerchiefs
  • Two black silk handkerchiefs
  • Two combs and a brush
  • One tooth-brush
  • One foraging-cap

The Company supplied each cadet with the following clothing :

  • Half-yearly : Jacket, Waistcoat, Black silk handkerchief, Foraging-cap
  • Quarterly : Pantaloons and Gaiters
  • Shoes every 2 months

Medical attendance and washing were also provided.

Each cadet was provided with the necessary books, stationery, drawing and mathematical instruments; and the Seminary was supplied with philosophical instruments [in this context, probably surveying and laboratory equipment] and the requisite apparatus and materials to pursue the courses of chemical lectures.

The woollen clothes were of superfine cloth. The cadets were also supplied with linen when necessary in the opinion of the Head Master.

The cadets were in dormitories with framed partitions which formed separate sleeping places. These, 9′ by 6′ and 8′ high, were called “kennels”. Kennels had an iron bedstead which could be raised to rest against the wall during the day if required. Beside the bed was a fixed table and drawer. A wash-stand stood between the foot of the bed and the wooden partition. One chair was provided. The door was a curtain.

The Acadamy curriculum was “instruction in the sciences of Mathematics, Fortification, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; the Hindustani, Latin, and French languages; in the art of Civil, Military, and Lithographic Drawing and Surveying; and in the construction of the several gun-carriages and mortarbeds used in the Artillery service, from the most approved models”.

Examinations were held twice-yearly in June and December: they lasted about three weeks, and culminated in a Public Examination, a day-long affair of some ceremony before a distinguished invited audience. This included orchestrated demonstrations of book-learning and of military exercises such as swordsmanship and pontoon-building; an exhibition of drawings and models; a formal inspection; and the distribution of prizes.

According to their degree of talent, acquirements, and good conduct (and the number needed) some cadets were selected for the Engineers and Artillery corps. The remaining cadets were sent to the Infantry line of service.

In 1835 Gordon Mainwaring joined the 53rd Bengal Native Infantry Company of the Honourable East India Company Service.

Sources

  • Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note; by Colonel H. M. Vibart… With an introduction by Lord Roberts of Kandahar.. (1894) retrieved through archive.org

Wikitree: Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872)

Relatives at RootsTech

21 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by in FamilySearch, Mainwaring

≈ 1 Comment

RootsTech, first held in 2011, is an annual family history and technology conference and trade show convened by FamilySearch, a nonprofit organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).

Because of the Covid pandemic, in 2021 the conference was conducted online. It had more than a million participants, from 242 countries, who watched more than 2,000 on-demand genealogical class sessions taught by experts, archivists, and family-history companies. (These sessions are still available for viewing.)

I participated in 2021. This year I have signed up again, and I look forward to the 2022 presentations, which begin on 3 March. (Once again, FamilySearch will make these available after the conference.)

This year as part of RootsTech, FamilySearch produced an app for participants to determine whether and how they were related to each other. The app matches RootsTech participants worldwide by comparing the names of their ancestors found in the FamilySearch Family Tree. When a common ancestor is discovered, a participant is shown the names of living relatives and their family connections.

I have about 700 relatives at RootsTech, with the number growing as new participants sign up for the conference. Five hundred of these are from the United States, 9 from Canada, 2 from the UK, and 3 from Australia. About a quarter have not given their location.

My closest relative is a 3rd cousin from Australia, both of us descended from my great great grandfather James Francis Cudmore and his wife Margaret nee Budge. We have corresponded in the past.

James Francis Cudmore
Margaret Cudmore nee Budge.

My next closest cousins at RootsTech are 6th cousins once removed in the United States. Our shared common ancestor was Edward Mainwaring 1709 – 1795, my sixth great grandfather.

Disappointingly, there seems to be an error in the tree and I don’t think we are in fact related.

The family search tree showed Edward Mainwaring 1754 – 1842 (FamilySearch id M2CP-HGK) being the son of Edward Mainwaring 1709 – 1795 (Family search id L4HK-DWJ) and Mary Morgans (FamilySearch id M2XG-FBZ) born Wales (no dates). Mary is said to have married Edward on 8 August 1753 at Kinsham, Herefordshire.

Edward Mainwaring 1709 – 1795 married Sarah Bunbury 29 May 1735 at Whitmore, Staffordshire. They had 8 children, including an Edward (1736 – 1825). The family is well documented, with church records, wills, marriage settlements, and histories. Thee marriage and children are recorded on the FamilySearch tree.

The Edward Mainwaring in the Bishop’s Transcript of the marriage (referenced on FamilySearch) between Edwd Mainwaring and Mary Morgans on 8 August 1753 at Leysters, Herefordshire, is not the same man as the Edward Mainwaring of Whitmore.

Feeling a little deflated that my cousins were incorrectly linked, I set out to collaborate on editing the tree. The FamilySearch tree is one of several major online collaborative trees; I also contribute to Wikitree. The aim of these trees is to have only one profile per person, properly documented.

To correct the tree at FamilySearch I wrote a note attached to Mary Morgan’s profile explaining that the wrong Edward Mainwaring had been linked. The note shows up under a tab labelled ‘Collaborate’. I then removed Edward 1709 – 1795 as the father of Edward 1754 – 1842 and husband of Mary Morgans. I added a new Edward Mainwaring https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G67M-M97 as a husband of Mary Morgan’s and father to Edward Jr. I don’t know this man’s biographical details other than that he married Mary, so I had to leave the other fields blank. Perhaps some enterprising family historian will discover more about him. I ignored the possible match who is married to someone else; there are a lot of Edward Mainwarings.

Explaining my reasoning on the profile of Mary Morgans
Removing Edward Mainwaring of Whitmore from this family and leaving an explanation
Lastly add another Edward Mainwaring, a new husband for Mary Morgans and father to Edward Mainwaring born 1754

I expected that this change would reduce the number of cousins I have at RootsTech and, sure enough, I dropped from 705 to 667 relatives instantly.

Collaborative trees take work but I believe the result is better than a genealogist can achieve by working alone, and that over time these single family trees will become increasingly accurate.

In the mean time I look forward to finding more cousins and of course to learning from the presentations at RootsTech from the beginning of March.

Relatives at RootsTech is an optional activity that is part of the RootsTech Connect 2022 conference. Attendees can sign up for RootsTech and access some of the classes and sessions without choosing to join Relatives at RootsTech. Attendees who join Relatives at RootsTech can see how they are related to other conference attendees and send a text message to relatives, if desired. The functionality will be discontinued after the conference though you can still stay in contact with people who you have added to a friends list. Currently there are more than 50,000 participants in Relatives at RootsTech, I expect that participant numbers to grow significantly closer to the conference. Are we related?
Some of the speakers at RootsTech in 2022.

Wikitree:

Disclosure:  I have signed up to be a RootsTech 2022 Influencer and have committed to writing about the conference. 

Mainwaring younger sons go to India

27 Thursday Jan 2022

Posted by in army, India, Mainwaring, younger son

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Rowland Mainwaring (1745 – 1817), one of my fifth great grandfathers, was the fourth of the five sons of Edward Mainwaring (1709 – 1795) and his wife Sarah Mainwaring nee Bunbury (1709 – 1798). As a younger son, Rowland was unlikely to inherit the Mainwaring estates. Expected to make his own way in the world, he joined the army, becoming a captain in the 1st Regiment (Royal Scots) and later a major in the Staffordshire Militia.

Rowland married twice. His first wife, Elizabeth Mills of Barlaston, died soon after their marriage in 1777. There were no children. In 1780, three years later, he married Jane Latham, daughter of Captain Latham (d. 1762) of the Royal Navy. From this second marriage there were seven children, with four sons:

  • Edward Henry Mainwaring 1781–1807
  • Rowland Mainwaring 1782–1862
  • Thomas Mainwaring 1784–1834
  • Charlotte Margaretta Mainwaring 1785–1836
  • Elizabeth Mainwaring 1787–1869
  • Susannah Jane Mainwaring 1788–1871
  • George Mainwaring 1791–1865

Three of the sons joined the Honourable East India Company. Rowland (junior) enlisted in the navy.

Edward Henry Mainwaring

Edward Henry Mainwaring began his military career in the Staffordshire militia. In 1795, at the age of fourteen he became an ensign without purchase in the 13th Regiment of Foot (Light Dragoons). He became a lieutenant by purchase in 1796 but retired 9 months later. He is recorded as a cadet in the Bengal Army, appointed ensign from 23 September 1797. On 10 September 1798 he was made a lieutenant. He died unmarried in 1807.

Deaths

July 22 1807 At Dacca, in the East Indies, Lieut. Edward Henry Mainwaring, of the 3d Regiment of Native Infantry, eldest son of Rowland M. esq. of Northampton. While out at exercise he complained of a sudden attack in the head, and died in a few minutes, in consequence of a rupture of a blood-vessel in his brain.

Death notice in The Gentleman’s Magazine of 1808

Rowland Mainwaring

I have written elsewhere about Rowland’s career:

Thomas Mainwaring

Thomas Mainwaring was educated at Mr Kelly’s Northampton Academy, with emphasis on writing and accounts. In late 1800 or early 1801, at the age of sixteen, Thomas petitioned to become an East India Company Writer, the organisation’s most junior rank. He arrived in India on 23 August 1801.

A view of Calcutta from Fort William (1807). Aquatint from a set of prints published by Edward Orme. New arrivals sailing to the city first passed Fort William. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
The Writer’s Building Calcutta in about 1860 photographed by Francis Frith. The building was where the writers (clerks) worked in Calcutta). Image from Wikimedia Commons.

At this time, a considerable part of the revenue of the British East India Company derived from its monopoly on salt. In the 1780s salt was its second largest revenue source, and in 1858 10% of its income was still from salt. Many of Thomas Mainwaring’s appointments were in the Company’s Salt and Opium Department.

  • 1804, 15 March Second Assistant to the Superintendent of the Western Salt Chowkies. (Chowkies are stations for collecting customs on all branches of trade)
  • 1805, 20 May Assistant to the Superintendent of Eastern Salt Chowkies
  • 1808, 2 August In Charge of the Office of Superintendent of the Eastern Salt Chowkies
  • 1810, 5 July In Charge of the Office of Superintendent of the Salt Golahs at Sulkea (A golah is a warehouse. Sulkea was opposite Calcutta on the west bank of Hooghly River; Sulkea was originally a place where salt was brought and stored in warehouses. Present day Salkia)
  • 1811, 1 November Sub-Secretary to the Board of Trade, Salt and Opium Department
  • 1814, April Nominated to Endorse Stamp Papers
  • 1815, 11 March Collector of Tipperah (the princely state of Tripura now located in the present-day Indian state of Tripura.)
  • 1815, 21 March Acting Superintendent of the Western Salt Chowkies
  • 1819, 1 March Collector of Juanpore (present day Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh)
  • 1824, 19 March Collector of Inland Customs and Town Duties of Calcutta
  • 1824, 8 July One of the Magistrates of the Town of Calcutta
  • 1831, 15 February Commercial Resident at Cossimbazar
  • 1835, 22 January Acting Salt Agent at Tumlook (present day Tamluk)
  • 1835 He was granted furlough to Mauritius and died on the way there on 6 May.

Deaths: On the 6th of May, on board the ship the Duke of Roburgh, on his way to the Mauritius, where he was proceeding for the benefit of his health, Thomas Mainwaring, Esq. of the Bengal Civil Service

English Chronicle and Whitehall Evening Post of 24 October 1835
Map of Indian places mentioned in the careers of Edward, Thomas and George Mainwaring

George Mainwaring

George Mainwaring was accepted as a Writer in 1807. His petition to join the civil service of the Honourable East India Company was dated 23 December 1806. He was about fifteen years old. He attended Haileybury College from 1807 – 1809. He was appointed to the company in 1810 and arrived in India on 30 July 1810. Some of his early appointments also included the administration of salt:

  • 1815, July 18: Assistant to the Salt Agent at Tumlook.
  • 1815, Oct 27: Officiating Superintendent of Eastern Salt Chowkies.

He became a Civil and Session Judge of Benares and agent to the Lieutenant Governor of Benares. He retired in 1841 and died in England.

Benares, A Brahmin placing a garland on the holiest spot in the sacred city. 1832 Lithograph, by the Anglo-Indian scholar and mint assay master James Prinsep. Image taken from Benares illustrated, in a series of drawings. Calcutta : printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Circular Road, 1830-1834. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
In 1832 George Mainwaring was Officiating Judge of the Provincial Court of Appeal at Benares

Salt agents in Bengal

In Bengal salt was not made by solar evaporation—the usual process—but by boiling concentrated brine, extracted from salt-rich soil by washing with seawater. Bengal salt was known as panga. The Bengal method followed a boiling process because Bengal’s extreme humidity made it difficult to crystallize brine by solar power alone and readily available fuel such as grass and paddy straw made panga production possible there. The brine was boiled for long hours in small earthenware pots at low temperatures producing fine white salt.

The interior of a boiling house in Tamluk, with two malangis (salt labourers) boiling brine with grass or paddy straw. Source: Notes on the Manufacture of Salt in the Tamluk Agency, by H.C. Hamilton, Salt Agent, Dated September 23, 1852, Appendix B, BPP, vol. 26, 1856.

At the end of the 18th century, the East India Company divided the salt-producing areas of Bengal into six agencies run under salt agents — Hijli, Tamluk, the 24-Parganas, Raimangal, Bhulua and Chittagong. In the early 19th century, to make the salt tax more profitable and reduce smuggling, the East India Company established customs checkpoints throughout Bengal and an inland customs line was built across India from 1803 to prevent smuggling of salt from coastal regions in order to avoid the substantial salt tax; it was initially made from dead thorny material.

The agents would contract with the malangis, salt labourers, and pay advances to them as well as supervise the entire process of salt production, the storage of salt in the Company’s warehouses, and its delivery to merchants. Agents were also required to be on the lookout for illegal production and smuggling. A chain of native officers at different stages in the production process enabled a salt agent to manage the entire scope of commercial activities within his region. The salt agents were responsible for producing the authorized annual quota; success or failure in production would determine the Company’s salt revenues. Salt agents were active in production. For example, salt agents advanced money to the malangis, the salt labourers, and occasionally helped the malangis procure fuels in order to prevent delay to production.

Relatives in high places

When looking at the Writers’ petitions for Thomas and George, in both cases I noticed that in presenting the nomination to Henry Strachey the petitioner was a grandson of Lady Strachey. Jane Latham’s widowed mother Jane Latham nee Kelsall (1738 – 1824), had married Henry Strachey in 1770. Henry Strachey was private secretary to Lord Clive from 1764. Jane Strachey nee Kelsall, was first cousin to Margaret, wife of Lord Clive.

From the petition by Thomas Mainwaring to join the East India Company (file viewed through FindMyPast)
From the petition by George Mainwaring to join the East India Company (file viewed through FindMyPast); Henry Strachey was a baronet from 1801 and hence his wife was now Lady Strachey.
Sir Henry Strachey. Image from the University of Michigan which holds many of his papers including correspondence with his wife Jane.

As younger sons of a younger son, Thomas and George Mainwaring did not expect to inherit the estate. A career was necessary and it seems their maternal grandmother’s second husband, Henry Strachey, helped with their introduction to the East India Company.

References

Wikitree:

Sophia Duff

05 Sunday Sep 2021

Posted by in Canada, Duff, Gordon, Mainwaring, Yorkshire

≈ 1 Comment

Sophia Henrietta Duff, my fourth great grandmother, was born about 1790, probably in Canada, to Major William Duff of the 26th Foot and Dorothy Duff nee Skelly.

William Duff and Dorothy Skelly were married on 9 April 1787 at Redmarshall, Durham. William was an illegitimate son of James, second Earl of Fife. Dorothy was the great granddaughter of Alexander, second Duke of Gordon.

Shortly after their marriage William’s regiment was posted to Canada and Dorothy accompanied him there. William retired from the army in March 1793 and the family returned to Yorkshire.

Major William Duff died aged 41 on 5 July 1795 at Fulford, near York. He was survived by his widow and only child. His inscription in the Duff family mausoleum (at Duff House, Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) stated:

Sacred to the memory of William Duff of the 26th Regiment, a meritorious officer, a most sincere friend, an affectionate husband, an indulgent parent. He lived esteemed and respected. He died regretted and lamented in the 41st year of his age in the year of the Lord 1795.

Cramond, William (editor). “The Annals of Banff.“ New Spalding Club, 1893, Issue 10, page 369. Retrieved through Google Books 

Dorothy and Sophia stayed in touch with William’s family. A letter written by Dorothy to her father-in-law in London mentions a visit to William’s sister, and that Sophia was visited at school by her paternal grandfather.

Dorothy Duff (William’s widow) to Earl Fife
Richmond, Yorkshire Dec’r 23rd, 1801.
My Lord,— I have to thank you for a letter which yu were so good as inclose me fr Lady Duff before you left Duff House, and after being so long without hearing fr your Lordship, was glad to have so good an account of you which was confirmed to me by ye Miss Whartons who wrote me after ye Ball you gave them and that they seemed to have much enjoyed. I have to thank you, my Lord, likewise for your visit to Sophia at Doncaster, where, she tells me, you were so kind as to call upon her notwithstanding a very bad day on which you walked up to ye School, and by which she was much flattered. I had ye pleasure of receiving her a few days ago in perfect health when I returned home after being near three months with my friends at Redmoss Hall. Sophie is wonderfully grown, and is now nearly as tall as I am. When she was with me in Summer I had her at Scarborough two months for ye sea bathing, which gave us an opportunity also of being wt Miss Duff who we had not seen for a very long time. She is by this time gone to Ly Norcliffe. I hope ye much wished for Peace will be ye means of bringing Sir James and Ly Duff soon to England. Your Lordship may perhaps have heard that my Brother is married. It took place here a week ago, before I came home, and he has entirely left ye army — in which he has relinquished very flattering prospects.
Your Lordship would be sorry for ye death of poor Ld Adam Gordon — in whom I lose an affectionate relation and friend. I was deeply hurt at ye event- Sophia and I were to have spent this coming Christmas wt him at ye Burn. It was so settled when he was so kind as visit me here in ye summer, but our plans formed so long have proved vain. Sophia sends her duty to your Lordship.— Wh my respectful good wishes I remain, My Lord, your much obliged, etc., etc.,
D. Duff.
The Earl of Fife, Fife House, London. 

from Alistair Tayler & Tayler, Helen Agnes Henrietta, 1869-1951, joint author (1914). The book of the Duffs. Edinburgh W. Brown. Volume 2 page 523 retrieved through archive.org

The letter mentions :

  • Sophia, who was about 11
  • William’s sister, Jean Duff,
  • William’s brother, Sir James Duff and his wife Basilia, Lady Duff nee Dawes
  • Dorothy’s brother, Gordon Skelly, who on 15 December 1801 married Elizabeth Newsome
  • Dorothy’s great uncle, Lord Adam Gordon, the brother of Dorothy’s paternal grandmother. He died on 13 August 1801.

Sophia’s school at Doncaster was probably the school of Mrs Ann Haugh on Hall Cross Hill, which opened in February 1797, accepting 12 young ladies. Mrs Haugh was the wife of the painter George Haugh, who taught his wife’s pupils.

1 Hall Cross Hill, the location of Mrs Haugh’s school in 1801; image retrieved from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/839464

Dorothy Duff nee Skelly, widow of Richmond, Yorkshire, remarried to Captain George Tobin of the Royal Navy on 13 June 1804 at St George, Bloomsbury, England. Her daughter Sophia was then about 14 years old.

Two children were born to Captain Tobin and Dorothy: George in 1807 and Eliza in 1810.

Sophia met her future husband Rowland Mainwaring at a picnic at Devonport on 11 July 1808. In his book “The First Five Years of My Married Life” he described their meeting as `love at first sight‘. They became engaged two years later in November 1810 and were married on 31 December.

from pages 21 – 22 The First Five Years of My Married Life by Rowland Mainwaring
A portrait of Sophia painted in 1841, many years after her death in 1824; the portrait is now hanging at Whitmore Hall.

Sources

Related posts:

Wikitree:

Rowland Mainwaring: from midshipman to rear-admiral

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by in Mainwaring, Napoleonic wars, navy

≈ 2 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

Wikitree: Rowland Mainwaring (1782 – 1862)

Jemmett Mainwaring and HMS Babet

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Mainwaring, navy

≈ 3 Comments

Following on from my previous post Jemmett Mainwaring and the start of a Mainwaring naval tradition – part 1 …

19th century miniature portrait of a naval officer auctioned 2014. https://www.icollector.com/19th-century-miniature-portrait-of-a-naval-officer_i20162528 Item description “19th century miniature portrait of a naval officer, Capt Jemmet Mainwaring”

In June 1797, at the age of thirty-four, Jemmett Mainwaring was given command of HMS Babet, a four-year-old 20-gun French corvette, captured by the British three years previously. In the Royal Navy system she became a sixth-rate post ship, too small for a frigate, but big enough to require the command of a captain.

Capture on 23 April 1794 of Pomone, Engageante and Babet by Thomas Whitcombe. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Between 25 July and 5 October 1797 under Captain Mainwaring HMS Babet captured three merchant vessels:

  • the brig Decision, of 200 tons and eight men, recaptured while sailing from Cape to Puerto Rico in ballast;
  • the brig Schuylkill, of Philadelphia, 100 tons and eight men, sailing from New York to Puerto Rico with a cargo of flour, supposedly Spanish property; and
  • the barque Æolus, of Copenhagen, 180 tons and 10 men, sailing from Marseilles to St. Thomas, with a cargo of wine, French property.

The London Gazette “No. 14073”. 12 December 1797. p. 1192 includes an account of the captures.

On 16 January 1798 Babet‘s boats captured the French schooner Désirée between Martinique and Dominique.

Letter from Captain Jemmett Mainwaring to Henry Harvey describing the capture of La Desiree. Harvey forwarded the letter to Evan Nepean then Secretary to the Board of Admiralty.
From The London Gazette “No. 15005”.  7 April 1798. p. 295.

Between July and December 1798 HMS Babet was refitted at Portsmouth at a cost of £5,194 [about £230,000 today] .

After her refit HMS Babet under Mainwaring began another successful run of captures:

  • in December 1798 she recaptured the American ship Helena.
  • on 18 and 19 January 1799, she captured two French fishing vessels, Deux Freres Unis, with a cargo of herring, and another small vessel, the Jacques Charles.
  • on 24 June HMS Babet in company with HMS Harpy, an 18 gun brig-sloop, captured the ship Weloverdagt.
Surrender of Samuel Story’s Dutch Texel squadron to a British-Russian fleet under Andrew Mitchell, 30th of August 1799 in the Vlieter. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

In 1799 HMS Babet took part in an Anglo-Russian invasion of the North Holland peninsula. There Babet briefly served as Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell‘s flagship in the Zuider Zee. Babet was listed with other ships of the British fleet as qualifying for prize money for the capture of several Dutch hulks and ships on 28 August 1799. On 30 August 1799, a squadron of the Batavian Navy with 632 guns and 3,700 men surrendered to the British navy under Vice-Admiral Mitchell in the Vlieter near Wieringen, North Holland.

Babet was also among the numerous vessels that shared in the proceeds after HMS Dart captured the French frigate Desirée from Dunkirk harbour on 8 July 1800.

Engraving after a painting by Thomas Whitcombe showing HMs Dart capturing the French frigate Désirée in July 1800.
Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Loss of HMS Babet

In September 1800 HMS Babet left Spithead with orders to convey General John Knox to Jamaica, where he was to take up the position of Governor. On 24 October she arrived at Fort-Royal Bay, Martinique, sailing the next day for Jamaica. HMS Babet was never seen again. It seems likely that she foundered in a storm.

Newspaper reports in early 1801 reported on the probable loss. There were also a few suggestions that she had in fact survived.

Letters concerning the loss of the Babet

“About this time [1801] we got the melancholy account of the loss of the Babet, the ship in which our dear John (General Knox) was gone out as Governor and Commander in Chief to Jamaica. Many, many tears did I shed for him, I loved him as a brother, and never, I believe, was there a man so deserving of the regard and regret everyone expressed for him. We long had hopes that the ship was not lost, as it was not seen to go down, but years have elapsed since, therefore no hope can be indulged, though I am sometimes fool enough to feel some, in spite of my almost conviction that it is impossible they ever should be realised.” [The Honourable Frances Calvert nee Pery at An Irish beauty of the regency page 13 retrieved through archive.org]

The letters of Henry Swinburne concerning the fate of his son who was aide-de-campe to Knox, document the uncertainty of the fate of the Babet.

“London , January 3rd, 1801. … I am uneasy at not hearing yet of Harry’s arrival in Jamaica, though various persons conversant with those seas laugh at my fears . [footnote: He went out as secretary and aide-de-camp to General Knox, commander-in-chief at Jamaica. The ship was never more heard of, and must have foundered between Martinique and Jamaica.]

February 2nd . Another Jamaica mail arrived this morning, which left the island on the 21st of December, at which time no account had been received of General Knox. They are very low at the Admiralty concerning it. I have been all the morning in the city, hunting for information ; but there are so many contradictory reports and conjectures that I returned just as I went, except feeling my spirits depressed by the fatigue. I assure you I keep nothing from you, nor palliate nor exaggerate; spero contra spent . I do all I can to resist the weight of despondency, but, indeed, I am cruelly alarmed, and prepare myself for the worst. I cannot pretend to bid you keep up your spirits, or hope or despond, for I know not what to do or to say. My thoughts are on the rack about your health, and the improbability that your shattered nerves will be able to resist such a blow as this may prove. Colonel Barry sits all day over the fire crying, and is angry if one suggests a hope. He quite kills me. I had got so far when Mr. Higgins came in, who declares upon his honour he would not buoy me up with false hopes, but his opinion is not the least altered by the arrival of this packet, nor will it till we hear from Honduras. There is nothing so common as ships driving past Jamaica and being lost for months; Admiral Parker was so for four months. 

February 6th. Barry has quite got up his spirits, but I fancy from no reason but Higgins’s persevering in his opinion, or perhaps from forcing himself out into the fresh air. How often have I admired and felt the force of the Marquis of Ormond’s exclamation about his dead son! Ours, if gone, is gone “with- out a blot upon his fair fame.” How time runs on! — every day sinks so much of my hopes, that I feel myself unmanned by every desponding expression or look of other people. 

February 12th. I write to save the last post. We had just dined when a letter came from Colonel Barry, enclosing one just received from the General, the date of which was the 25th of October, from Martinique. They had arrived, after an agreeable passage in a good ship, the day before. They were to re-embark that evening for Jamaica, where the General expected to be landed about the 1st of November. His letter is written in uncommon spirits. He says they were all well, but that he keeps Swinburne so busy he has no time to write, and therefore begs Barry to acquaint his family that he is safe and well. It was almost too much happiness to bear when these tidings came amidst all our anxiety, and we were quite overcome at such unusual ways of digestion. 

February 21 st. … Higgins says there is a letter arrived to a Mr. Miller, announcing the safety of all the crew of the Babet. By that I should imagine they have been shipwrecked. I care not, so he is safe. 

February 24th Nepean has just written to me in a style you must like: “I am a father, and can therefore participate in your feelings on the news of your son’s safety ; long may he live ! I am sure he will be an honour to his name.” 

March 2nd , 1801. Another month begun, and yet no satisfactory accounts of my dear son ! My hopes and fears are exactly what they were, and I wait in silence and sullen patience the accounts from Jamaica. 

March 4th. … This strong south-west wind might have blown some ships in from Jamaica. I dare not say I long for their arrival. 

March 28th . Every day takes away part of our hopes ; there are letters by the Jamaica mail, and accounts have been received from Honduras and other parts of the island. They have seen nothing of the unfortunate Babet , so that little opening remains but the chances of capture, which I am afraid would have been known before now. The Knox family and Colonel Barry give it up as a lost case. I write illegibly, for my eyes are dim, and every letter appears double.Can it be that the Almighty made my Hariy so good, so perfect, and protected him through so many perils, to take him away so early? I cannot believe it, till compelled by time and circumstances. I will still hope, till hope itself shall turn to despair. Pray look among my papers for all his precious letters, and put them carefully together. Happy is the farmer whose son learns to plough his land, and remains with him till his dying day !” [Secret Memoirs Of The Courts Of Europe Letters Written At The End Of The Eighteenth Century Vol Ii by Henry Swinburne pages 264 to 274 retrieved through archive.org]

Lines on the loss of the Babet by the Poet Laureate

Jemmet Mainwaring’s second cousin Henry James Pye (1745 – 1813) was appointed Poet Laureate in 1790, and held the post for 23 years. (Justly or otherwise Henry Pye is widely regarded as England’s worst Poet Laureate). Among his work is a poem on the loss of HMS Babet and the deaths of Mainwaring and Knox. The poem was reproduced in The Naval Chronicle.

James Stanier Clarke; John McArthur. The Naval Chronicle: Volume 5, January-July 1801: Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects. Cambridge University Press. p. 525

Captain Jemmett Mainwaring’s will was probated in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 1 July 1801. [PROB 11/1360/15] He left the bulk of his estate to Anne Mainwaring, daughter of his cousin William Mainwaring.

Jemmett Mainwaring and the start of a Mainwaring naval tradition – part 1

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by in Mainwaring, navy

≈ 2 Comments

In the late eighteenth century midshipmen (‘young gentlemen’ aspiring to become commissioned officers) usually joined the British navy through patronage or ‘interest’: string-pulling. You got your berth under a captain your family had connections with. After six years of notionally voluntary service a midshipman who successfully completed a formal examination could be promoted to lieutenant. There was no system of purchased commission as in the army: this meant that a naval career could be open to boys of less wealthy families and to younger sons of the rich who were destined not to inherit.

Rowland Mainwaring joined the navy in 1795 as a midshipman on the Jupiter under Captain William Lechmere. Recording his promotion to captain in 1832, the Royal Naval Biography notes that Rowland’s initial engagement was through the patronage of Admiral Sir John Laforey. I do not know how the Mainwarings were connected either to the Lechmere or to the Laforey families.

Rowland was one of five cousins who joined the navy about this time. With the exception of Jemmett Mainwaring (1763 – 1800), a first cousin of his father, no member of this branch of Mainwaring family had ever followed a naval career.

Abbreviated family tree: The grandson and great grandsons of Edward Mainwaring and Jemima Mainwaring nee Pye who joined the British navy are highlighted in blue.

Jemmett Mainwaring born 1763 was the youngest son of of Benjamin Mainwaring (1719 – 1782) who had three sons who survived to maturity . Jemmett’s oldest brother Edward (1744 – 1803) served as an officer during the first American war. The second brother, John Montague Mainwaring (1761 – 1842), also served in the army rising to the rank of Lieutenant-General.

Jemmett seems to have obtained a midshipman’s place no later than 1783. It was a requirement at the time that before being commissioned as a lieutenant, an officer had to serve six years at sea and pass an examination. Jemmett Mainwaring was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1789 when he was 26.

I have found no record of his career before he was lieutenant nor do I know who his patron was. However, Jemmett Mainwaring’s grandmother, Jemima Mainwaring nee Pye (1681 – 1721) had a nephew, Thomas Pye (1708 – 1785), an admiral. Although Jemima was no longer alive to exert any influence on behalf of her grandson, perhaps Jemmett’s father Benjamin appealed to his maternal cousin on his behalf. Jemmett was a younger son, with two surviving older brothers. His father was also a younger son. A naval apprenticeship for Jemmett, with the likelihood of a commission, must have seemed an attractive prospect, potentially very rewarding.

The Royal Navy was expanded rapidly, especially at the time of the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792 – 1801. In 1784 there were 2,230 officers of whom 1,499 were lieutenants. In 1800 there were 3,168 officers of whom 2,120 were lieutenants; increases of over 40%. Moreover, in 1784 only about 25% of officers were serving afloat. In 1800 60% of officers and 68% of lieutenants were serving afloat.

Jemmett Mainwaring’s first placement as a lieutenant, from June 1789, was on HMS Royal George, a 100-gun first rate ship of the line, launched at Chatham Dockyard the year before Jemmett Mainwaring joined her. It appears that he served on the Royal George until 1795. 

HMS Royal George on the right fitting out in the River Medway off what is now Sun Pier, with HMS Queen Charlotte under construction in the centre background. This is a view from Chatham Ness, today the southernmost point of the Medway City Estate. Artist: Nicholas Pocock. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Jemmett Mainwaring may have been on the Royal George at the Glorious First of June, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant of 1794. This was the first and largest fleet battle during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French admiral, Rear-Admiral Louis-Thomas Villaret-Joyeuse, had sailed from Brest to intercept a valuable grain fleet from America, urgently needed in famine-stricken France. The English commander-in-chief, Lord Howe, sailed with the Channel Fleet to intercept the convoy; neither the French battle fleet nor the British encountered the convoy, which reached Brest in safety. Instead the two battle fleets made contact on 28 May, some 365 nautical miles (673 km) off Ushant, Brittany.

Only a few British ships managed to pierce the French line and engage closely with the enemy. The Royal George, Admiral Hood‘s flagship, was one of these. It engaged closely with two French ships but lost its foremast and suffered damage to the rigging during the battle.

Map of the position of the ships of the British Royal Navy and the French Navy at the start of their battle on 1 June 1794. Image from Wikimedia Commons: authors users Ruhrfisch and Maxrossomachin
Philip James de Loutherbourg: The Battle of the First of June, 1794 retrieved from Wikimedia Commons
The painting shows the duel between the opposing flagships ‘Queen Charlotte’ (Howe, centre left) and the ‘Montagne’ (Villaret-Joyeuse); and also the the sinking of the ‘Vengeur du Peuple’, 74 guns, and the attempts to rescue her crew.

In June 1795 Jemmett Mainwaring was commissioned with the rank of commander and was appointed to HMS Espiegle, a 16 gun French-built sloop captured by the British in 1793.  When the Royal Navy took her into service they retained her name. Six months later in December 1795 Mainwaring was transferred to the command of HMS Victorieuse.

Victorieuse was a brig of the French Navy, launched at Honfleur in 1794. The British captured her in August 1795 and took her into service as HMS Victorieuse. She was fitted out at Portsmouth dockyard at a cost of £890. On 22 February 1796 she sailed for the Leeward Islands, a group of islands colonised by the British and situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Victorieuse was at the attack on St. Lucia on 24 May 1796 and was one of the vessels covering the landing of troops at Choc Bay. She shared in the prize money paid in June 1800.

In July 1796 Jemmett Mainwaring was promoted to Captain, with command of HMS Aimable, a 32 gun French frigate built in 1776 and captured by the British in 1782. The Aimable had a complement of 192.

On the evening of 22 July 1796, shortly after taking command, Mainwaring in the Aimable engaged the French frigate Pensee (44 guns and 400 men; Seine class frigate originally named La Spartiate) off Guadeloupe. Although the Pensee was a significantly more powerful vessel, the men of the Aimable were, so it is reported, more than willing to take her on, crying “To glory or to death!” when Mainwaring pointed out the superior force of their opponent. Mainwaring himself said that he would lead them into action against their republican foe with sincere pleasure.

In the exchange the Pensee suffered losses of 28 men killed and 36 wounded. The Aimable had two men wounded. The next morning the Aimable was preparing to capture the Pensee, making preparations to lash the Pensee’s bowsprit to the Aimable’s main mast when the French commander and his crew greeted the British frigate by pulling off their hats and waving them. The British sailors returned this chivalrous salute but then the Pensee sailed away and escaped. Three days later the Aimable arrived at the island of St Thomas, then a Danish colony,  and found the Pensee there undergoing repairs. The British and French commanders subsequently dined together with the Danish Governor.

In other engagements under the command of Jemmett Mainwaring the Aimable captured the French Privateer L’Iris (6 guns) in September 1796 and in April 1797 took the Privateer Le Chasseur (6 guns).

Places in the Carribean associated with Jemmett Mainwaring
19th century miniature portrait of a naval officer auctioned 2014. https://www.icollector.com/19th-century-miniature-portrait-of-a-naval-officer_i20162528 Item description “19th century miniature portrait of a naval officer, Capt Jemmet Mainwaring”

…TO BE CONTINUED. 

Sources

  • UK, Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy, 1660-1815 retrieved through ancestry.com
  • Rodger, N.A.M. “Commissioned officers’ careers in the Royal Navy, 1690–1815.” Journal for Maritime Research, vol. 3, no. 1, 2001, pp. 85-129.  https://doi.org/10.1080/21533369.2001.9668314
    • quoting Naval Promotions (HC 1833 XXIV p.279) p.282
  • Harrison, Cy. “Jemmett Mainwaring (d.1801).” Three Decks – Warships in the Age of Sail, threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_crewman&id=10119.
  • The London Gazette
  • Marshall, John (1825). 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: Superannuated rear-admirals. Retired captains. Post-Captains. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. Volume II Part II pp. 600–5. [Biography of John Wight Esq who was lieutenant on the Aimable in July 1796.]
  • James, William (1826). The Naval History of Great Britain from the Declaration of War by France, in February 1793 to the Accession of George IV in January 1820. Harding, Lepard, and Company. pp. 484–6.

Related posts

Midshipman Rowland Mainwaring

20 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Mainwaring, navy, Whitmore

≈ 5 Comments

In May 1795, at the age of twelve, Rowland Mainwaring (1782 – 1862), my fourth great grandfather, joined the Royal Navy as a ‘young gentleman’, an aspiring officer. He was under the patronage of Admiral Sir John Laforey. His first ship was the Jupiter, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line commanded by Captain William Lechmere.

The Art Gallery of Ballarat has an 1885 painting of the Jupiter by the Norwegian artist Johan Bennetter. Disguised as an East Indiaman, the
Jupiter is being pursued by the French frigate Preneuse. The Jupiter has
fired into the French ship’s rigging, the first shot of their engagement.

In the same year he became a midshipman on the Scipio, a 64-gun third rater, serving on the West Indies Station. He also served for a short while on the Beaulieu, a 40-gun fifth-rate frigate, and on the Ganges a 74 gun third-rater. In just over a year Mainwaring had served in four ships, ranging in size from 40 to 74 guns. The Beaulieu had a notional complement of 320 officers and men and the Ganges 590 (naval vessels of the period were usually short-handed).

In 1796 Mainwaring transferred to HMS Majestic, a 74-gun third-rater under Captain George Blagdon Westcott. The Majestic was taking Admiral Sir John Laforey back to England from the Leeward Islands Station. In June 1796, John Laforey died of yellow fever aboard the Majestic on his return voyage to Portsmouth.

HMS Majestic under Westcott then joined the Channel Fleet, and was present at the Spithead Mutiny in April and May 1797. The mutiny at Spithead (an anchorage near Portsmouth) lasted from 16 April to 15 May 1797. It was one of two major mutinies in 1797. Sailors on 16 ships in the Channel Fleet protested against the living conditions aboard Royal Navy vessels and demanded a pay rise, better victualling, increased shore leave, and compensation for sickness and injury. During the mutiny the mutineers maintained regular naval routine and discipline aboard their ships (mostly with their regular officers), allowed some ships to leave for convoy escort duty or patrols, and promised to suspend the mutiny and go to sea immediately if French ships were spotted heading for English shores. Because of mistrust, especially over pardons for the mutineers, the negotiations broke down, and minor incidents broke out, with several unpopular officers sent to shore and others treated with signs of deliberate disrespect.

The mutiny ended with an agreement that saw a royal pardon for all crews, reassignment of some of the unpopular officers, a pay raise and abolition of the purser’s pound. Afterwards, the mutiny was to become nicknamed the “breeze at Spithead”.

HMS Majestic then joined the Fleet in the Mediterranean and assisted Rear-admiral Nelson in a search for for the French fleet.

The Battle of the Nile was fought from 1 to 3 August 1798 at Aboukir Bay, on the Nile Delta, 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Alexandria. The British fleet, led by Nelson, decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers.

At this time Rowland Mainwaring was 15 years old. He never forgot the experience and frequently mentioned the anniversary in his diary entries. In later years he commissioned the marine artist Thomas Luny to paint the battle, himself sketching what he remembered of the scene, in particular the terrible moment when the flagship of the French Navy, L’Orient, was hit by a cannonball in her gunpowder magazine and exploded. The painting by Luny showing the battle at 10 p.m. on 1 August 1798 still hangs in Whitmore Hall.

The painting of the Battle of the Nile by Thomas Luny commissioned by Rowland Mainwaring still hangs at Whitmore Hall

Although it was late afternoon and the British fleet had no accurate charts of the bay, Nelson ordered an immediate attack on the French who were unprepared and unable to manoeuvre as the British split into two divisions and sailed down either side of the French line, capturing all five ships of the vanguard and engaging the French 120-gun flagship Orient in the centre. At 21:00, Orient caught fire and exploded, killing most of the crew and ending the main combat. Sporadic fighting continued for the next two days, until all of the French ships had been captured, destroyed or had fled; eleven French ships of the line and two frigates were eliminated.

 Map of ship positions and movements during the Battle of Aboukir Bay, August 1-2, 1798. British ships are red, French ships are blue. Intermediate ship positions are shown in pale red/blue. Based on a map from Intelligence in War, John Keegan, 2003 and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons. I have shown the positions of the Majestic with black stars.

Majestic was towards the rear of the British line, and did not come into action until late in the battle. Together with HMS Bellerophon, Majestic, passed by the melee and advanced on the so far unengaged French centre. In the darkness and smoke Majestic collided with the French ship Heureux and became entangled in her rigging. Majestic then came under heavy fire from the French ship Tonnant. Unable to stop in time, Westcott’s jib boom became entangled with Tonnant‘s shroud. Trapped for several minutes, Majestic suffered heavy casualties. The captain of the Majestic, George Westcott was hit by a musket ball in the throat and killed. Lieutenant Robert Cuthbert took command and was confirmed as acting captain by Nelson the day after the battle.

Tonnant under fire from HMS Majestic at the Battle of the Nile  by Louis Lebreton. In the collection of Royal Museums Greenwich.

The Battle of the Nile was a great defeat for the French. The Royal Navy lost 218 killed and 677 wounded; the French losses were 2,000–5,000 killed and wounded, 3,000–3,900 captured, 9 ships of the line captured, and two ships of the line and two frigates destroyed.

The strategic situation between the two nations’ forces in the Mediterranean was reversed, and the Royal Navy gained a dominant position that it retained for the rest of the war.

A medal was issued for those who took part in the Battle of the Nile. Rowland Mainwaring claimed his medal only in 1847 and received it in 1850 with a medal for the Siege of Copenhagen. I am not sure why he left it so late to claim these honours.

Great Britain. Battle of the Nile, Davison’s Medal 1798. Bronze, 47.5mm. By C.H. Küchler. Hope standing left on a rocky promontory, holding an oval medallion depicting Nelson, rev. The British Fleet assembled in Aboukir Bay preparing to engage the French: ALMIGHTY GOD HAS BLESSED HIS MAJESTY’S ARMS.; VICTORY OF THE NILE AUGUST 1. 1798. in ex. BHM 447, Eimer 890. Medals were given in gold to admirals and captains, silver to officers, gilt bronze to petty officers and bronze to all others. Image from spink.com

In 1826 the English poetess Mrs Felicia Hemans wrote her well-known ‘Casabianca‘, which begins:

The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but him had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.

The poem commemorates the young son of the commander of the French ship L’Orient who refused to desert his post without orders from his father.

“The Destruction of “L’Orient” at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798 by George Arnald. In the collection of the Royal Museums Greenwich (bhc0509)

(I will write separately about the rest of Rowland Mainwaring’s career.)

Parallels with the fictional Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey

Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey are fictional Royal Navy officers of the Napoleonic war years. Hornblower is the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester published 1937 to 1967; Jack Aubrey is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian published 1969 to 2004. Hornblower and Aubrey are both a little older than Rowland Mainwaring.

In Forester’s novel ‘Mr. Midshipman Hornblower‘ his hero has that rank between 1794 and 1799. In his fictional career Hornblower served under the famous admiral Sir Edward Pellew; Mainwaring also served under Pellew, evidently with respect and admiration, for he christened his second son ‘Edward Pellew’.

In ‘Master and Commander‘ O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey, at the time lieutenant on HMS Leander, earns a silver Nile medal. The medal is mentioned every time Aubrey puts on his dress uniform.

Sources and notes

  • 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.
  • Bradford, Ernle. Nelson: The Essential Hero. Open Road Media, 2014. 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, 114, and 115. Retrieved through archive.org
  • Cavenagh-Mainwaring, Christine and Britton, Heather, (editor.) Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. Page 82.

Note: Although the birthdate of my fourth great grandfather Rowland Mainwaring is usually given as 31 December 1783, he was baptised at St George, Hanover Square London on 18 January 1783 and thus his date of birth is actually 31 December 1782. [City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: SJSS/PR/5/16 retrieved through ancestry.com]

Two Gordons

24 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Adelaide, Mainwaring, police

≈ 2 Comments

The nineteenth-century English-born Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1833 – 1870), is scarcely read now, and if he is remembered at all, it is not for his poetry. The best of Gordon’s verse rises very little above his over-quoted quatrain:

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.

Gordon’s main interest was horse-racing, not poetry, and it shows.

Drawing of Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon riding in a steeplechase. Drawing by Eugene Montagu Scott about 1865 in the collection of the State Library of Victoria.

Gordon’s biographer says that in his youth he caused his father ‘anxiety’. The strength of this euphemism may be judged by what he did about it, which was to boot his son out at the age of twenty on a one-way trip to the colony of South Australia with a letter of introduction to the governor and a bit of advice: join the police force. For the next few years he received ‘financial assistance’ from his father, that is, regular remittances on the condition that he stayed away.

For a while Gordon ran a livery stable behind one of Ballarat’s large hotels, conveniently placed, for he was a great drinker. We live in Ballarat and we also have enjoyed a glass or two at Craig’s, so I suppose we may be said to have a connection with Adam Lindsay Gordon.

I can claim an even closer connection. My third great grandfather Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872), like Adam Lindsay Gordon banished to the colonies and living on remittances sent from home, knew him in Adelaide. Both Gordons joined the colonial police, and both drank to excess.  An 1891 newspaper article claimed Gordon Mainwaring was “on very friendly terms” with Adam Lindsay Gordon “who was also with the police force”.

The ‘with’ in this formula is rather a stretch. Gazetted as a constable on 23 August 1852, Mainwaring lasted only six weeks. On 14 October he was absent from the barracks without leave and returned drunk; he was dismissed.

Gordon Mainwaring, though not Adam Lindsay Gordon, also had a military career, rather less than glorious, rising to the rank of corporal in No. 2 Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal South Australian Volunteer militia.

In 1854, at the time of the Crimean war and the Russian Scare, Mainwaring spoke at a meeting in Walkerville urging men to join the militia, bending the truth in a worthy cause:

Mr. Mainwaring said he had been a soldier for twenty years, and was the first man who drilled the police in this colony. He had served for ten years in India ; he trusted he might say with credit. He had now settled at Walkerville, and purchased a house for £700. He respected the villagers as his friends and neighbours, and would not only volunteer, but gladly teach them their exercise either as artillerymen or infantry, being equally au fait at both. But it must be understood that he would take no additional pay for such extra services. (Cheers.)

Within a year this sketch of himself had become a little tarnished, when he was found in contempt of court, for having “been confined for drunken and disorderly conduct, but liberated on bail, [he] did not appear to his recognizances when called on to answer for his misconduct.”

Adam Lindsay Gordon, unhappy and half-mad, shot himself on Brighton beach Melbourne in 1870, 150 years ago today. Our Gordon, Gordon Mainwaring, married, bought a small farm and had seven children. He lasted until 1872.

The grave and column memorial of Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet, located at the Brighton (Victoria) General Cemetery. Image from the State Library of South Australia.
Photograph of Gordon Mainwaring from “Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda” by Christine Cavenagh-Mainwaring. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. page 103.

Sources

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