Manx National Heritage Library
Public Information Sheet No. 9 October 2005
This guide provides some information on
Manxmen who served in the Royal Navy during
the Napoleonic Wars. Some sixty six sailors and
three Royal Marines of Manx birth are believed
to have fought at Trafalgar and included in this
guide is the ‘Manx Trafalgar Roll of Honour’.
A select bibliography gives references to modern histories of the Royal Navy at the time of Trafalgar. It also provides references to required reading about Captain John Quilliam RN who served with Admiral Lord Nelson.
Manx links to Trafalgar
John Quilliam
The most famous Manxman to
have participated in the Battle
of Trafalgar was
John Quilliam, First
Lieutenant of the Victory.
Information about his
early life is sketchy, but
he was born at Marown in
1777.
He was apparently the son of a farmer, but was impressed into the Royal Navy in 1794. Quilliam showed great potential and rose through the ranks, eventually receiving a commission.
He came
to the attention of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of
Copenhagen, and Nelson
requested that he serve
aboard Victory.
During the battle of Trafalgar, the ships wheel was shot away, and Quilliam rigged up a temporary method of steering her using ropes, in the gunroom below. Quilliam’s share of Prize Money enabled him to buy property in the Isle of Man, and led ultimately to a seat in the House of Keys.
James Brown Snr (alias Cato)
James Brown senior, the father of James Brown, founder of the Isle of Man Times, claimed to have fought at Trafalgar.
He claimed to have been born a slave, and that his original name was Cato (which fits with the fashion for giving slaves Roman names), before he changed it to Brown.
No James Brown is shown on the roll of HMS Victory at Trafalgar, but interestingly there is a James Caton, aged 28, whose place of birth is shown as Brazil.
Lewis Buckle Reeves
Lewis Buckle Reeves was the son of a doctor from
Cork, Ireland, who married into a Manx family.
He served as a Lieutenant of Royal Marines aboard HMS Victory. He was wounded during the battle by grape shot which struck his forearm, but recovered and lived to reach the age of 75.
At the time of his death he was one of the last surviving officers from the Victory, and he is buried in Onchan churchyard.
Other Seafarers connected with the Battle of Trafalgar
David Christian
David Christian was born on the Isle of Man in 1779. He was on board H.M.S Africa at Trafalgar as a Private in the Royal Marines. He was wounded at the battle and lost his left arm below the elbow. He received £40 from Lloyds Patriotic Fund for Wounds. He was invalided out of the service in 1806.
Joseph Collins
Joseph Collins was born in Douglas, the son of Thomas Collins and Elizabeth nee Kelly. He was baptised in Braddan Church in March 1772. He was an Able Seaman on board H.M.S. Leviathan at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was awarded the Naval General Service Medal with Trafalgar Clasp in 1848.
Hugh Bainbridge
Hugh Bainbridge was born in Peel, the son of James Bainbridge and Ellinor nee Shimmin. He was on board H.M.S Leviathan at the Battle of Trafalgar as Able Seaman. He had his right arm shattered by a canon shot during the battle and had his arm amputated beneath the shoulder joint. He was treated at Plymouth Hospital before being invalided out of the Navy. He received £40 form the Lloyds Patriotic Fund for Wounds.
Lieutenant James Warring R.N.
'Lieutenant James Warring R.N…who died at St. Johns in the parish on the 8th day of June 1832 aged 50 years. He was engaged in the action of the Nile, that of Sir. Robert Calder and in the Battle of Trafalgar was serving on board the Ajax when that ship was destroyed by fire'. Monumental Inscription, memorial since lost.
James Warring was born in Westmorland in 1779. He volunteered to join the Navy and was Midshipman on board H.M.S Ajax during the Battle of Trafalgar. He was on board the ship when it caught fire in 1807 when his passing certificates and papers were destroyed.
John Cawle
John Cawle was born in 1784 on the Isle of Man. He was on board H.M.S Temeraire at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was wounded at the battle and had his arm amputated at Gibraltar Hospital. He was discharged from the service in 1805. After returning to the Isle of Man he became a school teacher at Kirk Bride. He was awarded the Naval General Service Medal with Trafalgar Clasp in 1848.
Robert Benjamin Young
Robert Young was born in Douglas in 1773, the son of Robert Parry and Jane nee Redfern. He was a Lieutenant commanding H.M.S Entreprenante at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was granted a parliamentary award of £161 and the Lloyds Patriotic Fund for Wounds presented him with a sword worth £100. He died in Exeter in 1846.
Thomas Curphey
Thomas Curphey was born in 1778 on the Isle of Man. He was on board H.M.S. Britannia at the Battle of Trafalgar as Quarter Gunner. He was awarded the Naval General Service Medal with Trafalgar Clasp in 1848. He features in the 1851 census as 'Thomas Curphey aged 72 (born Onchan) of Ballanard. Retired Super Boatsman RN. Married to Anne Curphey (aged 26) nee Fargher.'
James Kewley
James Kewley was born in Douglas in 1778. He was a Bosun's Mate on board H.M.S Ajax during the Battle of Trafalgar. He died in February 1807 when the Ajax was destroyed by fire.
The Manx Trafalgar Roll of Honour
Some sixty six sailors and three marines of Manx birth are believed to have fought at Trafalgar. Please click here for a full list of their names and any other information known about them.
Please note that the spelling of surnames are as recorded by the Royal Navy.
The Press Gang in the Isle of Man
Handsome bounties were offered by the Duke of Atholl
and his agents to try to obtain volunteers for the navy in
the Isle of Man, but even these were not enough to bring
forth the necessary recruits. Several times the Press
Gang visited the Island, and so valuable were Manx
sailors considered, that the gang received an extra bonus
for any Manxman taken.
This created havoc in an island dependant upon its herring fishery, for at times the fishing fleet dare not put to sea. In 1798 alone forty men were impressed in Port Erin bay, in spite of the protests of the Governor and the House of Keys to the Admiralty. In 1811 a press gang from the warship Maria raided Douglas Harbour, carrying off twenty fishermen and a number of men of the Manx Volunteers. The raid caused indignation because of the level of violence used.
The press gang created terror wherever they arrived – one occasion was recalled by Mr Shimmin of Onchan, born in 1801. He remembered an incident around 1810, whilst he was a pupil at Onchan Parish School, when the face of a black sailor appeared at the window, creating terror among the children who fled from the school. A lad of about 14 was seized by the gang, but they were forced to release him when local women pelted them with stones.
Not only fishermen were seized – there were numbers of
occasions when lads ploughing were carried off, and
sometimes many years would pass before they returned.
Others fled to the hills to hide in speciajavascript://lly constructed shelters. There was reportedly a field next to Jurby Parish School called Ballaconney, thickly overgrown with Gorse. Young men would hide themselves here when the Press Gang was scouring the district. Other times ruses were used. A man named Keggin was caught with other fishermen in Port Erin bay. He pretended to be a simpleton, and played with the buttons on the officer’s coat, saying “Oh, the dee buttons, the dee buttons” (‘dee’ meaning ‘fine’ in Manx). The officer retorted, “This botch of a man’s no use, send him away.”
The ‘Battle of Ballacraine’ took place in the old
Ballacraine hotel. Ten Manxmen were drinking there
when twelve members of the Press Gang walked in. The
Manxmen made to leave the building but were stopped
by the gang and told they were coming. In the ensuing
fight, one of the Press Gang was badly injured and
subsequently died.
Sometimes however impressment was used by local magistrates as a form of punishment. A story relates how Deemster John Lace returned home to find his serving maid locked in a passionate embrace with a Castletown youth. The Deemster, unimpressed, ordered the unfortunate lad to be handed over to the press gang.
Other Manxmen at sea in Nelson’s age
Isle of Man provided many seafarers to the Royal Navy
in the 18th Century. Among them was Peter Fannin,
who had sailed with Captain Cook on his journeys of
discovery in the Pacific in the 1770s. Upon his return
from sea, Fannin established a School of Navigation in
Douglas.
Captain William Bligh had friends in Douglas, and was married at St Peter’s church in Onchan. When he sailed to the south pacific aboard HMS Bounty in 1788 he took with him as Midshipman Peter Heywood and as First Mate Fletcher Christian, who though not born on the Island was of a Manx family, the Christians of Milntown.
The Heywood family were prominent as Deemsters and lived at the Nunnery. When Heywood became caught up in the mutiny aboard the Bounty, and was later put on trial, his sister Nessie was a tireless supporter and helped to clear his name. Heywood was allowed to resume his naval career, eventually reaching the rank of Post- Captain. His most notable appointment was to HMS Bellerophon, the famous ‘Billy Ruffian’, in which he served at several actions.
Lieutenant William Kelly of HMS Illustrious was present at the capture of Cape Town in 1806, and received a silver cup for bravery on that occasion. Kelly later retired to the Island, and in 1821 became an MHK.
Of Manxmen on the lower decks we have rather less information. It is known that William Kewley served in HMS Princess Royal at the battle of the Glorious First of June, and was with Nelson in the attack on Tenerife. In old age he was a resident in the House of Industry in Douglas.
A remarkable account exists from another Manx sailor,
Thomas Callister who was taken from a fishing boat in
Port Erin bay in 1798 and pressed into the Royal Navy
by the schooner HMS Spider. Callister was well
educated and could write, and so was promoted to the
rank of Yeoman of Signals. His notebook records his
journey to the West Indies aboard HMS Captain, and the
fact that there were numerous other Manxmen on board,
presumably pressed at the same time.
Select Bibliography
Adkins, Roy Trafalgar – The Biography of a Battle London: Abacus 2004. ISBN 0-349-11632-6
- Ancestors October 2005 issue 38 Richmond: National Archives This issue has a 27 page section devoted to the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars
- Cowin, Frank Captain John Quilliam R.N. 1771-1829 IOM Natural History & Antiquarian Society Proceedings Vol. 7, 1964-72 pp. 522-571
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory Nelson’s Sailors Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1-84176-906-1
- Gardiner, Robert(Ed) The Campaign of Trafalgar 1803-1805 London: Chatham Publishing ISBN 1-86176-028-0
- Haythornthwaite, Philip Nelson’s Navy Oxford: OspreyPublishing Ltd.1993. ISBN 1-85532-334-6
- Henry, Chris Napoleonic Naval Armaments 1792-1815, Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. 2004. ISBN 1-84176-635-6
- Konstam, Angus British Napoleonic ship of the line Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. 2001. ISBN 1-84176-308-X
- McGuane, James P. Heart of Oak a Sailor’s Life in Nelson’s Navy London: W.W. Norton & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-393-04749-0
- Maynard, C. A Nelson Companion: a guide to the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey London: Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. 2004 ISBN 1-84317-102-3 Previously published as Ships Miscellany: A Guide to the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey
- Megaw, B & E John Quilliam of the Victory Douglas: Journal of the Manx Museum, Vol. 5, No. 67 December 1942, pp. 77-81 & plate 202
- Moore, A.W. Manx Worthies Douglas: S.K.Broadbent 1901
- Northcote-Parkinson, C. Britannia Rules : The Classic Age of Naval History 1793-1815 Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1997 ISBN 0-7509-0741-X Re illustrated edition with new introduction, originally published in 1977 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson
- Robinson, William Jack Nastyface, memoirs of an English seaman Rochester: Chatham Publishing 2002. ISBN 1-86176-191-0 First published as Nautical Economy, London: William Robinson 1836.
- Wozencroft, Anthony Captain John Quilliam RN A Manxman at Trafalgar In The Trafalgar Chronicle yearbook of the 1805 Club No.12. 2002 pp.141-153 Cranbrook: The 1805 Club. ISBN 1-902392-08-6 Article adapted with additional historical data from Megaw article listed above.
Web Sources
The National Archives has a site on which you can look for persons who served at Trafalgar www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors and a number of guides for Service and Pensions Records which include the Napoleonic period.
Some documentary sources on Manx involvement are also available on www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
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