The Diary of a Mature Student: Ninetenth Century

Showing posts with label Ninetenth Century. Show all posts

Monday, January 9, 2023

On this Day - Nelsons Furneral

Nelson's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral.

1806, Britain's War Hero Horatio Nelson had been killed at the Battle of Trafalgar just over two months ago; his body made its final journey to London from Greenwich on the 8th January.

After his death at 4.30, with no coffins on board, they needed something to store his body. A leaguer or large water barrel was the best option available. His body was prepared, his clothes (except his shirt) were removed, and a lock of his hair was cut for his dear Emma. William Beatty explained that after his body was placed in the barrel, it was filled with Brandy.

With the cask placed on the Middle deck, a sentry was placed to guard his body.

On the 28th October HMS Victory arrived at Gibraltar, and the Brandy was drained off, and fresh Brandy added. During the 5 week trip to Spithead, the Brandy was replaced twice more.

11th December Dr Beatty prepared Nelsons Body and it was at this point he found the ball that had killed him. The body was wrapped in cotton and bandaged from head to toe before being placed in a lead coffin, then a wooden coffin made from the main mast of the French Ship L'Orient from the Battle of the Nile.

His body was placed in the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital Greenwich as the nation mourned.

Nelsons Funeral

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-scandalous-decision-to-pickle-admiral-horatio-nelson-in-brandy

https://navyhistory.org.au/the-preservation-of-horatio-lord-nelsons-body/

Monday, December 19, 2022

Hartlepool Monkey

Hartlepool

Hartlepool is a coastal town in the North of England, many have never heard of it.

HMS Trincomalee

Hartlepool is the home of HMS Trincomalee and the National Royal Navy museum, however, it is another aspect of the town's nautical heritage that it is perhaps better known for.

Legend has it that coastal towns lived in constant fear of an invasion during the Napoleonic war. Fishermen and seafarers are a superstitious bunch at the best of times and observed all outsiders as potential spies.

During a storm a French ship struggled, observed by the town's fishing fleet. When it sunk off the coast of Hartlepool, the crew all lost at sea, except one. That one survivor was a Monkey dressed in military uniform. For many years it was stated that the locals, having never seen a real Frenchman and not being able to understand the monkey decided he must have been a french spy. It is said that during his trial the monkey failed to provide a defence and so he was sentenced to death by this Impromptu people's court and was hanged from the mast of a fishing boat.

The Telegraph

One other alternative was that the Monkey was actually a powder monkey, these were often small boys that were used to supply cannon with powder during battle. A small french child would likely have been unable to communicate with locals through language barriers, his traumatic sinking and fear from being away from home.

Is it true?, who knows, it is likely that the story comes from a musical song written by Ned Covan in 1855, or maybe from an earlier song about a visiting Baboon.

Many Hartlepool residents seem proud of their Monkey Hanger nickname, with the local Football team Hartlepool FC known as the Monkey Hangers, and having a mascot called H'Angus the Monkey. The clubs fanzine is called MoneyBizz .

Two local rugby teams also incorporate monkeys into their logos. Hartlepool RFC and Hartlepool Rovers.

The famous Monkey is commemorated with this statue in the marina, which is used to raise money for local charities.

Hartlepool Mail

And this statute on Hartlepool Headland

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Royal Navy Uniform Myths - Part 1

Myths of Royal Navy Uniforms

The Royal Navy seems to attract myths and legends, maybe this is due to the fact that sailors have always told tall tales and dits, going back to stories of mermaids and sea monsters. The history of the Royal Navy Uniform is no different.

There are lots of myths and rumours surrounding the origin of some of the items of the Royal Navy uniform. Some are more plausible than others.

The Collar

One such myth I have seen repeated many times is the reason for the white stripes on a blue collar.

Royal Navy Collar

The myth states that there are three white lines that represent Nelson's three great battles (Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar). And yet the French Navy also have three white strips, despite the fact they were beaten in the same three battles by the British.

The collar itself was often said to have originated to protect uniforms for tarred plaits often work by sailors in the 18th century, Royal Navy uniform was not introduced until the mid-19th century, by which time hairstyles had changed, and so tarred plaits were not the issue they had once been.

Blue Uniforms

The reason for Blue uniforms is not as is often stated to do with camouflage or that sailors were on the sea, it is simply down to the availability of cheap colour fast dye in a time before the availability of synthetic dyes, colonising India meant a ready supply of indigo.

Early naval clothing was often red or grey, and not the blue we think of today.

The Sailor Suit

Queen Victoria popularised the fashion of dressing children in the sailor suit, after dressing her son Prince Albert in a sailor suit as a child of four in 1846.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/trails/royal-travel/king-edward-vii-1841-1910-when-albert-edward-prince-of-wales

This tradition has continued with Royal Children, most recently with Prince Lois wearing a sailor suit for the Trooping of the Colour (2022).

https://www.tatler.com/article/a-history-of-royal-children-wearing-sailor-suits-a-la-prince-louis-at-trooping-the-colour

Saturday, October 22, 2022

The Gentlewomens Wardrobe

Today I had the pleasure to attend a talk with the Northern Society of Costume and Textiles, called The Gentlewomen's Wardrobe, Fashions in the Era of Anne Lister, by the great Lucy Adlington of the History Wardrobe.

Lucy talkked the auduience through the items worn by woman in the era, along with aditional information about their lives.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

The Royal Naval Exhibition 1891

The Victorian era saw a rise in many things from free time, to increased education and travel. The Victorians loved an exhibition and really threw themselves into making it bigger and better.

The Exhibition took place in the Summer of 1891 and was open to the public for almost 6 months, and the public came with over two million visitors. They travelled from all over the country to visit the exhibition in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The Royal Hospital had hosted an army exhibition in 1890, and the Admiralty had a benchmark.

The Admiralty built galleries, collected equipment and artefacts, made a lake, and had life-size replicas built. They celebrated and promoted the Royal Navy and its achievements, and its world supremacy.

Torpedo Lake

Franklin Gallery

including the Artic Sub Section

Iceberg

Nelson Galley

Blake

Benbow

including the Arts Section

Howe

Including a miscellaneous section portraying life at sea.

Cook

including the Navigation and Models section

Seppings Gallery

Including more models

St Vincent Gallery

Ordnance (Weapons and projectiles)

Armstrong Gallery

More Ordnance

Camperdown Gallery and Verandah

More Ordnance, shipbuilding and internal communications

Machinery Gallery

with state-of-the-art technology, distillers and electric lighting.

Kiosks

with models, machines and weapons

And then most exciting of all The ground with full-size replicas

HMS Victory

Eddystone Lighthouse

40-ton Ketch the Heroine

Humourous Art: Pictorial notes on the social aspects of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy Exhibition, 1891: The illustrated handbook and souvenir

One of the things I like about this guide is the illustrated adverts, many of which are for Naval outfitters or for products such as mobile telescopes.

Official catalogue and guide

Views of the Royal Navy exhibition 1891

Artic Tableaux

Surprising Resource

The Internet Archive

It's not really a surprise as I have used this website a lot in the past, but I always seem to forget it and stumble back across it later.

This time it started with a mention of the Royal Naval Uniform Regulations for Officers 1891, a quick internet search took me straight to a copy of these regulations in a New York Library, digitized by Google.

As well as great descriptions of the uniforms this book also contains some fantastic images of the uniform items.

Uniform Regulations for Officers of the Fleet, 1891

Of course, this sent me down a rabbit hole of looking for other interesting publications and the Internet Archive did not disappoint.

1879 Regulations for Naval Uniform by Herbert Booker

One of my favourites has to be the publications that came from the Royal Naval Exhibition of 1891 (more on that later)

Thursday, October 13, 2022

HMS Meleager and Captain Perkins

Historically the Royal Navy is often seen as the bastion of white men. Images of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are often of white men, but on the 6th September 1800 that all changed as HMS Meleager's (32-Gun Amazon class frigate) new Captain is piped aboard. Captain John "Jack" Perkins was taking his next command.

Having joined the Royal Navy in 1775, Perkins had served 25 years since he first went to sea as a pilot, he gained a reputation as a daring and adventurous officer. He must have made a name for himself as he took command of his first ship just three years after joining the Royal Navy. During the American War of Independence, Perkins in his first command of HMS Punch. His brave exploits led to the capture of 315 enemy ships in just two years. One of his greatest achievements during the war was capturing a French ship with 6 senior enemy officers onboard.

Perkins had a unique knowledge of the West Indies and its various ports, which was described "his knowledge of the different ports in the West Indies was, perhaps, seldom equalled, and never surpassed" The Naval Chronicle.

However with the War over, there was no place, and Perkins left the Royal Navy for a period, it is rumoured he may even have been a pirate for a short time. We know by 1793 Perkins was back in the Royal Navy and serving onboard HMS Dianna when he was captured by the French Navy on what is now Haiti, Perkins was engaged in a secret mission to smuggle arms onto the island to supply rebel enslaved persons so they could escape. At this point Britain and France were no longer at war, but the French still sentenced him to hang, His fellow Royal Navy officers, however, managed to secure his release and he returned to the fleet.

He was soon back in command of his own ship, HMS Spitfire, and with a return to war with the French, Perkins was back into action. He continued to command ships fighting both the French and Danish.

By 1804 his career was coming to an end, In January 1804 he was in command of HMS Tarter when he took part in a mission to assess the slave rebellion in Haiti.

In March 1804, Captain Perkins retired from the Royal Navy.

With his prize money, he retired to Jamacia. During his career, he had never married, though he is none to have father many children. Where he died in January 1812.

His obituary stated "he annoyed the enemy more than any other officer, by his repeated feats of gallantry, and the immense number of prizes he took" The Naval Chronicle.

http://www.blackpast.org/gah/perkins-john-jack-punch-1812
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perkins_(Royal_Navy_officer)
http://ageofsail.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/captain-john-perkins/
https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/04/08/captain-jack-the-first-black-skipper-in-the-royal-navy/

https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2021/03/08/in-which-they-also-served-tracing-british-sailors-of-colour-in-the-second-world-war-royal-navy/

Monday, October 10, 2022

A few naval hats

A few Naval Hats

Probably one of the most distinctive of historical naval headwear is the Bicorn, initially adopted by fashion-conscious officers it went on to become an official uniform item. Worn by the French, such as Napoleon with the corners in line with the shoulders, it was worn by the Navy Fore and Aft.