HMS Captain 1870         

 

Information and Memories from Descendants (cont)

 
Up John Collier Peter Baldwin T G Beenham John Bremner Thomas Butcher C W Dyer J Ellis George Fisher Wilfred Glanville John Gribble Albert Grover George Habens Walter Hedger Robert Herd John Hermitage Tom W Ivey Thomas Kernan RJ Magawley William May Robert Mayne Francis Merryman GH Payne Edmund Powell Alfred Ripley Anthony Spiller Arthur Tregaskiss John Walker

Descendants’ Memories –  RJ Magawley

My great aunt, who is in her 90s, was able to tell me that one of my great-great-grandfather's brothers was killed as a boy on an "experimental, hybrid ship" (she thought the name was "Caption") and had his name on a memorial in St. Paul's.  I suspected it was his youngest brother as I could find no trace of him in the 1891 or 1901 census - but have his birth certificate. 

Indeed, RJ Magawley is listed on the St Paul's plaques as one of the boys drowned in the  HMS Captain disaster.  His full name was Richard John Magawl(e)y. 

He was born on 13th August 1852 in Burton Bradstock, Dorset.  He was the youngest of a large family, having 6 elder brothers and one sister.  His parents were Hugh Magawly (born 1810-12, Ballycastle, Ireland) and Sarah Anne (neé Orley, born 1809, Beer, Devon).  Hugh was a Royal Navy Coastguard, based at Burton Bradstock from about 1842 until he retired.

A number of Richard's brothers also joined the navy (some as coastguards), as did some of his cousins. There were at least 20 cousins - many of them male, a lot based around Portland/Burton Bradstock. 

 

Kate Gooday – great-great-grandniece ?