HMS Captain 1870         

Information and Memories from Descendants (cont)

Arthur Gilbert Tregaskiss - Sub. Lieutenant  

My sisters and I remember from an early age our father, Arthur Vowles Tregaskiss, talking about the ancestor who had been an officer in the Royal Navy and had been drowned on HMS Captain. We were taken to London to see the plaque in St Paul's Cathedral.  

The one thing which did not (and still does not) add up was that his mother and father were servants on the estate of Lord Salisbury at Hatfield House. We know that his father Edward was a whitesmith and his mother Mary Ann (neé Gilbert, born in Falmouth) worked in the house; Arthur was born there in 1848.  

It was not until we found the memorial stone in a prominent position in the churchyard at Hatfield, which states that it was placed there by The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury, that it became apparent they must have taken a interest in this child's development, as we now know that he attended the Royal Hospital School at Greenwich whilst in his teens.

(Lord Salisbury was an MP 1854 to1868, when he iinheriited his father's title  and moved to the Lords. He became Foreign Secretary in 1878 and Prime Minister in 1885 and remained so for most of the time until he resigned in 1902.)  

We know little of Arthur's service career, apart from the fact that he served previously on HMS Star in the East Indies and HMS Octavia in the Red Sea and the Abyssinian Campaign.  

His middle name Gilbert comes from his mother's maiden name. Her family (from Falmouth) included a number of former naval ratings, some of whom served at Trafalgar.  

Soon after his death, my grandfather (his nephew) was born and given the same names (Arthur Gilbert).  

Shortly before her death, my aunt (my father's sister) gave me the cherished illuminated photograph of Arthur Gilbert Tregaskiss which is now a treasured possession.  

Paddie Tregaskiss-Fleet (UK) – first cousin, four times removed)