HMS Captain 1870         

 

Listing of Memorials
 

Up Memorabilia Descendants List of Memorials Other Publications Further research

  

In a book entitled “Britain’s Maritime Memorials & Mementoes” by David Saunders, published by Patrick Stephens Ltd (1996), the author details some 1400 memorials. The following list is based on those for HMS Captain, and this source is credited unless noted otherwise. 

Several other memorials have come to light, and these have been included and credited as appropriate. 

It is planned to add photos of all memorials in due course - if anyone can provide these, please contact the website author via the home page.

The listing is alphabetical to the town concerned.

Anwick, Lincolnshire
“........The loss of HMS Captain remembered in the church here by a plaque to Midshipman Alfred Angelo Ashington, who, aged 18, was lost when she foundered off Cape Finisterre”

The National Maritime Museum website (www.nmm.ac.uk) amplifies this - the church is St Edell's Church, and the wording reads "To the memory of Alfred Angelo Ashington midshipman R.N. second son of Henry and Frances Ashington born 3rd December 1852. Lost in his 18th year in H.M.S. Captain which foundered off Cape Finisterre on the morning of 7th Sept 1870"
Bedstone, near Clungunford, Shropshire (click for details)


Boscastle, Cornwall 

 “A plaque in the church here (St Meteriana)......Another young man remembered...is Sub-Lieutenant James Kirkness, aged 22, lost on HMS Captain.”

Brompton Cemetery, West London

The memorial to Field Marshall Sir John Fox Burgoyne includes the name of his son, Hugh Talbot Burgoyne, RN, VC, the captain of HMS Captain (click for details)

Chislehurst, Kent

“A plaque (presumably in the church) is to Sub-Lieutenant Herbert Murray, youngest son of the rector, lost on board HMS Captain.”

Clayton, West Sussex 

At Clayton in West Sussex, two windmills were built in the 19th century and became known as the Jack and Jill windmills. Jack has a memorial chapel dedicated to Captain Coles. (click for details)

 
Hoxne, Suffolk (near Diss, Norfolk) (click for details)

Ipswich, Suffolk

The National Maritime Museum website (www.nmm.ac.uk) reports a wall tablet on the north wall of St Matthew's Church, which reads "Edmund Sheppard Powles, Chaplain R.N. who died at sea 7 Sept 1870 aged 36, by the foundering of H.M.S. Captain off Cape Finisterre, when 500 of the crew perished"

 

Kelso, Roxburghshire

 “Remembered on (a) gravestone (is) Robert Purves, one of three surgeons on board HMS Captain when she foundered.

 

London - St Paul’s Cathedral (click for details)


London - Westminster Abbey (click for details)

 

Lymington, Hampshire

“In the parish church is a small plaque to Richard Sheepshanks and his brother-in-law Robert Castle, who were lost with HMS Captain.”

The National Maritime Museum website (www.nmm.ac.uk) amplifies this - it is the Church of St Thomas the Apostle, which has a wall tablet on the sanctuary south wall, in white and black marble, size 49 x 63 cm. It reads 

"IN MEMORY OF ROBERT FRY CASTLE LIEUTENANT R.N. AGED 25. ALSO OF RICHARD SHEEPSHANKS, COMMANDER R.N. AGED 33 (BROTHER-IN-LAW OF THE ABOVE) WHO WERE DROWNED ON 7TH SEP.TR 1870 BY THE FOUNDERING OF H.M.S. `CAPTAIN' OFF CAPE FINISTERRE"  

 

Meonstoke, Hampshire 

“A tablet in the church to the daughter of a rector also records the loss of her brother Edward Plantagenet Hume, a sub-lieutenant on HMS Captain.”

The inscription reads -  

'THINE FOR EVER IN LOVING MEMORY OF MARY LOUISA ELDEST AND DEARLY LOVED DAUGHTER OF THE REV. CHARLES JOHN HUME, RECTOR OF MEONSTOKE AND CAROLINE HIS WIFE IN THIS CHURCH/BAPTIZED SEP. 27. 1838, AND MARRIED DEC. 17. 1879 TO HENRY GRANVILLE SHARP ESQ. B.C.S. DIED AT BORNI FURREEDPORE INDIA, FEB. 24. 1883. 

"The pure in heart shall see God" 

ALSO IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF EDWARD PLANTAGENET, HER BROTHER BAPTIZED IN THIS CHURCH AUG. 26. 1848. LOST IN H.M.S. CAPTAIN AT MIDNIGHT SEPT. 6. 1870. 

"Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight." 

"Watch and pray"'

 

Micheldever, Hampshire

(This  information obtained from the Hampshire Life web site - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages/michur.htm)

“The Hon. Arthur Baring (of the family of the bankers, Baring Brothers) was a midshipman serving in H.M.S. Captain (and) was one of those who perished. The memorial to him is on the south wall of the chancel (of the church St Mary the Virgin) and the tower and clock at the village school were presented by some friends of the family in his memory.”

The National Maritime Museum website (www.nmm.ac.uk) amplifies the wording - 

"ARTHUR NAPIER THOMAS BARING MIDSHIPMAN R.N. SECOND SON OF THOMAS GEORGE AND ELIZABETH HARRIET BARING, BORN 3RD JUNE 1834, LOST AT SEA IN H.M.S. CAPTAIN OFF CAPE FINISTERRE THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER 1870 AGED 16"

(Note -there is a date error here, the birth date should probably read 1854, as it is unlikely that the age would be incorrect.)

Milbrook, Cornwall

A memorial to John Avery, lost on Captain, and his wife and daughter. (click for details)

 

Portsmouth, Hampshire (click for details)


Orton Longueville, Northamptonshire

(This memorial not listed by David Saunders, but the information obtained from Orton Longueville web site - www.camcty.govuk/library/history/ortk.htm )

“In the Church of Holy Trinity is a massive altar tomb to Charles, 10th Marquess of Huntly....One of the shields thereon is inscribed.....To Lewis Gordon; lost at sea on board HMS Captain.”

 

Ryde, Isle of Wight

Sally-Ann Garrett has provided the information of a memorial in Ryde Cemetery, where an eighteen year old sailor Arthur Horatio Dawson Hill is remembered on the grave of his old teacher, Ma’am Mary Stagg. Hill died when the Captain sank.

As Sally-Ann says, “We are curious about the relationship. I have found a birth for Arthur Hill - December 1852, in St Pancras, London, so he would only have been six when Ma’am Stagg died. We don’t know why he attended school on the Isle of Wight.

I have searched on the census - 1851 and 1861. On the 1861, I found Arthur, aged about 8, and possibly his sister Alice, aged about 14, in Wootton, Isle of Wight, both boarding pupils of Francis Giles, who was Mary Stagg's daughter; Mary died in 1858. Arthur is noted to have been born in Hampstead Road, London, so he was possibly at school on the Isle of Wight for at least 2/3 years, maybe longer.

As noted, I also checked on Ancestry.co.uk website and found his birth, but I have not yet traced any further for his birth registry, which would show his parents. ”

(See www.rydecemetery.org.uk for full details, or click here for this memorial only)

 

Sandown, Isle of Wight 

 “A window of the Princes Royal Chapel inside (Christchurch) is in memory of Lieutenant Edward Boxer, lost with HMS Captain.”



South Harting, West Sussex 
(Although nearby Ditcham is in Hampshire)

 “At nearby Ditcham was the home of Captain Cowper Coles, designer of the ill-fated HMS Captain. He was amongst those who died.”

Sutton, near Sandy, Bedfordshire (family home of the Burgoynes) - (click for details)

 

West Firle, East Sussex

The National Maritime Museum website (www.nmm.ac.uk) reports a wall memorial in St Peter's Church in white and grey marble, carved with a relief of a cross on a stepped plinth, with the wording 

"IN MEMORY OF ALLAN CORNELIUS THOROLD MANN, MIDSHIPMAN R.N. AGED 19 YEARS, SECOND SON OF COLONEL J.R. MANN, ROYAL ENGINEERS. HE WAS LOST IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY WITH UPWARDS OF FIVE HUNDRED OF THE CREW, IN H.M. TURRET SHIP `CAPTAIN', WHICH FOUNDERED OFF CAPE FINISTERRE, ON 7TH OF SEPTR 1870"