HMS Captain 1870         

Listing of Memorials (cont)

Clayton, West Sussex

At Clayton in West Sussex, two windmills were built in the 19^th century and became known as the Jack and Jill windmills. They fell into disuse in 1906 – Jill is owned by the Mid-Sussex District Council and maintained by volunteers, whilst Jack is in private ownership. (See www.jillwindmill.org.uk)

In 1910, Jack was leased for £10 a year by Minna Spencer Cowper Coles Anson and her husband Walter Vernon Anson, a serving naval officer.

Minna Anson’s father was Captain Cowper Coles, the designer of HMS Captain, who was lost with the ship when it capsized in 1870.

In 1917, Minna purchased the two windmills outright for £580, and lived there the rest of her life. During that time, Minna created a chapel inside Jack to the memory of Coles. It was dedicated by Archbishop Temple of York, who was related by marriage to Minna.

Local resident Simon Potter, author of the website on the windmills, adds the following –

“Up until the mid-1970s when the windmills were owned by Henry Longhurst, I do remember items hanging on the walls in Jack Windmill relating to Cowper Coles. I seem to recall a picture of a vessel, a small wooden carving of something abstract, and a circular plate around the circumference of which was the legend “The universe exists for the soul alone”.

The current owner, who has lived in Jack for the last 24 years, has confirmed (December 2004) that “The Chapel in Jack has been preserved in exactly the original state. We have a print of HMS Captain which belongs in the Chapel, but we keep it indoors mainly to avoid damage from damp. The circular plate mentioned has never left the Chapel. The carving I have never seen.”

According to Juan Campos in his book Náufragos de Antaño, “A century after the events, the loss of HMS Captain still raised ire amongst the victims’ descendants. A granddaughter of gunner James May’s assistant gunner’s mate, James Ellis, complained that The News (newspaper or magazine?) had published an article that emphasised the figure of Coles and the chapel to his memory that one of his daughters had dedicated to him in one of the Jack and Jill windmills near Brighton.

As both May and Ellis survived the disaster, it is not clear what her objection was.

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