Nelson & His World

I live in Bury St Edmunds, and I have recently been searching Suffolk graveyards looking for unusual gravestones. There are many memorials to important mariners inside churches, often with important connections to Nelson's navy, but it seemed to me that, as a rule, local historians and church guidebooks have been less concerned to investigate the gravestones in the churchyards, so I was just concentrating on memorials OUTSIDE churches.

In the process I have found several memorials linked to Nelson's navy in general and the Battle of Trafalgar in particular. I wondered if anybody could assist with more information on these.

Last week I visited WOODBRIDGE, a small port on the tidal reaches of the River Deben, where I found a churchyard memorial that mentions Rear Admiral Samuel Sutton, but the strange thing is that he is mentioned on the west side of a chest tomb that commemmorates John Clarkson (1764-1828), the brother of the anti-slavery activist Thomas Clarkson (1740-1846).

Admiral Sutton should be a familiar name to those acquainted with this website, so I will not repeat anything that you will know already.

But, did Admiral Samuel Sutton have any connection with John Clarkson? Most of those with access to this website should have heard of Thomas Clarkson, the anti-slavery campaigner: his brother John Clarkson is not so well known, but he, too, had an interesting career. John Clarkson joined the navy as a young man and rose to be an officer: he also took a role in the anti-slavery movement: I do not think he had much combat experience, and I am not sure if he ever met Nelson, but he was appointed the first governor of Sierra Leone, which started as a colony for freed slaves from the British colonies. In Sierra Leone John Clarkson was more interested in establishing a free society, where the blacks received as much respect as the whites, and was not so interested in making financial profits for the backers of the colony: as a result he was dismissed and came back to England, eventually settling in Woodbridge, where he died. He and some of his relations are buried under a large chest tomb to the west of Woodbridge parish church. They are all clearly listed on the north side of the tomb, although this only lists names, dates and similar information: if you did not have prior knowledge of John Clarkson you would not suspect anything about his career from reading the information on the memorial. But on the west side there is the inscription REAR ADMIRAL SUTTON OF DITCHINGHAM LODGE NORFOLK DIED JUNE 3RD 1832 AGED 72 ALSO CHARLOTTE HIS WIFE DIED 12TH APRIL 1852 AGED 73.

How did Admiral Sutton come to be mentioned on John Clarkson's grave? From other posts on this website I see that Admiral Sutton happened to be in Woodbridge in his last days, and was buried in the church or churchyard of the town. My first suspicion was that he and John Clarkson were in some way related: for example he might have had a son who married one of John Clarkson's daughters. But that does not seem to be the case at all, for I bought a pamphlet about John and Thomas Clarkson from the local museum, and this gives a lot of genealogical information about all the Clarkson family, but there is no connection with Admiral Sutton that I can discover. Does anybody know why Admiral Sutton came to be mentioned on the side of John Clarkson's memorial?

Another intriguing grave is that of CAPTAIN EDWARD ROTHERAM (1753-1830). He has a memorial in the churchyard at BILDESTON. Again, those with access to this site should know something about Edward Rotheram: on paper his credentials seem most impressive: he held command on 'The Glorious First Of June' and again at Trafalgar: it would be assumed that this would make him a heroic figure. But Admiral Collingham disliked Rotheram greatly, calling him 'a man of no talent'. In 1808 he was court martialled for inappropriate treatment of his junior officers and the ship's chaplain: this effectively ended all prospects of continued advancement in the navy, and rather put an end to his naval career. Rotheram's conduct must have been exceptionally reprehensible: I would have imagined that if there was a court martial in which a ships captain was tried for mistreatment of junior members of the crew the court would be predisposed to take the captain's side, and that the senior officers of the navy might also be inclined to treat the captain with sympathy, but Captain Rotheram's reputation never recovered. He happened to be at Bildeston when he died, a village 25 miles from the sea, and was buried in the churchyard. There is a red marble memorial over his grave, saying IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN E ROTHERAM CB, WHO COMMANDED ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD'S FLAGSHIP SOVEREIGN AT TRAFALGAR 1805 WAS ALSO FIRST LIEUT OF CULLODEN IN LORD HOWE'S VICTORY OF JUNE 1ST 1794. Another inscription on the side says ERECTED BY BROTHER OFFICERS AND FRIENDS 1891. It seems strange that a memorial would not be placed over his grave until 60 years after his death: was there some softening of attitudes to his memory?

At NACTON, a village on the Orwell estuary there is a gravestone which says SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF LIEUT HUGH MONTGOMERY WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUGUST 1837 IN THE 59TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. HE SERVED IN THE GLORIOUS BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. I am trying to find out about his role in the battle.

There are some other gravestones at BECCLES that have a connection with some of the historical fiction that has inevitably been written about Trafalgar. On the south side of the church there are some chest tombs to the CROWFOOT family. The Crowfoots were medical practitioners in Beccles. One of the graves names WILLIAM HENCHMAN CROWFOOT (1780-1849). This name attracted the attention of HESTER BURTON, a writer for children, who wrote a children's novel CASTORS AWAY, published in 1962: it is about a Henchman family who were lived in north east Suffolk at the time of Trafalgar, and who get involved in the preparations to defend Britain against a Napoleonic invasion. The father's surgical skills are needed to operate on some wounded sailors, and Martin Henchman, one of the children actually joins the navy and takes part in the Battle of Trafalgar. Hester Burton refers to existing places and known historical events in Suffolk. I remember that Castors Away was serialised on childrens television in 1968: I only have a vague memory of the programme, but a couple of years ago I picked up a copy of the book in a second hand shop, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it again: it was quite a good representation of what it might have been like to live in England at the time.

Robert Halliday, Bury St Edmunds

Welcome to the forum, Robert, and many thanks for that interesting and informative post.

As you will have gathered from other posts, I became interested in Sutton because I have a letter written to him by Lady Hamilton. There is some biographical information in the public domain but he seems to be a rather elusive figure. I have been keen to find a portrait of him, but despite an exhaustive search, have not been able to do so.

I made a detailed search for Sutton's burial place but nothing could be found in local archives. It was his collateral descendant, with whom I am in contact, who discovered the existence of the plaque on the tomb in Woodbridge. I assumed that Sutton was actually interred there, but perhaps this is just a memorial plaque rather than one marking a tomb?

I have not heard of Sutton having a connection with Clarkson; but, as I said, little is known of Sutton beyond the factual details of his career, marriage, children etc. We know little of his personality or opinions.

Many thanks also for the details of other naval personnel of 'our' era. Please continue to post any other information that comes to light in the course of your searches.

Robert

You may not have come across this yet but there is a separate website created by the National Maritime Museum called Maritime Memorials.

I checked to see if they have Hugh Montgomery, which they do. There is no real additional biographical information but they seem to be saying that the word Traf(f)algar is spelt incorrectly on the gravestone.

Did you notice that? Do you have a photograph by any chance??

MB

On the subject of Sutton since his grave was obliterated when the Victorians added an organ to the church the likely reason is that they moved the plaque from its location before placing the organ and placed it randomly (essentially) in the graveyard. Hence the attachment to another persons memorial.

Did you get a photograph of the plaque? becuase I would like it if you have. Annoyingly I was in Suffolk on Tuesday but used the time to wander over Mistley and the building site of Sutton's Amphion.

Joss.

I had heard the story, via Sam's descendant, that Sutton might be 'buried under the organ' but didn't know how much credence to place on it as it seemed a rather odd place to deposit a corpse. Your post explains things. So thank you. But it seems surprising that the Victorians, of all people, with their excessive focus on death and memorials, should obliterate the grave of a respected naval officer - and at the height of imperial glory too.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the plaque but I'm occasionally in East Anglia and will try and get one on my next visit.

Robert, I'm going by family folklore here, but we hail from Beccles and my family knew the Crowfoots albeit not well [they were well above us plebs on the social scale]. Hester Burton - who also wrote 'The Great Storm' about the floods at Blytheboro' - was generally held to have collected first hand accounts where she could to turn into stories and to stick pretty closely to facts.
Sarah

Thank you for your posts, Sarah - and welcome to the forum!

Hello Robert

I know of the Clarkson brothers. I live in Wisbech.

Thanks for the interesting information. I'm afraid that it always seems that John lived in his brother's shadow.

- Mil -