Nelson & His World

Hello I have the usual story. An ancestor who was supposedly pressganged into Nelson's Navy. I have tried to find whether there is any proof to this or whether it is just a tall story. - What a surprise he wasn't on HMS Victory. He was apparently pressed into the Navy onto one of Collingwoods ships. I have looked at several books including Jack Tar, Trafalgar Geordies and Life in Nelson's Navy to see if I could glean any information. I have no real idea what ships he served on. I do not think he was at the battle of Trafalgar either. I did look for info at the national arcchives - but again I am not sure if it was the right person as it didn't state where he originated from- or whether he was pressed. He was a geordie fisherman. I thought some of these fisherman were at least partially protected. But then I also read that fishermen were more useful in the Navy. I would be very grateful if someone could suggest where best to look etc.

Welcome to the forum, pejay!

I have no expertise in genealogy but a quick Google revealed that the press gangs were greatly feared in the fishing villages of the North East
so it is not fanciful to think that your ancestor might have been press-ganged. You haven't told us his name, by the way!

http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/NorthTyneside.html

As Anna states we might be able to help given a name. You would be surprised at how much info and paperwork survives from the period so I can guarantee that there will be documents with his name on the problem is it might be misspelt, unreadable or in an archive no one has got round to yet.

As an example in my own Amphion researches I am running through the musters and they manage to spell the names of their crew differently from muster to muster sometimes which can be confusing sometimes.

Joss.

Hello and many thanks for your replies. This has puzzled me for many years. First I was told it was a John Twizell who was pressed but I found absolutely nothing at the national archives. I have thought for a number of years it is a Thomas Brown - he was a fisherman as was his father before him and his family after. . He was born approx 1769 and lived at Cresswell in the Druiridge Bay area [Near Newbiggin and Warkworth] I did get a sheet from the archives ADM 29/1 on a Thomas Brown but it doesn't say where he was from or if he was pressed and also the dates served for this Thomas Brown 1798 -1806 do not match with the years of birth of three of his children. I am led to believe that some men were allowed shore leave every so often even when pressed? but I really do not know much about this.. I am told his jack tar was in the family for many years. I appreciate this is a very common name and will not be too easy to find. But if I could get some info on him I could then put him to bed - so to speak and move on. I know lots of people claim to have an ancestor who fought on HMS Victory but that is the strange thing he was apparently on Collingwoods ships.

The problem comes sharply into focus.. Unless you are lucky and someone has access to the particular muster/pay book/index then you have potentially a lot of leg work to do.

The first thing you need to know is whether 'Collingwood's ships' was specific or more wide ranging. As Collingwood was eventually an Admiral a reference to his ships could mean a ship under his command in which case there are a lot of ships to consider. If it is more specific and it means in a ship that Collingwood personally commanded then you still have a lot of ships but a lot less than before.

Collingwood never commanded the Victory (if I remember correctly) he certainly was in the Royal Soveriegn at Trafalgar.

If Trafalgar is your fixed reference then there is a book listing the names of all the Seaman at Trafalgar somewhere (though it has been a while since I looked at it and it may only cover the more senior people...). Unfortunately I cannot remember what it is called. An online site only lists one Thomas Brown at Trafalgar and he was a Royal Marine on the Dreadnought.



BROWN Thos. Pte RM Dreadnought Acre 30May. Egypt
Algiers,

so is unlikely to match.

In that case your best bet would be to visit the National Archives and get the musters from each of Collingwood's ships and to search for the name. If you do not feel you can do this yourself you can pay a researcher to search for you. Since you know the birth date this means you can probably miss Collingwood's first few ships. You can also get the references for all these documents online which would enable you or a researcher to get to the faster. I would guess at around 5 hours work or so...

Joss

Thank you Joss for your reply. The copy of the muster roll for a Thomas brown Adm/29 - who I am also not sure about as to whether it is the right one was on the Diadem from 2nd Jan 1805-14 march 1806. I do not think the Diadem was at Trafalgar - but neither sure whether this could be a 'Collingwoods' ship. Other ships he served on prior to this were Suffisante. Voltiguer, Magicienne, Naid and Windsor Castle In faint writing was The Prince of Wales - but no dates I can only assume that was his next ship. I did once check the names of men at Trafalgar and had no luck so I am a bit stuck at the moment.

Hello pejay,

Also you should not discount John Twizell just because he didn't show up in a National Archives catalogue search. The majority of seamen for this period will not show up in a catalogue search unless they allotted pay to a relative, or received a Greenwich pension, or were a warrant officer (or of course a commissioned officer).

As Joss says, there may be no shortcut to searching all of Collingwood's ships' musters for the possible names of your ancestor.

Thank you Tony for your reply. It is strange what you say I had discounted John Twizell because I couldn't find him anywhere. He was married in Tynemouth in 1815. That used to be an established port at one time didn't it? also I suppose at the end of the Napoleonic wars. He too was a fisherman.