Nelson & His World

Hi All,
Anyone with an interest in Naval hospitals may find this of interest on Bighi Hospital, Malta which was in fact the idea of Nelson and showed the strategic value that he had on the islands position.

www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2615/medhist/hospital5.htm

Cheers

Very Hot Here!!

What an interesting link, Stephen. Many thanks. I was amused by the recollections of George Watson, all to briefly mentioned, and looked for a copy of his memoir on abebooks - no luck there, I'm afraid.

Nelson, as we know, took a great interest in the health of the fleet. I recollect, but can't find the reference, that he had a correspondence about a hospital in the process of being built (in Malta?) in which he comments negatively about the lack of a garden in the plans as he felt that fresh air and exercise were important for the seamen's convalescence.

For Jack Tar, Roy and I tried desperately to find the memoirs of George Watson - and finally succeeded! A few pages were given in Henry Baynham's From the Lower Deck, and it looked as if Baynham had reproduced the entire memoir of nearly 20 pages. We wanted to check the original version, as so many changes creep into books, and Baynham's version has been quoted time and again in other sources. There is no copy in the British Library or any of the other obvious libraries, but eventually we tracked down a copy in Newcastle's public library, possibly the only copy in the country (does anyone know of any others?). We found that Baynham's version was a patchwork of bits and pieces, because the original memoir is 211 pages long, full of fascinating detail, and it's pretty reliable material - a real lower-deck account. You'll find several references to him in Jack Tar, such as his quote that the people of Gibraltar were always ready to buy Jack's clothing, who then spent the money on wine, and the fact that many hospital nurses in Plymouth had a husband in every ship. The book is called Narrative of the Adventures of a Greenwich Pensioner, written by himself, published in 1827, so not too long after the war ended. Maybe there is a google download by now - I haven't checked recently.

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Lesley

Well done for eventually tracking down a copy of "Narrative of the Adventures of a Greenwich Pensioner".

I remember when you were first looking for it and I checked out the card index in Birmingham Central Library. (They still have books that are not on the computer index).

But no luck there.

Due to its rarity do you think anyone will ever do a facsimile reprint in hardcopy?

Just out of interest was George Watson at any of the major naval actions??

MB

With an Ancestor who was a Greenwich Pensioner, Josiah Dornford, Lieutenant died 1855 and buried in the Royal Hospital Old Cemetery this might be of interest.

thehumanjourney.net/

Just type in Greenwich

Details on what looks like a fascinating publication, Have been posted on the Information Forum site.

Still Very Hot, How they must have coped in Naval hospitals in the Mediterranean in Nelson's day beggars belief!!

Mark,

It would be great if Newcastle's library service produced a facsimile of the Watson book. George Watson was born in that city in 1792, and became a merchant seaman from a very young age (including service in South America on board a transport ship during the invasion fiasco of 1806/7). He joined HMS Fame in 1808 and spent much of the time in the Mediterranean, until he was injured.

And Stephen, I don't know if Greenwich Hospital is mentioned on an earlier thread here, but the main hospital cemetery for the pensioners was used until 1857, and then a new cemetery was opened a mile away in what is today called the East Greenwich Pleasaunce. Apart from new burials, thousands of burials were also reinterred there from the old cemetery over the ensuing decades, due to various building works, such as a railway tunnel and then the building of Devonport House in 1925 (now a hotel next door to the National Maritime Museum). A few burials are in the hotel grounds, not easy to visit, and several were destroyed in WW2 when a bomb struck. The Pleasaunce is also open to visitors. We wrote an article in Ancestors magazine for February 2008 - this back number may be available for viewing on their website - http://www.ancestorsmagazine.co.uk

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Lesley.

I visited the site of the The Royal Hospital Old Cemetery in 2005, not knowing anything about an Ancestor who had been buried there, I was on the search for Thomas Hardy's memorial which I found and also found the headstone to Tom Allen, Nelson's Secretary.
I have recently discovered that my relation Josiah Dornford was buried in this cemetery. The Mausoleum was at the Interior South Wall with its transcript reading as follows, 'In Memory of Josiah Dornford/55 years Lieutenant in the Royal Navy/who departed this life in the hope of a joyful resurrection on the 2nd March 1855 aged 71 years.
The Memorial was destroyed in 1939-45, although the transcription is in the National Archives, Kew, Greenwich Hospital Memorial Inscriptions 99618.