Nelson & His World

I've been looking through some old copies of the Nelson Dispatch that I've acquired, one of which (October 2004) has an article on the Royal Marines at Trafalgar, written by Mike Pinchen, a former Royal Marine. I'd like to post it here but it is still in copyright. However, I thought this little snippet would be of interest:

'It is said that Nelson did not approve of his marines sniping at the enemy from the fighting tops. Whether this is true or not I leave for others more learned than myself to say. What is true is that his Lordship met his untimely end as a result of the actions of a French marksman firing from a fighting top. In the years following Trafalgar many British warships were armed with a special swivel gun so mounted on the deck that it could be elevated to fire up at the tops of the enemy, thus clearing them of sharpshooters. Apparently, this gun, named 'Nelson's revenge', was the invention of Royal Marines officer Captain Thomas Maxwell Bagnold, who received the silver medal of the Society of Arts in 1811.'

Is anything more known about Captain Bagnold?

Here is a little about the Royal Society of Arts (properly known as the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Soci ... &_Commerce

Hi Anna, Been away for the last week, but here goes.

Thomas Maxwell Bagnold,
Birth 8th November 1780
Christening 24th September 1781, at St Thomas, Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Father Thomas Bagnold
Mother Thomasina

Marriage, 3rd August 1835, at Aldeburgh with Hazlewood, Suffolk
Suzanna Smith Ratledge

This is Interesting

Sent for Trial at Newgate in September 1804
For presenting a loaded pistol at a person.
Verdict was D P (may mean De Portation?)

1841 Census shows him living with wife in the Parish of Friston, Suffolk. as a Captain in the Marines

His death was in October 1848 at Plomesgate, Suffolk
Burial on the 31st October 1848 at St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh, Suffolk

His wife died in 1873 at the Age of 84.

Regards,

Stephen

Many thanks for those details, Stephen.

I wonder if D.P. could be an abbreviation for Death Penalty (obviously subsequently commuted since he lived until 1848) The penal code had about 200 crimes for which the death penalty could be imposed, but sentence of death was often commuted. It might be interesting to follow this up - but how? Do you know anything about court records?

Or perhaps 'Domus Procerum' - the House of Lords - i.e. case decided by the House of Lords.

I believe it may also be a case of where you stood in society, thus I think that Tony's suggestion might be the correct one. Bagnold was a Captain in the Royal Marines and was obviously of some standing, presumably also had family influence and perhaps his invention might also have stood in his stead. Pointing a pistol was obviously an offence, for which a lesser person might well have been deported, but we don't exactly know the circumstances of Captain Bagnell's case to pass judgement (not that we are!).

For arguments sake, if Bagnall went for trial in 1804 and was perhaps soon after deported (I would assume to Australia and where, presumably, he wasn't breaking rocks!) it might then seem timely that he given the RS medal in 1811. Would he still have been in Australia? Perhaps not, since I believe seven years was quite a usual 'punishment' for deportation, and the award might be seen as some sort of compensation. However, do we actually know when he invented this type of gun? If his invention was in 1804 or after, then does it seem likely he was sent overseas at His Majesty's leisure? Also in 1841, according to Stephen's information the next entry after his 'deportation', he was still a Captain RM – so either: he was kept on the books as such, he was reinstated, or he was never deported at all. My guess is that it was the last.

Incidentally, I think Nelson was against the use of sharpshooters in the tops because he thought there might a danger to the sails and rigging from their discharge, but I'm not sure that his feelings were reciprocated by other RN captains as there are accounts of marines in the tops of other ships, not to mention of course, the case of a certain Midshipman Hornblower in the mizzen top of the Indefatigable!

His will is available through the National Archives.

Captain Bagnold RM, would seem to have been something of an inventor. Besides the gun for clearing fighting tops, he also put forward an improved design for a seamen's cartouch box, I believe dated about 1820:

http://books.google.se/books?id=SfE0AAA ... RM&f=false