Articles

Lieut. John Marx and Captain Francis Clayton on the Australian Station, 1883 - 1887

This article centres on the experience of two naval officers serving on the Australia Station. It gives us an insight into the work of the Station in the later Victorian era. Captain Clayton wrote to his wife every day telling her of the day's events and Lieutenant Marx kept up an intermittent Journal. Read this article

Persona Naval Press is pleased to welcome the following articles from a new contributor, Marjorie Rear, MA (Oxon) who has edited the letters of her husband's ancestor, Captain Charles Barker RN, 1811-1860.

The Fortunate Fellow - Captain Charles Barker RN (1811 - 1860)

This first article is an attempt to summarise, using the evidence of his own words, the life of a young man in the Royal Navy before that most important first achievement – a lieutenant’s commission. Read this article

PAX BRITANNICA: The Parana

Much of naval life for Lieutenant Charles Barker in the years between 1839 and 1846 might be described as pleasant but unexciting. Excitement, when it at last came, proved more than a little dangerous. This article will attempt to show the Royal Navy acting - sometimes a little too forcefully - in its role of peacemaker in the interests of Britain overseas. Read this article

PAX BRITANNICA: (2) Patrolling the Seas

At last in command of his own ship, the ten years between 1849 and 1856 show Charles Barker carrying out naval duties, first, in the Straits of Malacca and, then, off the west coast of South America, in what one might call the “workaday” peacekeeping role of the Royal Navy. Read this article

Free Trade in the Far East

In the final stages of his career Charles Barker found himself involved in the latest hostilities with China and with diplomatic negotiations with Japan. Read this article