Introduction
Persona Naval Press website is entering its fourth successful year and provides a useful source of information judging from the number of its readers. The Nomination database continues to be well used. A new short database has been added, giving a sample of officers' ship careers covering entrance in 1868 to entrance in 1888. If this proves of interest it may be possible to provide a much larger coverage.
Persona Naval Press continues to welcome contributions to its site which may be sent to Dr. Mary Jones.
New Contribution
I have recently been contacted by Ms. McKnight and her students from
Delaware, USA. They have enjoyed Persona Naval Press as a resource for
their studies and have sent a list of maritime sources from their own
research which they think may be useful to naval and maritime historians
in England. I have put them on the links page.
Thankyou students from Delaware! It is always good to know who our readers
are.
A Life Cut Short
The first four chapters of A Life Cut Short - The
Edited Letters of Lieutenant Commander Ralph Lyall Clayton, 1885 - 1916
are up now.
Chapter One - 'Ever
your loving son… Letters from School and Britannia' detail
his time at Eagle House School and Marlborough, followed by Cadet training
on the Naval Training Ship, Britannia.
Chapter Two - HMS Hannibal tells
of when he was a young Midshipman on HMS Hannibal,
one of the Majestic class of first class pre-dreadnought battleships.
Chapter Three - HMS Grafton - The First
Year tells of his first year aboard HMS Grafton
in 1902.
Chapter Four is about his time on board
HMS Grafton in 1903.
The launching of HMS Swinger
Our
thanks to new contributor, John Debenham, who has sent pictures of the
launching of HMS Swinger. She was launched at Pembroke Dockyard in 1872.
Lt. Marx captained the gunboat Swinger when he was on the Australia Station
in 1883-1887.
Read more
Does anybody know what happened to this?
An
item concerning a lost purse/spectacle case, mounted with H.M. Queen Victoria's
monogram in gold, which was picked up by a member of the party sent by
the Canadian government to Smith Sound in 1924. This was dropped by one
of the 22 officers on the Nares' Arctic Expedition of 1875-6 in an effort
to reach the North Pole. In the papers of the May archive currently held
by Mary Jones. See documents
The Sledge Journal: 1875 - 76
The first two parts of Sir William May's Sledge Journal for the Nares' Arctic exploration expedition of 1875-6 sent by the British Government in an effort to reach the North Pole. For his part in this expedition May was promoted Commander over the heads of 60 Lieutenants. The following parts will be put up every two weeks. April 24th - 30th, 1875 | May 4th - 9th, 1875 | May 25 - June 7th, 1875 | June 8 - 14, 1875 | June 18 - 25, 1875
Nomination Database
Click here to read an article about nomination and patronage which serves as a useful introduction to the sociological and genealogical background of Victorian officers. It also serves as an introduction to the Nomination Database which is available at the end of the article.
Can you help?
An
intriguing question: Who painted the pictures? Can anyone help?
I have recently come across the log book of Midshipman John Warde Osborne,
who was on the Flying Squadron Voyage of HMS Topaze to the Pacific from
1866 - 1869.
Read more
Articles
Marjorie Rear has now written the concluding articles about Captain Charles Barker (1811 -1860). They detail his involvement in the Peruvian revolution, the latest hostilities in China and diplomatic negotiations with Japan.
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