A bit of a breakthrough in tracing my great, great, great grandfather, ‘Billy’ Swift, who was present at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Thanks to a death notice in the Sheffield Telegraph, from November 1862, I now know that, as I suspected, he changed his name when he enlisted but not as I suggested in my previous post, his Christian name: he enlisted using his mother’s surname, Firth.
He served in the Royal Marines, so he was Army rather than Navy. As an infantryman, he wore a red uniform so he was a ‘Lobster’ in Navy slang.
HMS Africa was the smallest of Nelson’s ships of the line at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Separated from the rest of Nelson’s fleet, the Africa arrived late at the battle and sailed down the French and Spanish line exchanging broadsides with most of the vessels it passed.
It then joined the general melee.
With it’s masts shot off the Africa drifted onto shoals during the storm that followed the battle. Two paintings by James Wilson Carmichael show the HMS Conquerer towing the Africa away.
DIED
On the 15th inst., Mr. William Swift, aged 78. Deceased had been in the employ of Messrs. Joseph Rodgers and Sons upwards of 20 years. He was at the battle of Trafalgar, on board the ship Africa, and was wounded in the leg, which wound annoyed him through life, and was the cause of death. He was discharged July, 1807, without pension, at the age of 23. He enlisted in the Marines, in his mother’s name, Firth, being then an apprentice.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 22 November, 1862
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.
By James Wilson Carmichael – Christie’s, LotFinder: entry 5794044, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111022409
The ship’s pay book records that he was discharged 3 November 1805 to Gibraltar Hospital, twelve days after the battle.
I assume received the Trafalgar Medal but I can’t find a record of him sharing in the prize money from captured vessels. As the death notice points out, he didn’t receive a pension when he was discharged in July, 1807. He worked in the cutlery industry in Sheffield.
Trafalgar Today
‘Absolutely fascinating,’ said my niece, Karen on Facebook, ‘We visited Trafalgar cemetery in Gibraltar. There are only two graves there from the battle of Trafalgar. They both succumbed to their wounds some time after the battle and had been hospitalised in Gibraltar after the battle.’
The Lobster Red Uniform
At Deborah Lough Costumes, I learn that as a private my ancestor Billy would have worn a uniform dyed in rose madder, slightly to the orange side of red. Officers would wear a brighter red scarlet uniform.
