Posted on 10/19/2005 4:29:55 PM PDT by blam
October 19, 2005
Letters of Trafalgar warrior, aged 11
By Dalya Alberge
Boy told his mother of Admiral Nelson’s bravery
A REMARKABLE series of unpublished letters written by an 11-year-old midshipman who was at the Battle of Trafalgar has been acquired for the nation.
The vivid eyewitness account of George James Perceval, who served on HMS Orion, a 74-gun battleship that played a key role in the closing stages of the battle, has been purchased by the National Maritime Museum.
In more than 40 letters, many written to Lord and Lady Arden, his parents in London, George painted a portrait of life aboard ship during the Trafalgar campaign, as well as the battle on October 21 and the death of Admiral Nelson.
In a letter dated October 13, he wrote to his mother: “I expect to come home to eat a Christmas Dinner with [you] if my head is not knocked of [sic] in any action.”
Nelson, he reported, had assured the fleet that “he will have a good bang at them”.
In his next letter, which is undated and whose scrawly handwriting suggests that it was written in a hurry, he gave an insight into the minds of the men who survived the battle that established British naval supremacy in Europe.
“I have as you wished been in one of the greatest actions that ever was fought,” he wrote, “ . . . but I am sorry to tell you that brave Admiral Nelson was killed by a musquet [sic] ball that went through his body.”
In another letter, he described his desire to “give [the enemy] a licking”, but there are also reminders that he was a young boy. On one page he drew a head for his mother to kiss “and think that it is my round face”.
Claire Warrior, the museum’s exhibitions curator, said: “They’re poignant in that they are from an 11-year-old. It makes you realise that someone so young was fighting in the battle and going through this horrific experience.”
Perceval died in 1874 aged 79. His uncle was Spencer Perceval (1762-1812), the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated, and his father was a prominent politician with links to the Navy. George did not disappoint them. He rose to become an admiral in 1863. In 1840 he succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Arden and the following year became 6th Earl of Egmont on the death of a cousin. A selection of the letters will go on display from today in the museum’s Nelson and Napoleon exhibition, which will be free to Greenwich visitors over Trafalgar Weekend.
My dad's mothers maiden name was Perceval. (My double 1st cousin said that we got our OCD from the Percevals, lol)
Admiral Nelson is one of my all-time favorite figures in history, ranking right up there with Stonewall Jackson (go figure), Joshua Chamberlain, Chester Nimitz, and George Patton.
England expects that every man will do his duty!
But was he able to catch the Black Pearl?
TS
(sorry, had to, don't know why)
Wow, that's cool. My oldest son is 11. I know we underestimate what boys (and girls) can accomplish, when they're given responsibilities that really make a difference.
Bedford Forrest was supporting his mother and a slew of brothers and sisters at age 12, iirc.
Me and 60 other miniature wargamers are refighting Trafalgar this Saturday; I'm commanding the Franco-Spanish...we're in trouble.
58 years to get from Midshipman to Admiral would not be comsidered a meteoric rise these days.
1814 EXPEDITION TO THE PENOBSCOT 329
330 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS 1814
The, larger vessels were kept in the rear in reserve ; while the boats, commanded by Lieutenant George Pedlar first of the Dragon, assisted by Lieutenant the Honourable George James Perceval, of the Tenedos, and Lieutenant Francis Ormond, of the Endymion, and preceded, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, by a rocket-boat under the immediate direction of Captain Barrie himself, advanced in line with the right flank of the army.
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Fascinating! I knew that ordinary folks sent their kids to sea early, but I had no idea that this was also the custom in the aristocracy.
But was he the Duke of Earl? I think not!!!!
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