Gravestone at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex commemorating David Watts of the Coast guard d. 1832 shot by smugglers
Location
Old burial ground, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, England
Transcript
'In memory of David Watts of the Coastguard. He was shot and almost instantly expired on the 21 Feb. 1832, aged 45 yrs'
Details
Type: Headstone
People
Watts, David Age: 45 Date of Death: 21/2/1832 Cause of Death: Murdered Rank / Occupation: Coastguard Organisation: HM Coastguard
Extra
Notes: TNA HO 52/20/9 report of the incident by the Mayor of Hastings. Probably the churchyard of St Peter's Bexhill. Bibliography: William Webb 'Coastguard: an official history of HM Coastguard' (London, 1976) p. 28. Recorder: E.R. Stage 1982
Gravestone at St Saviour’s Church, St Saviour’s, Guernsey commemorating eleven passengers lost in the wreck of the ‘Pitt’ in 1819
Location
St Saviour's Church, St Saviour's, Guernsey, Channel Islands
Transcript
'IHS Here lieth the remains of eleven individuals lost on the Rocks between L'Eree and Richmount [Richmond] on the 26th Nov. 1819 on board the Pitt Cutter from Jersey to Falmouth. Viz Darby Horrigan. Bridget Doyle, Margaret Garde, Mary McCue, Ann Corkran, Rosanne ONeil, Belle Dawson, Catherine Burrows, Mary Fitzpatrick, Mary Horrigan, Pappy Burns, May the Lord have mercy on their souls'
Details
Type: Gravestone Position: Churchyard Materials: Black slate Vessel: Pitt
People
Burns, Pappy Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Burrows, Cathrine Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Corkran, Ann Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Dawson, Belle Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Doyle, Bridget Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Fitzpatrick, Mary Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Garde, Margaret Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Horrigan, Mary Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: Horrigan, Darby Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: McCue, Mary Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation: O'Neil, Rosanne Age: Date of Death: 26/11/1819 Cause of Death: Vessel Loss Rank / Occupation: Passenger Organisation:
Extra
Notes: The 'Pitt' was carrying a cargo of cattle and fifteen passengers. The drowned women passengers were found to be carrying smuggled silk under their outer clothing. Bibliography: Glynis Cooper 'Foul deeds and Suspicious deaths in Jersey' p. 73 (Barnsley, 2008) Recorder: La Societé Guernesiaise 1981
Memorial in St Gregory’s Church, Seaton, Devon commemorating William Henry Paulson midshipman, RN d. 1817
Location
St Gregory's Church, Seaton, Devon, England
Transcript
'... who with 8 seamen all Volunteers perished in a gale of wind off Sidmouth whilst cruising in a galley for the prevention of smuggling on the 13th of June 1817 in the 23rd year of his age'
Details
Vessel: HMS 'Queen Charlotte'
People
Paulson, William Henry Age: 22 Date of Death: 13/6/1817 Cause of Death: Vessel Lost Rank / Occupation: Midshipman Organisation: Royal Navy
Extra
Notes: At the time of death was commanding a gallery with eight volunteer men ‘for the prevention of smuggling’.
Bibliography: Lisa Newcombe 'Smuggling in Cornwall and Devon'. Recorder: E.R. Stage
Headstone at St Andrew’s church, Kinson, Bournemouth, commemorating Robert Trotman d. 1765
Location
St Andrew's church, Kinson, Bournemouth, England
Transcript
'To the Memory of ROBERT TROTMAN / Late of Rond [Round] in the County / of Wilts who was barbarously Murdered on the Shore near / Poole the 24 March 1765 / A little Tea, one leaf I did not steal, / For guiltless bloodshed I to God appeal, / Put Tea in one scale, human Blood in t'other, / And think what 'tis to slay thy harmless Brother'
Details
Type: Headstone Position: Graveyard north side of tower Materials: Stone
People
Trotman, Robert Age: Date of Death: 24/3/1765 Cause of Death: Unknown/None Rank / Occupation: Smuggler Organisation:
Extra
Notes: Five miles inland from Poole at the then tiny and remote village of Kinson, across Canford Heath,within the Dorset boundary, was in those times a district particularly well affected towards the 'Free-traders'. Robert Trotman lost his life in an encounter with Revenue Officers.
Trotman was believed to have worked for notorious smuggler Sir Isaac Gulliver. He died in the crossfire of an ambush while loading tea in 1765.
Bibliography: Charles George Harper 'The Dorset Coast' (London, 1905) pp.32-4.
Jill Sainsbury, Smugglers in Kinson. Recorder: F. Turland 1984 Poole Maritime Trust
Gravestone at All Saints Church, Hastings commemorating smuggler Joseph Swain d. 1821
Location
All Saints Church, Hastings, East Sussex, England
Transcript
‘This Stone / Sacred to the memory of / JOSEPH SWAIN Fisherman / was created at the expense of / the members of the friendly Society of Hastings / in commiseration of his cruel and untimely / death and as a record of the pblic indignation / at the needless and sanguinary violence of / which he was the unoffending Victim. He / was shot by Geo. England, one of the / Sailors employ’d in the Coast blockade / Service in open day on the 13th March 1821 and almost instantly expir’d in the / twenty / -ninth year of his age, leaving a Widow and / five small children to lament his loss.’
Details
Type: Gravestone Position: Churchyard
People
Swain, Joseph Age: 29 Date of Death: 13/3/1821 Cause of Death: Unknown/None Rank / Occupation: Fishern Organisation:
Extra
Notes: Shot on the beach by an officer of the coast blockade instituted to stop smuggling.
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Commemorating seafarers and victims of maritime disasters
