Memorial: M2568

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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