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Memorial: M3449

Wall tablet in St Peter’s Church, Port Royal, Jamaica commemorating Lieutenant William Stapleton RN d. 1754

Location

St Peter's Church, Port Royal, Jamaica, Rest of the World

Transcript

'Near lye inter'd the remains of / WILLIAM STAPLETON, Esqr. / Lieutenant of His Majesty's Ship 'Sphinx', Nephew to the Earl of Westmoreland / and Brother of Sir THOS. STAPLETON, Baronet, / who, in attempting to fire off a Cannon in the Fort at Port Morant / Was so terribly wounded by its bursting / that He expired a few Hours afterwards / On the Eighth Day of May, 1754 / in the 28th Year of his Age / Thy Wisdom, Prudence, who e'er shall scan / Or dare to judge the Ways of God to Man / This fair Example of unspotted Merit / Did once a truly virtuous Soul inherit / In Honour's Cause a bold adventurous Youth / In Manners modest, partial to the Truth / In Friendship noble knew no private Hate / Nor gave a Mortal Pain but by his Fate / Too much his Worth for Wretches such as we / And snatch'd from Earth, Almighty dwells with Thee / Yet while thy just Remembrance here shall live / Accept this Tear 'tis all a friend can give'

Details

Description: Naval trophy including a sextant and telescope at foot of a sail draped into a pyramidal shape. The inscription panel leans against the trophy. A relief of Stapleton being blown up by an exploding gun below.
Type: Wall tablet
Position: Nave, north wall
Artists: Louis Francois Roubiliac
Vessel: HMS Sphinx

People

Stapleton, William
Age: 27
Date of Death: 8/5/1754
Cause of Death: Maritime accident
Rank / Occupation: Lieutenant RN
Organisation: Royal Navy

Extra

Bibliography: Captain J.H. Lawrence-Archer 'Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies' (London 1875); Lesley Lewis 'English Commemorative Monuments in Jamaica', 'The Jamaican Historical Review' vol. ix, (1972); Joan Coutu 'Carving histories: British sculpture in the West Indies', 'Church Monuments: Journal of the Church Monuments Society' vol. xii, p. 79 (London, 1997); D. Bindman and M. Baker 'Roubiliac and the Eighteenth-century Monument' (New Haven and London, 1995) pp.168-9.
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