Memorial: M4166

Memorial in St Keverne, Cornwall commemorating officers and men who died in the loss of the transport ‘Despatch’ in 1809

Location

St Akeveranus's Church, St Keverne, Cornwall, England

Transcript

‘The Officers, Non Commissioned officers and Privates / of His Majesty’s seventh (or Queen’s own) Regisment of Hussars / To the Memory of / Major GEO. Hy. C. CAVENDISH, Captn. S.G. DUKENFIELD / Lieut. The Honble EDWARD WALDEGRAVE / And sixty-one Non commissioned Officers and Privates of the Regiment / Who on returning from SPAIN in the Dispatch Transport / Unhappily perished in COVERACK COVE the 22nd of January 1809/ ‘When Britain sends at liberty’s command / Her ready youth to free a stranger land / She bears her slain in triumph to the shore, / And the proud parent shows the wounds before, / But when her sons, each form of danger past, Strain their glad eyes to view her hills at last // If then the tempest rolls the foaming flood, /And her own ocean ‘whelms her bravest blood, / When there a Duckenfield, a Cavendish here, / A youthful Waldegrave press a wat’ry bier // Their mourning comrades feel a moistened cheek / And bid the marble their dumb sorrow speak/ Tyrant, the barrier of thy rage, the deep / Aids thy fierce boast, and English mothers weep...’

Details

Description: Wall tablet. The wreck shown in relief above the inscription panel, military trophies below. The whole on brackets carved with acanthus leaves.
Type: Wall tablet
Materials: Marble
Vessel: Dispatch

People

Waldegrave, Edward
Age:
Date of Death: 22/1/1809
Cause of Death: Vessel Loss
Rank / Occupation: Lieutenant
Organisation: 7th Regiment of Huzzars
Cavendish, George Henry
Age:
Date of Death: 22/1/1809
Cause of Death: Vessel Loss
Rank / Occupation: Major
Organisation: 7th Regiment of Huzzars
Duckenfield, S.G.
Age:
Date of Death: 22/1/1809
Cause of Death: Vessel Loss
Rank / Occupation: Captain
Organisation: 7th Regiment of Huzzars

Extra

Notes: A granite cross marks the site of the mass grave. English Heritage photograph BB98-01791(1)
Recorder: Mary Waldegrave
JSON