Trafalgar Cemetery Gibraltar
Jennifer Van Lens gave us a well-researched and illustrated talk on her 3x great-grandfather John Jarvis who served at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was born in 1787 at Wimbish in Essex, the second of 19 children and sadly died in Rochford Workhouse, Essex in 1883 at the grand old age of 96!
Jennifer had managed to find John’s service record in the Royal Navy where he had joined up in 1803, aged 16 and served until 25th September 1808. She wondered why he had enlisted but coming from such a big family, it was probably the opportunity of a better life and improved diet in the Navy that had attracted him. John served as Boy 3rd class from 20thAug 1803 to 20th Oct 1806 on HMS Mars, a 74 gun, third-rate ship of the line. John was a powder monkey, supplying the cannons, suggesting that he was short and nimble.
In May 1804 the Treaty of Amiens broke down and the Napoleonic Wars began. The 21st of October 1805 heralded the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson attacked the French/Spanish fleet directly, head-on. This was a risky tactic because the enemy could fire broadsides at you but you could not return fire. The genius of the plan was that once the British fleet had broken up the opposition into 3 sections, the northerly section had to sail further north to circle and return to the battle, leaving the British with disparate enemy sections to attack. During the battle, the French/Spanish fleet lost 22 ships while the British lost none. There were many dead and injured on both sides but the French/Spanish casualties greatly outnumbered the British. Captain George Duff, in charge of HMS Mars, had his head blown off by a canon ball early in the battle while everyone knows of the wounding of Nelson, who sadly died of his injuries just before the British victory was declared, but overall, it was a hugely successful campaign for the Royal Navy.
John Jarvis was awarded the Royal Navy general service medal with Trafalgar bar and became a bargeman at Leigh-on Sea, Essex, married and had a family, of which, his son Joseph is Jennifer’s great, great grandfather. It was interesting to hear of someone who had actually been in the heat of battle and survived to lead a long, if less dangerous life, than being under enemy fire! Jennifer has shown that you never know what corner of history you’ll expose when researching your family tree.
Report by Lesley J Smith, Deal Branch Secretary of Kent FHS