The First Wave of Migrants

Cotgrove Family History

Part Four (Prints out on 43 pages)

The First Wave of Migrants.

Over the years it is obvious from the surviving records that the family made many journeys away from Leigh. Most would have been by River up to London or down stream and around the Kentish coast to Shoreham and even to the oyster beds in the Isle of Wight or the Channel Islands. Others by land were made to the nearby towns, often escorted by the Constable. As far as we can now tell all returned within a few months to Leigh. A few, and it is a few, may have died at sea and never returned. In the early years it was almost exclusively the girls of the family who moved out. Several married young men from round the coast on the River Crouch.

In 1840 however two men decided that life beyond Leigh was at least worth a trial. In 1841 Henry John as we have seen joined the Navy; he was not to return until 1862. James Daniel, his brother probably joined him but there is not a clue as to what happened to him until his burial in Leigh in 1854. In the 1855 during the Crimean War many men, but not the Cotgroves, joined the Navy, thus depriving the Customs & Excise of good seamen to man their Revenue Cutters. In an attempt to get replacements they enrolled six men from Leigh. These included John Isaac Cotgrove, son of Henry and Sarah and his step brother-in-law William Thompson, son of Golden. They sailed in the Revenue Cruiser "Stag" for the Isle of Wight where they were to take over a post near Ryde. However neither of them enjoyed the experience and as soon as they arrived they requested their discharge, which was granted. John Isaac got a job locally as a seaman and eventually married a local girl. William Thompson took a ship to the Black Sea and after several years jumped ship in Australia during the gold rush. He never returned to Leigh, having it is believed, died at sea. He did manage to get news from home via several other Leigh lads who he met in Melbourne. These included Richard Thorn, William Robinson and John Bundock who were all neighbours, as was the Mrs Emma Cotgrove, the wife of Henry and brother to John Bundock, to whom they sent a mug. They all lived in two rows of Cottages on the hill to the south side of Leigh Hill overlooking Bundock’s’ boat yard. William Robinson’s father Thomas (wife, Hester) worked for Bundock. The lads had some success in finding gold as the Bundock family still have a couple of nuggets brought home by John.

John Isaac and his wife Elizabeth settled in the Isle of Wight but never had any children and poor Elizabeth became blind by the time she was 45. She continued to live on in Northwood after John had died when only 50.

Henry John appears to have enlisted in the "Perseus" when it was off the Tower of London 24th February 1840, having taken a trip up river with his fishing cousins. From there the tender from the "Howe" brought him back down to Sheerness and he entered Her Majesty's service on the "Cambridge"^[1]. He gave his name as simply Henry Cotgrove, his age as 21 although he was still only 16½. He was thus paid as an Able Seaman instead of a Boy. His five or six years on his cousins' fishing boats had stood him in good stead and he was able to put on a convincing act as a real sailor but no doubt his above average height of 5 foot 9½ inches helped considerably. He started his Naval life on pay of £1-16-0 per month.^[2] As was the custom he was paid two months pay in advance, in his case £3-8-0, which was at once spent in buying his uniform or more correctly a collection of garments provided for the crew but of no uniform style. He had dark hair and even before he joined he had acquired a tattoo on his left arm; "HC" surrounded by seven stars.

The Cambridge was an old ship, dating back to June 1815, but she had been in dock for a refit and now that the crew began to arrive much labour was involved in getting everything seaworthy again. She was a 3rd Rated war ship with 80 guns. The first men had arrived on 6th February 1840, some three weeks before Henry, but it was to be another three weeks until Captain Barnard thought it wise to read the Articles of War to the Ships Company assembled on deck. Another two weeks were spent in painting ship, washing decks and loading stores, which included nearly two tons of tobacco.

At last at 1.30 p.m. on the 9th April 1840 she was towed out into the tideway by HMS Lighting which was the first steam propelled ship to have active service in the Royal Navy. A small paddle steamer she had been built in the 1820's but she would have to wait another 14 years before she made her mark in history, again with a Cotgrove near at hand. By 4.30 the "Cambridge" had anchored by the Nore Light and had been inspected by Admiral R.W. Otway. That evening the powder barge came along side and a few days later she made her way round the coast, past Beachy Head, the Needles Light to Porthead Light. On 15th they dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound.^[3] For the young sailor, still not much more than a boy, it must have been an exciting voyage, as he became aware of the rigors of Naval discipline. Two Marines were given 25 lashes between them as punishment. Two months were spent at Plymouth until on 3rd July after a 17 gun salute to the Admiral, they sailed to Spithead. The endless round of scrubbing decks and making rope mats continued. A young boy was given 12 lashes for "making away with his clothes and filthiness" and one man was drowned by a fall from the mizzen mast. Perhaps it was only to be expected that four men tried to desert on the 22nd July, only for two of them to be recaptured two days later.

Fig. 3. Tree of Henry John COTGROVE 1823- 1867( IN PREPARATION)

On the 26th July His Excellency Sir R. Abercrombie, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Turin with his wife, Lady Mary came aboard. They were he to stay in the new accommodation cabins which had been built on the main deck. On 6.15 p.m. that same evening HMS Cambridge sailed . By 5th August she was off Spain and on the 14th at Gibraltar, where they stopped for a few days. Off Barcelona they fired a 21 gun salute to the Queen of Spain and the crew manned the Yards. By the time they had arrived a Genoa on the 2nd September a total of 16 men had been flogged, mostly for drunkenness.^[4] During the next week the port was shaken by many gun salutes and by a violent storm on the 3rd which filled the ships boats with water. First there was a salute for the Sardinian Flag, then 15 guns for the Vice Admiral of the Port, which was returned; then the Rear Admiral who had come out from England received 13 Guns as he disembarked, followed by 15 Guns for Sir Abercrombie and his wife as they left. Finally the ship had a visit from Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Helena of Russia accompanied by another 21 Gun Salute.

On the 9th September Cambridge weighed anchor and sailed down the Italian coast to Malta. After a short stay they were once more under way toward the east and on the 12th October arrived in Beirut. This stretch of the voyage was haunted by minor mishaps which must have brought misery to all concerned. Another 6 men were flogged and there were two enquiries over two separate cases of small quantities of bread being spoilt or stolen. One of the Marines died of fever and was buried at sea, his effects being sold off to the crew. On one occasion the ship had to put about to pick up a boat hook that had been dropped overboard.

The reason for the visit to Beirut was to offer support to the Turks against the Egyptians who were moving up the coast^[5]. Before the arrival of “Cambridge” the English fleet had bombarded the port fortress and there was also a force ashore. Three weeks were spent at Beirut with much drilling, gun practice and deck scrubbing but no actual action took place. On 27th October she sailed again, this time as part of a Squadron which included the “Rodney” and “Ganges” and 19th November dropped anchor off Alexandria. The appearance of this large force of the port was enough to bring about the signing of a peace agreement.^[6] They had barely left port again when a force 10 gale took away the main topsail. This same storm damaged many other ships in the fleet. By 1st January 1841 the Cambridge had put in to Marmorice on the coast of Tunisia. Six weeks were spent caulking all decks and painting ship. The Captain's reign of terror against drunkenness continued with another 21 men flogged, by now more and more were getting 36 lashes instead of the 24 that had been the rule previously. It was during this time that the mate was taken ill and was transferred to “HMS Bentown” for passage to Malta.

"Cambridge" followed a few weeks later and arrived in Valletta Harbour on 21st April 1841. On the 24th May there was the Royal Salute for the Queens Birthday, followed a month later with one to commemorate her Accession. She then made a short trip to Syracuse in Sicily before returning to Malta by the 2nd July. No sooner had she anchored than four of the crew jumped ship, only to be brought back again the next day. By the 12th she had sailed to Beirut where she was to spend three months before returning to Malta three weeks before the birth of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, on the 9th November. When the news reach the fleet in Valletta Harbour on the 27th, the 14 Royal Navy ships celebrated. There was a 21 Gun salute followed on the 1st December by illuminations, when the “Cambridge” burned 20 blue lights in the rigging. Just before Christmas she put to sea , en route for Gibraltar. On the way the crew had an opportunity to see a large water spout coming towards them and a shot was fired to break it up before it struck the ship.

In Gibraltar they were able to pick up mail from England and have a chance to spend a few days ashore. As was usual this allowed another batch of men to get drunk, followed by the now routine batch of floggings. It was during this stay that AB Cummins had a fight with one of the Boys which resulted in the Boy dying of a cut throat. By 19th March they were back in Malta in time to sea the "Belvedera" arrive. This was to be the next ship for many of "Cambridge's" crew but not before one more trip to the far end of the Mediterranean. On the 28th May, two days out from Malta a crewman fell from the rigging and was killed. They then returned to Malta, where many of the crew were taken in the ship's cutters to watch the punishment of two men from another ship, by order of a Court Marshall - 48 lashings each. The journey to Beirut was resumed on the 28th June via Athens, the coast of Turkey where a short stop was made at Smyrna and Voula Bay before reaching their destination on 20th August. On 2nd September they began the return voyage via Corfu to be back in Malta by the 4th October; on the way one man died of dysentery. HMS "Cambridge" was now under orders to return to England with a load of marble antiquities from Panthus. The number of sick was now over eighty and the sick bay must have been full. A number of passengers, including four ladies were expected to make the trip back home and cabins were build on deck. A call was made for volunteers to stay in Malta and transfer to the "Belvedera". In all about 20 men answered the call and on 17th October 1842 Henry joined the others and arrived onboard another aged ship under Capt. Hon. George Grey. They were able to observe their previous ship sail out off the Harbour on the 22nd October before they left on the following day.

So young Henry had survived his first two and a half years at sea although still under 19 he had seen 8 of his mates die of sickness or misfortune and over 116 men flogged with at least 12 lashes each. He could consider himself lucky. Captain Barnard had given him a "Good" on his ticket which he had carried to his next ship.

The "Belvedera" sailed past Stomboli and Capri before anchoring at Genoa for a few days, then on to Barcelona where a cabin was erected on deck for Bishop of Gibraltar on a visit to his diocese. The Bishop aboard they returned to Malta but were unfortunate to loose a man overboard. On 23rd December 1842 they were under sail again. This time it was Gibraltar via Barcelona and Tunis. Misfortune continued as on 18th April while still in Gibraltar Bay a seaman fell to his death from the Top Gallants and soon after setting sail for another cruise on the 23rd April, St George's Day, another fell overboard in the Bay of Cadiz; he was picked up. Back in Gibraltar two men were sentenced to 48 lashings and discharged the service. The Belvidera then went north along the Spanish coast past the towns so well known to British holiday makers, Alicieria, Alicanti and Valencia. It was near Barcelona on the 22nd May that Henry and a ship mate fell foul of the Captain. Henry received 24 lashings for "insubordinate Conduct and throwing his hammock overboard." His mate had similar treatment for the same offence. It must have been something quite serious as Captain Grey was quite considerate in dealing out punishment, as is shown by the low numbers reported. A hammock was Navy property and as such had to be accounted for; to deliberately throw it overboard was a grave offence. Poor Henry even had to pay 2 shillings and ten pence for a new one, which amount was deducted from his pay. Not that he would have been able to sleep it one for many days until his back had healed. Another man to fall foul of Naval discipline while in Malta’s Grand Harbour was a shipmate of Henry’s, a certain Edward Heath.

On 7th June they were in Malta but after a week sailed for Greece. It was while they were on shore leave near Athens that Henry again fell foul of the strict Naval discipline by bringing a bottle of the local spirit on board when he returned to his ship. This earned him a further 36 lashings on his back which could hardly have healed after his previous punishment. They sailed down the Turkish coast and then headed back to Malta, which they reached on 30th September 1843 and then on to Gibraltar. Henry's ship remained in port until 24th February 1844 when once again they made the cruise of the Mediterranean via Barcelona, Malta, Tunis, Sardinia, Palermo, Nicosia, Voula Bay in Turkey, Athens, Malta and then back to Athens again. Back in Malta they spent Christmas Day 1844 in Valetta Harbour but on the second day of the New year they sailed for England. On the 20th January the ship was hit by a fierce gale which tore off hatch covers and split the canvas cover around the rudder hole so that water poured over the bread store and into the magazine. It was not until the 23rd that the wind dropped to force 7 and the carpenter could start work on repairs. Two days later they lost a man overboard off Cartagena, Spain. After 5 days in Gibraltar with its usual batch of drunken sailors to punished, they set sail on the last leg of the journey and arrived in Portland Harbour on 23rd February. Next day they moved to Spithead and began to unrigging the masts.

Henry was discharged 5th March 1845 with “Good conduct” entered on his certificate of discharge. He had completed five years at sea with the Royal Navy and was still only just turned 21. He appears to have been in no hurry to get back to Leigh for after only five days he joined his next ship, “HMS Hibernia”. By now he was considered a well seasoned sailor. He was well aware of the rigours of Naval discipline, although he at times let his desire for strong liqueur get him in to trouble. During his first tour of duty he had had two Captains who were strong disciplinarians and he had learnt the hard way that good conduct is expected at all times. Property too had to be accounted for to the Admiralty and he had more than once seen his ship be put about to pick up a small inexpensive object that had been dropped overboard. Even a small scraper used to remove barnacles from the ships side had been listed in the log when an unfortunate sailor let it fall into the water. Any trace of carelessness and the cost was deduced from his wages.

The Hibernia was yet another old ship, built in 1804 and carrying 110 guns. She was a "first rate" ship and the largest that Henry had sailed on. He came abroad on 5th March 1845 while she was still fitting out at Portsmouth. As he still felt it necessary to falsify his age he was entered as being 28 years old. The Captain did not join the ship until 5th May, during which time the crew, which included 20 of his old shipmates from the Belvidera, were engaged in rigging the ship under command of the Clerk of the Check^[7]. It was perhaps unfortunate that the Queen had just taken an interest in her country house at Osbourne on the Isle of Wight as every week end she journeyed by train to Portsmouth and then transferred to the Royal Yacht "Victoria & Albert" to make the crossing to the Island. This short voyage took her passed Henry's ship and each passage was marked by a 21 gun salute and the crew manning the rigging. Henry would have taken an active roll in this procedure as his new Captain promoted him from 1st May to be Captain of the Main Top; this made him the NCO in charge of the team of men responsible for raising sail on the upper part of the main mast. It was with some relief that they sailed on 23rd July with Admiral William Parker and his wife on board. On 25th August they dropped anchor in Valetta Harbour, Malta, where they were to stay until 28th March 1846. During this long stay boredom the Officers tried hard to provide work for the crew of over 800 but there were still those who sought other divertissements. Several men were lashed for theft, while others risked the sea to attempt to swim ashore. Three men including a Bos'n Mate were charged with the lost of 22lbs of fresh beef.

On leaving Malta they made for the Bosferus, arriving at Galipoli on 19th April. The Crimean War was still some 8 years away so it was a peaceful visit of some two weeks. From the entrance to the Black sea there was a quick passage back through the Mediterranean to Gibraltar and then to Cork on 13th July 1846, where Henry was to meet his future wife. It was possible that they met on this occasion as the ship spent 14 days there before returning south to the Portuguese coast at Lisbon. They made a quick trip down to Tangiers only to return to Lisbon where they moored in the Tagus River for several months; not leaving until 19th August 1847. During this time Henry became Bos'n's Mate. When they arrived in Malta there was a brief stay before making a cruise up to Leghorn and back. On 18th June 1848 Henry fell into the Captain's bad books again for he was demoted for three months. Between then and the 12th April 1849 they made several trips up the Italian coast to Naples before finally leaving for England. By 12th June 1849 they were anchored in Plymouth Sound and on 21st June the crew was paid off and taken ashore by the “Sphinix”. Although Henry had regained his rank about a year ago his Captain had the last laugh, one day before being paid off he demoted him back to AB, thus depriving him of the higher rank on the certificate that he would take to his next ship. His conduct too was degraded to "Fair".

With what must have been a bit of good planing Henry arranged that his next ship should be “HMS Hogue” which was off Sheerness. This let him get back to Leigh for the first time in nine years. His leave gave him four weeks at home until on 19th July 1849 he reported back on board the “Hogue”. The “Hogue” was another old ship having been built in 1811 but she had just been refitted with a steam driven screw. In comparison with his other ships she was much smaller being only of the 4th rate. with 74 guns. The Queen was about to make visit to Ireland so Hogue sailed on 26th July to be in Cork Harbour to salute Her Majesty on her arrival. There was then a move up the coast to Kingstown in time to meet her as she left. They then came back to Plymouth but within a month they were back in Cork Harbour, Queenstown. Before they sailed on 7th November they had lost one man overboard. The voyage took them to Gibraltar and then back to Lisbon where they had problems with the engines. This kept the ship in port for over a month. At that time steam engines were only used to ease the passage into port or on those occasions when the wind was too slight to fill the sails. As the propeller would impede the ships progress when not turning it had to be raised clear of the water most of the time. The same applied to the funnel which was lowered to the deck when under sail.

For the next six months they sailed back and forth between Lisbon and Gibraltar. Then 22nd June 1850 they sailed for Gibraltar once again but this time they continued on to Malta where they arrived on 11th July. They stayed in the area until 6th September. Henry had been promoted to Captain of the Hold on 19th February but on 30th August he was demoted for disobedience of orders. It must have been a shock when the man holding the post of Captain of the Main Top, a post he had himself held for several years, fell from the mainmast to his death on the 25th July. A few days later news of the death of President Taylor of the USA who died on 9th July reached the ship and the US ensign was flown at half mast. From Malta they sailed back to Spithead where there went into dry dock to scrap the ships bottom. This improved the ships speed and a test was carried out on 18th December at Spithead when a speed of 8 miles and 3 furlongs per hour was achieved. Just before Christmas they sailed and arrived in Queenstown on Boxing Day 1850 where they stayed for four months. On 5th February the wind increased to storm strength 9 , the jolly boat had been ashore to collect supplies but they had been trapped by the storm and the boat had sunk. They lost 285 pounds of fresh beef and 400 pounds of vegetables. Later on when the weather had improved they were able to salvage the Jolly boat but it took the carpenter several days to carry out repairs. Although they made several short trips out of the harbour they did not finally sail until 10th May for Spithead. During these three to four months it is most likely that Henry met Margaret Burke who being born about 1827 was some four years younger than Henry. She lived at Kinsale only 20 miles from Queenstown and easily reached by sea.

The visit to Spithead was short, just time to give the Queen her usual 21 gun salutes as she passed through the harbour and then it was back again to Cork. Without pausing they were off again for Lisbon and on 29th June they anchored in the Tagus. were they stayed until 11th November 1851. After a run down to Gibraltar and Tangiers they were back in the river by 12th December. Christmas was spent at Lisbon and then on 4th February they sailed for Cork were Henry had another month to see his girl. They sailed on 23rd March 1852 for Spithead. Henry seems to have had leave for three weeks for he is missing from his ship between 17th April and 5th May but during this time it was in Spithead. On 1st June they made yet another round trip to Queenstown, Kingstown and back to Plymouth Sound where they where paid of on 31st August. Apart from the demotion on 30th August 1850 Henry appears to have kept out of trouble but his Captain was not very pleased with him; his conduct as shown on his discharge certificate was "Bad".

There follows two weeks leave which ended back at Plymouth on 13th September 1852. He was unlikely to have got to Ireland but it is possible he went home to Leigh. His new ship was “HMS Sans Pareil”, an 81 gun 2nd rate ship but newly built being less than a year old. The first months of his stay on the “Sans Pareil” the ship were in Plymouth but on 12th November Henry was ordered to the Flag ship, HMS Impregnable for a Court of Enquiry; he did not return as he was to spend the next two months in Plymouth civil goal. There seems to be no records of his offence but at this time there was a tendency to send sailors to gaol rather than flog them.

When he come out his old ship, the Sans Pariel, was away at sea on another trip to Lisbon and he was forced to spend another three months on HMS Impregnable in Plymouth Harbour. On its return on 5th March 1853 he came aboard to hold such a reunion party that he was taken to Stonehouse Naval Hospital with Delirium Tremens. His enforced stay ashore and the cold waters of the harbour had had its effect and he had lost his dark complexion. When he was discharged he went on a few days leave which most of his shipmates had had while he was in hospital. In the meantime the “Sans Pariel” had sailed up to Spithead where he rejoined her. On 20th May 1853 they sailed for the Black Sea and the Crimean War although it took them over a year to get there with a long stop at Trafalgar. They joined over 600 ships both Naval and mercantile from France and Britain that were assembling in Varna Bay. There was a very large number of cases of cholera among the armies on shore which spread on to the ships^[8]. The “Sans Pariel” seems to avoided this but at least one sailor died ashore when he went absent without leave. On 24th August they began embarking French Troops. It was not until 14th September that they arrived off the coast of the Crimea and began landing the troops at Kalamta Bay, several having died on the way. They also ran aground but appeared to get free within five hours.

The next few days were spent helping unloading troops and equipment but the work was made almost impossible by the heavy swell. A boat was lost with its cargo of ammunition. The ship was instructed to fly a large red battle ensign which the sail maker managed to construct one out of some old flags. As they sailed by the estuary of the Alma they caught sight of a party of Russians retreating across the river. With our troops in action ashore the casualties began to mount up and parties of up to 90 men were sent on shore with stretchers to assist the wounded or to collect the dead.

On 17th October the fleet stood off Sevastpol and poured shells in to the city. She was only 1000 yards from Fort Constantine to the north of the city. Nearly 1500 shells were sent by the “Sans Pariel” alone but the enemy returned the fire and like the rest of the fleet the “Sans Pareil” suffered many casualties. All together 11 men were killed and 56 wounded, including three officers. Fifteen of the wounded had to be taken to hospital. To make matters worse they collided with the Cambia as they withdrew and had many gun ports and part of the stern works carried away. During the next week or two great efforts were made to repair the ship as well as landing troops, filling cartridges for the army ashore and even sending 40 men to assist the Royal Artillery. They sailed round to Balaklava and on the 7th November they were taking many of the wounded from off the beaches to the waiting transport ships. The whole bay was filled with the many ships required to supply the troops with both food and ammunition when, on 13th November a force 11 storm blew up which wrecked many of these small ships. Eight in the vicinity of the “Sans Pariel” were sunk and they assisted in repairing many others.^[9]

In spite of all this effort the Naval assault on Sebastopol was a failure as the stone built defences withstood the bombardment with hardly any damage.

Back in Plymouth in the spring Henry left the “Sans Pariel” on 9th April 1855. His next ship was to be