Mutiny on the Bounty
Everybody knows the intriguing story about the ill-fated 1797 voyage of
the HMS Bounty that ended in the famous mutiny. I therefore found it of
great interest that our family has a very slight connection to this
significant event in history through a very early part of our family in
the 1600’s.
John Leverton, who married our Elizabeth Trevethuan, had an elder
brother Thomas Leverton who turns out to be the great great grand
daughter of Sarah Leverton. Sarah was the mother of Seaman Matthew
Quintal (Quintrell), mutineer and ancestor of at least 1,000 persons in
Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. Sarah and her husband Arthur
Quintrell lived in Padstow so would have been well known to the rest of
our Trevethan family of that time.
Not a real connection to our family but still an interesting little
snippet of family history.
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LEVERTON Thomas
LEVERTON John
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M:Elizabeth TREVETHUAN
LEVERTON ........
W:St Merryn
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23 Jly 1631
LEVERTON ........
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LEVERTON ........
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LEVERTON Sarah
Bapt:17 Feb 1733
W:St Eval
M:Arthur QUINTRELL
W:25 Apr 1758
Padstow
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Seaman Mathew QUINTAL (Quintrell)
Mutineer and ancestor of at least 1,000 persons
in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.
The Battle of
Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was fort on the 21st of October 1805 of the
southern coast of Spain at the western entrance to the strait of
Gibratar. It turned out to be one of the greatest navel battles in
history giving England the undisputed control over the high seas.
Admiral Nelson was in command of the 27 British fleet of ship up against
the 33 ships from France and Spain. The British did not lose a ship in
the battle but captured or destroyed over half on the French and Spanish
ships.
You might ask what this has to do with the Trevethan family? An article
from an English newspaper tells of eighteen-year-old midshipman John
Pollard who killed the person who shot Admiral Nelson from the fighting
platform high on the mast of one of the operstions ships. The below
article makes interesting reading and as you will see John Pollard went
on to marry Matilda Trevethan and thus the connection with the Trevethan
family.
Man Who Avenged Nelson.
Mrs Edna Haller, Barnes Court, Burnley, Lancs, writes:
Being an avid reader of your page and noting that you seem to be able
to answer so many questions, I am wondering if my one may fox you.
My mother always told me that her great-grandfather, or perhaps it
was her great-great, was “the man who shot Lord Nelson” at the battle of
Trafalgar, for which he received the King’s Bounty.
Now, whenever I relate this story to my family and friends, they hoot me
down. But my mother was adamant about this and I would love to find out
if it really is true and has been recorded.
My mother’s maiden name was Pollard and she said this great-grandfather
was on her father’s side of the family, which came from Devonshire.
Can you help me stop my disbeliveers laughing?
Clear the decks for action, Edna! As you may know, Lord Nelson was
shot by a sniper perched in one of the fighting tops – platforms
attached to the mast – of the French ship Redoubtable with which the
Victory was locked.
After the fatal shot an English midshipman cleared the French
fighting tops of every one of the enemy “until not one was to be seen.”
And the midshipman was thus credited with avenging Nelson was
eighteen-year-old John Polland, of Cawsand, Cornwall.
Though also wounded, he doesn’t appear to have received any special
award for his action but every member of the fleet was rewarded, his
share, as midshipman, being £26 6s Government grant and £10 14s prize
money.
Pollard remained in the Royal Navy, being promoted Lieutenant the
year after Trafalgar, retiring in 1864 with the rank of Commander.
In the meantime, in August 1828 he married Matilda Trevethan, who
bore him six children. John Pollard died in 1868, aged eighty-one.
And if that doesn’t convince your disbelievers, Edna, we suggest they
make a trip to the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, where it is all
recorded. And well worth the trip.
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