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SAMUEL MARSHALL
Three navy officers with this
name are commissioned in 1732, 1760, and 1782.
Presumably in a father-son line.
The eldest is said in his
will (made April 1768, executed the following month) to be from "Berry in
the parish of Alverstoke". (Part
of the road now linking Gosport with Alverstoke village is called Bury Road.)
He may have connections with
the Attwick family. When he is in
command of the Tyger in 1753-4, third lieutenant is Thomas Bishop, who
has a servant called John Courtney.
John Attwick’s daughter Mary has a son, John Courtenay, from her first marriage:
her second husband is named Thomas Bishop.
Coincidence?
Marshall’s will names two
children, Samuel and Edith.
In December 1769 Edith
marries Lieutenant David Maitland. The
marriage has unusual features.
The children have fancy names
like Henry Topham Harley and Reynera Charlotte. Three of them are baptised twice: at both Gosport
Holy Trinity and Alverstoke St Mary.
Edith's husband may have a family
pedigree he needs to live up to. A
contemporary, Hon Frederick Lewis Maitland – also a naval officer, with one
child baptised at Gosport – is son to the Sixth Earl of Lauderdale. The Lauderdale Maitland's pedigree goes back
to the sixteenth century. The First
Earl's brother was Secretary to Mary Queen of Scots.
But it is Edith's brother
Samuel who is of greatest interest.
His naval career starts in
1753, when he is listed as servant to his father aboard the Tyger. To judge from ships’ pay books, his first
command is the Antigua in 1762.
Other books tell a different story.
In December 1776 he takes
command of the frigate Arethusa.
Over the next six months she is escorting convoys to Lisbon. Then she moves to the waters between Great
Britain and Ireland.
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Resolved that Orders be sent to Capt Marshall of the Arethusa at
the Downes to proceed up St George's Channel and cruize till further Order
between the Mull of Galloway, Belfast Lough and the Mull of Cantine for the
protection of the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects.
From Admiralty Board minutes, 10 July 1777. |
In June 1778 she joins the
fleet in the channel under Admiral Keppel.
On the eighteenth she is involved in an engagement, celebrated in song, with the French frigate Belle
Poule.
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Captain Marshall appears to have conducted himself in the whole of this matter with the greatest Spirit and Gallantry and speaks with great satisfaction of the behaviour of his Officers & Ships Company. From letter of Admiral
Keppel to Admiralty Board, describing action of 18 June 1778. |
She is severely damaged, but
is repaired in time to take part in the July battle that leads to Keppel's
court martial. Marshall is the first
witness at the court martial.
In April 1782 he is in
command of another frigate, the Flora, at the Battle
of the Saints. When the victorious
Admiral Rodney arrives back in England, he goes on shore accompanied by Samuel
Marshall.
From November 1783 to October
1787 Marshall commands the Pegase, which remains in the Portsmouth area
throughout. During this period the name
Samuel Marshall appears as one of the Fareham Turnpike trustees named in the
dispute with Peter Barfoot.
In January 1790 he is named
as a Commissioner of Victualling (PRO, ADM111/117).
On 5th November 1793, Marshall bids
farewell to the Navy Victualling Board, informing them he has been appointed a
Commissioner of the Navy. His career
can be traced via Assistant Deputy Comptroller (patent 4 December 1793) to
Deputy Comptroller (patent 25 September 1794).
During this period a knighthood is conferred. His death is recorded in the Navy's
accounts (ADM7/815) as 2nd October 1795.
There is no sign of a pension
for the widow of any Samuel Marshall; and it appears that the third in the
family line (his son?) has predeceased him.
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