Sam's Blog

Richard Powell of the Temeraire

Mr Colin Powell has kindly got in touch with some information about Richard Powell, who fought on the Temeraire at Trafalgar.

Richard Powell was born in Harwich on 13 August 1787 and was eighteen years old at the time of Trafalgar. Both his parents died when he was six years old and he was cared for by a family member, Elias Loveday. In 1802 he was apprenticed to a sailmaker in Harwich. The family lived in King Heads St. in Harwich, which was just around the corner from the Admiralty ship yard. He was pressed into service in Plymouth on the 19 March 1803 and after Trafalgar went back to Harwich and worked as a sail maker. There were Powell sail makers in Pin Mill on the Orwell River right up to the mid 1950’s working for the Thames barge trade.

3 Comments

  1. Margaret Durkin
    Posted April 6, 2010 at 6:08 am | Permalink

    Very interested in the information from Colin Powell re Richard Powell. My 2*g grandfather was John Powell(b.1826)Harwich,sailmaker. I haven’t known his parentage as he didn’t give his fathers details on his wedding cert. He had 12 children, 1st son named John,2nd named Richard and 1 of his daughters named Loveday!. Could Richard be my 3*g grandfather? Would love to know where Colin got info from. So excited to think a family member could have fought at Trafalger.Have bought and enjoyed reading ‘The Fighting Temeraire’.

  2. Paul Moran
    Posted May 18, 2010 at 9:27 am | Permalink

    I am interested in two people who served on the Temeraire at Trafalgar, as listed in Appendix 2 of your book.They were St.Ives chaps called Thomas Burrell and Thomas Paynter. The thread of the Paynter family lives on to this day in St.Ives.
    I would like to establish a connection between the two.

    Did you reasearch your Appendix list at the National Archives?

    Thanks Paul Moran

  3. Sam
    Posted May 11, 2011 at 6:20 am | Permalink

    Dear David

    Wonderful stuff. You need to speak with margaret durkin. The Powells are related to her…

    Margaret Durkin
    [email protected]

Post a Comment

Your email is never shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*


Website design by Cows Can't Count