Account of the Battle of Trafalgar by Robert Sands, Boy 3rd. Class

Sands was born in Rochester c.1787/1788, was briefly apprenticed to Matthew Lock of Chatham as a fisherman and dredgerman and after brief service in harbour ships HMS Zealand and HMS Imperieuse joined HMS Temeraire aged 15 in 1803.

He was one of at least 99 men from the Medway Towns and surrounding villages who served at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

Sands' account is important to naval historians partly because his ship was immediately astern of HMS Victory in the windward line of attack and was in the thick of the action and partly because below decks accounts are extremely rare. Temeraire suffered the highest number of killed (47) after Victory and the sixth highest number of wounded (76) in the fleet.

Sands received prize money of £1 17s 8d.

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Entry in the Gravesend St. George composite parish register recording the burial of Princess Pocahontas on 21 March 1616/1617. The entry reads:
Rebecca Wroth wyffe [i.e. wife] of Thomas Wroth/ gent[leman] [i.e. gentleman] a Virginia [America] Lady borne [i.e. born] was buried/ in the Chauncell [i.e. chancel]
By kind permission of the Rector and Parochial Church Council (P159/1/1).
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Entry in the Gillingham, St. Mary Magdalene composite parish register recording the baptism of William Adams, the first Englishman in Japan. The entry reads:
W[illia]m [i.e. William, cf. Will] Adams sonne [i.e. son] of John/ Adams baptized [i.e. baptised] the foure [i.e. four] & twentith [i.e. twentieth] of September /1564
By kind permission of the rector and Parochial Church Council (P153/1/1).
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Certificate or smart ticket for the relief Andrew Forbes of HMS Conqueror, injured at the Battle Of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, endorsed by the Royal Navy and directed for payment to the Governors of Chatham Chest, a charitable organisation whose secure chest was named after the dockyard town in whose parish church porch it had for long been kept. Forbes' leg was amputated on the same day as the action.
(Medway Council, DE192/2)
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Entry in the oldest surviving meeting day book or minute book of Rochester City Council recording the charges of the butcher and other labourers for
cutting up and Boylinge the great Fishe [i.e. fish (possibly a whale)] that Cast up herself agrounde above the [Rochester] Bridge the Sixtenth [i.e. sixteenth] daie of Julie [i.e. July] 1623 .
(Rochester City Archives RCA/A1/1 page 68, Medway Council).
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Picture postcard scene of the River Medway between Rochester Bridge and Gillingham showing sailing barges, c.1900.
(Couchman collection DE402, Medway Council).
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Picture postcard view of Jezreel's Tower, Gillingham.
This structure, started in 1886 was the home of the Jezreelite sect (founded in 1875 by James White or Jezreel) remained unfinished and was demolished in 1961.
(Couchman collection DE402, Medway Council)
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Illuminated page from the Textus Roffensis.
The Textus Roffensis was begun in the early 12th. century in the episcopate of Ernulf; it is the most precious document in the archives of Rochester Cathedral. This page (folio 119 recto) marks the beginning of the cartulary of Rochester Priory.
The illumination comprises the illuminated letter R of Regnante formed out of an angel and winged dragon coloured green, lake and vermilion and introduces the charter of King Aethelbert (or Ethelbert) of Kent to bishop Justus granting land near Rochester for the foundation of St. Andrew's Cathedral Priory in 604.
Latin.
By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester (DRc/R1).
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The coat of arms of Rochester City Council.
The arms of Rochester were first formally recorded at the Heralds' Visitation of Kent in 1619 and were allowed at the Heralds' Visitation of Kent in 1674, though a standard lead weight for metering purposes dating from the reign of King Richard III (1483-1485) now held by the Guildhall Museum, Rochester, bears their earliest representation. The mural crown is believed to have been added at the time Rochester Castle was purchased by the council from the Earl of Jersey in 1884.
Rochester City Council was dissolved in 1974, the arms now being the intellectual property of its legal successor Medway Council.
This photograph is taken from the Loyal Address of 1961, which commemorated the five hundredth anniversary of the mayoralty. (Rochester City Archives RCA, Medway Council). Click here for a synopsis of local grants of arms and charters.

Charter from King Edward IV to the City of Rochester 14 December 1461.
This charter is the first to refer to the Rochester mayoralty. It is translated by P.H. Bartlett in The City of Rochester Charters 1961 p.33-35 (Archives Library) and a manuscript translation exists in the Rochester City Archives at RCA/L2/99/18.
Rochester City Archives RCA, Medway Council).
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Illumination from the grant of arms by the College of Arms to Medway Borough Council, 1 March 1977.
Medway Borough Council, initially known as Medway District Council, succeeded Rochester City Council, Chatham Borough Council and Strood Rural District Council, its arms containing references to those of its predecessors. Renamed Rochester upon Medway Borough Council and ultimately Rochester upon Medway City Council, the authority was itself dissolved in 1998, its arms now being the intellectual property of its legal successor Medway Council.
Rochester upon Medway City Council archives (RUMCC), Medway Council.
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Illumination from the grant of arms from the College of Arms to Chatham Borough Council, 1 August 1891.

Chatham Borough Council was incorporated in 1890 and dissolved in 1974, its arms now being the intellectual property of its legal successor Medway Council.

The Chatham Borough coat of arms was inspired by the coat of arms of William Pitt, 1st. Earl of Chatham. The blazoning of the original shield sable with fess chequey of azure and argent was altered to gules and or to represent the Army presence, mainly at Chatham Barracks (Kitchener Barracks) and Brompton Barracks. The original crest and helm were modified with a naval crown, which together with the tridents represent the Royal Naval Dockyard and HMS Pembroke, the naval barracks. The laurel wreath and sword represent the Royal Marines' Chatham Division (Royal Marines' Barracks and Melville Barracks). The motto was adopted in the successor authority's coat of arms of 1977.

Illumination from the grant of arms by the College of Arms to Strood Rural District Council, 6 June 1953.

Strood RDC was inaugurated in 1897 in succession to Rochester Highway Board and like the latter was for a while under the chairmanship of the Earl of Darnley of Cobham Hall. The motto translates as the hope of the country is the countryside. The arms were granted in commemoration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Like Rochester City Council and Chatham Borough Council, Strood RDC was dissolved in 1974, its arms now being the intellectual property of its legal successor Medway Council.

The green field represents the Hoo Peninsula, the flaunches the Rivers Medway and Thames, the gateway Cooling Castle, the two quill pens Charles Dickens of Gads Hill, Higham and the cornucopia the agricultural wealth of the district. The Saxon helm represents early English settlements, the sail maritime activities on the River Medway and the white horse Kent.

(Strood RDC archives SRDC/74, Medway Council.)

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Charter from King Henry III to the citizens of Rochester, 6 November 1227.
This is the oldest charter or document of any description surviving among the Rochester City Archives. It is the first charter to grant Rochester definite municipal privileges and the first to mention a chief executive officer, a bailiff, predecessor of the mayor. A duplicate exists, and is translated by P.H. Bartlett in The City of Rochester Charters 1961, p.19 with a manuscript translation in the Rochester City archives at: RCA/l2/99/67
Rochester City Archives RCA, Medway Council.)

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Instrument of amoval of the Rev. Robert Whiston MA, Clerk in Holy Orders and Headmaster of the Cathedral Grammar School (King's School), Rochester by the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, 19 October 1849.
Having failed to rectify perceived anomalies in the cathedral's statutes through the Dean and Chapter, the bishop and at law, Whiston published a pamphlet deemed libellous by the Dean and Chapter, leading to his dismissal. Following a second court case in which the dismissal was deemed illegal as there had been no disciplinary hearing, this new instrument formally ejected Whiston from his post after a hearing. A subsequent appeal to a local ecclesiastical panel secured his reinstatement in 1852. Whiston retired in 1877. The famous Whiston Matter inspired Anthony Trollope's book The Warden, written between 1852 and 1853.

Illumination from the grant of arms from the College of Arms to Gillingham Borough Council, 22 April 1904.
Derived from the arms of the Gillingham Court Leet, the new arms also retain the predecessor body's original motto.
The harp represents Gillingham, the ship the presence of Royal Navy, the tower the presence of the army and the sprig of broom Brompton.
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Burial entry for Richard Trevithick, buried in Dartford churchyard on 26 April 1833.

Born at Illogan in Cornwall in 1771, Trevithick who stood at 6' 2" was nicknamed the Cornish giant. A tin miner with engineering talent, Trevithick developed various forms of steam locomotive in Britain and South America with varying degrees of success, dying at the Bull Inn, Dartford in reduced circumstances on 22 April 1833.

The Engineering Magazine of 27 March 1868 noted Trevithick was the real inventor of the locomotive. He was the first to prove the sufficiency of the adhesion of the wheels on the rails for all purposes of traction on lines of ordinary gradient, the first to make the return flue boiler, the first to use the steam jet in the chimney, and the first to couple all the wheels of the engine.

Trevithick is commemorated by a plaque in the church.

By kind permission of the rector and parochial church council of Holy Trinity, Dartford (P110/1/10)

Burial entry for Stephen Borough, buried in Chatham 14 July 1584.

A Devon man, Borough was a sea captain, navigator and explorer who between 1553 and 1556 pioneered the sea route to Russia. He was instrumental in the setting up of the first big English overseas trading company, the Muscovy Company, in 1555. He served as chief pilot of the Company, was a member and Master of the Trinity Brethren and was appointed one of four Pilots General (or Principal Masters in Ordinary) to the Queen's Navy, stationed on the River Medway. He is commemorated by a tablet in St. Mary's Church, Chatham.

The entry reads Stephen Boroughe [cf. Borough] Esquior was buryed the xiiiith daie of the same moneth [i.e. 14 July 1584]

By kind permission of the priest-in-charge and parochial church council of the Ecumenical Parish of St. John (URC/Anglican) including the United Benefice and Parish of St. Mary and St. John (P85/1/1 folio 61)

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Burial entry for Cossuma Albertus, Prince of Transylvania, from the Rochester Cathedral registers for 21 October 1661. The victim of an infamous murder by his attendants in Strood Cossuma Albertus was probably actually Albertus Casimir, a lesser member of the Polish royal family possibly engaged in the service of the French. A memorial tablet in the cathedral also records his demise and burial.

By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. Click here to view the whole page.

Baptism entry for Mick Jagger, rock musician, from the registers of Dartford St. Alban for 6 October 1943.

(Dartford St. Alban parish records P110C/1B/5)

By kind permission of the churchwardens and parochial church council of Dartford St. Alban.

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Burial entry for Walter Burke 15 September 1815 in the Wouldham burial register.
Burke was born in Limerick, Ireland and served as purser on board HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 of which event he wrote an account. His gravestone in Wouldham churchyard states Lord Nelson died in his arms while Arthur Devis' painting of the death of Nelson of 1807, considered an authentic record, shows Burke supporting Nelson's pillow.
Burke was one of three witnesses to Nelson's request for Hardy to kiss him. Burke was a relation of the politician Edmund Burke. He owned Purser Place and Burke House in Wouldham materials from which were removed to Maresfield, Sussex in 1937 and combined into one new house called Purser Place there.

By kind permission of the Priest in Charge and Parochial Church Council of the United Benefice and Parish of Burham and Wouldham (P405/1/8)

Entry in the Chatham St. Mary baptism register recording the baptism of Thomas Fletcher Waghorn 16 July 1800.
Waghorn served in the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy and acquired fame of sorts as the pioneer of the overland route to India via Egypt. He lived in Rochester 1834-c.1841 and thereafter in Snodland where he died in 1850. He is commemorated by a statue in Railway Street, Chatham.

By kind permission of the priest-in-charge and parochial church council of the Ecumenical Parish of St. John (URC/Anglican) including the United Benefice and Parish of St. Mary and St. John (P85/1/22)

Baptism of Robert Maynard, Holy Trinity Church, Dartford 11 November 1683

Maynard, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, acquired fame as the slayer of Edward Teach (or Thatch) alias Blackbeard the Pirate in a naval engagement at Okracoke Inlet, North Carolina in 1718. Maynard retired as a captain and is buried at Great Mongeham.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Vicar and Parochial Church Council of Holy Trinity, Dartford (P110/1/1)

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Marriage of John Newton and Mary Catlett, St. Margaret's Church, Rochester, 1 February 1749/1750.

Born in London in 1725, John Newton entered the merchant navy. He became a Christian in 1748 but as a slave trader carried at least 500 African slaves to the West Indies. He was ordained, became an early campaigner against the slave trade and served in the Church of England ministry at Olney in Buckinghamshire and in London. He was a friend and mentor of William Wilberforce. With William Cowper he co-authored the Olney Hymns, published in 1779. Newton's contributions included "Sweet the name of Jesus sounds", "Glorious things of Thee are spoken" and "Amazing Grace". Newton died in London in 1807 and was buried in Olney. Mary Catlett was of a Chatham family.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Vicar and Parochial Church Council of the United Benefice and Parish of St. Peter with St. Margaret, Rochester (P305/1/5)

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Baptism of John Tradescant, Meopham Parish Church, 4 August 1608

John Tradescant the Younger was educated at King's School, Canterbury and became a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, travelled to Virginia three times between 1637 and 1654 and in 1638 was appointed Keeper of His Majesty's Gardens, Vines and Silkworms at Oatlands Palace, Surrey. He built a collection of birds, fish, shells, insects, minerals, coins and medals, named the Museum Tradescantianum and pioneered the cultivation of imported foreign plant species. The collection passed after his death to Elias Ashmole, partly by the latter's surreptitiousness, and thus formed the basis of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Rector and Parochial Church Council of the United Benefice of Meopham with Nurstead (P246/1/1)

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Entry in the Dartford Holy Trinity parish register for Sir John Spielman (Spillman), 8 November 1626

Spielman, a native of Landau near Lake Constance in southern Germany, became jeweller and goldsmith successively to Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. He built the first successful paper mill in England at Dartford in 1585 and in 1586 obtained a patent for a monopoly of the manufacture of paper in the kingdom, subsequently satirised by Shakespeare. Spielman was knighted in 1605 and is commemorated by a mural monument and effigy in the church. The introduction of foolscap paper is popularly attributed to Spielman.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Vicar and Parochial Church Council of Holy Trinity, Dartford (P110/1/1) To view the list of the Dartford, Holy Trinity parish records, please click here.