Introduction
While captain of the Centurion (50 guns), Captain William Mantell helped transport Gen. Edward Braddock’s troops to Virginia for what became the ill-fated expedition against the French and Indians near Fort Duquesne. The rout and humiliation of Braddock’s troops ultimately launched George Washington’s career and triggered the French and Indian War. Later, Mantell’s ship fired on Quebec City, providing cover for Gen. James Wolfe’s landing troops in what led to the fateful battle on the Plains of Abraham which ultimate resulted in the fall of French Canada to the English. I include notes on the Centurion itself, which was famous in its own right, having been compared to Drake’s Golden Hind in circumnavigating the globe, a heroic voyage led by George Anson about ten years before Mantell took command of the man-of-war.
While William Mantell’s role in these events with Braddock and at Quebec was in support of large operations, he was there and he played his own small part in the beginnings of what became a worldwide war that built the British Empire at the expense of the French and Spanish.
Mantell Family Background
William Mantell was the son of Walter Mantell, Gent. of Horton Priory, Monks Horton, Kent and his wife Jane Bell, who had married in Sellinge, Kent on 19 October 1708. In St. Paul’s church, Canterbury, is a commemorative wall plaque to Walter and Jane Mantell, and to their daughter Jane, the wife of James Daniell. It includes the combined arms of Mantell and Daniell.
Capt. Mantell succeeded his older brother Walter (who died without children in 1758) to the ancient Cluniac priory, now gentleman’s large house. Horton Priory ceased to be used in its former role for those holy orders at the dissolution of Roman Catholic church lands by King Henry VIII. The Mantells purchased the Priory from Richard Tate in 1547, who had recently obtained it from the Crown. I am working on a broader Mantell history of these earlier times, from the Conquest, to the War of the Roses, to Henry VIII’s wars in France, to the uprising against Queen Mary and subsequent execution of a couple Mantells, and to a Civil War political track by another Mantell.
Captain William’s sister Jane Mantell (chr. 17 July 1709 in Sellinge) married 6 March 1743/1744 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, to James Daniell, Gent. of Canterbury. James Daniells lived in the Longport area of Canterbury, which is the vicinity of St. Paul’s church. Their two sons, James Daniell (chr. 11 Oct. 1744 at St. Mary Magdalen, Canterbury) and Francis Daniell (chr. 31 March 1749 at St. Alphege, Canterbury) are looked after in Captain Mantell’s will, since Jane had been left a widow with young children. James Daniell (1744-1802) was only thirteen when his father died. He first entered the service of the East India Company in 1760 and rose to the position of Chief of Masulipatam in India. His uncle, Captain Mantell, who was a large E.I.C. stockholder, may have been a source of patronage for James Jr.. When James returned to England in 1784 after serving for years as company factor along the Coromandel coast of southeastern India, he was very rich and moved in the highest levels of English society, but that is another story.
Capt. Mantell’s sister Margaret Mantell (born about 1718) was married to Alexander Sunderland (died 1770) of Eaton, Buckinhamshire and of Windsor, Berkshire. They had no children.
The captain’s brother, Henry Mantell (chr. 10 Oct. 1723 in Sellinge), a purser in the Royal Navy, was married to a woman named Mary, and inherited Horton Priory from his brother Capt. William Mantell. Henry is described “of Greenwich” and may have been at the Greenwich Hospital, a home for navy pensioners. Henry’s heir is Augustus William Mantell (born 5 May 1777; died 1 May 1833) who later lives at Horton Priory. Henry may have another son, Frederick Henry Mantell, Lieutenant of the Nottingham Militia, who is buried at Sellinge on 10 April 1808.
It appears that careers in the navy were chosen for the younger sons of this generation of Mantells, but as fate so often intervenes, the eldest son died without children and Horton Priory went first to Captain William and then to his brother Henry. It is odd, but in the 1700s the Mantells seem to have preferred living away from the hold priory. William and Henry’s parents may have preferred St. Paul’s parish in Canterbury; William himself is described “of Rochester,” Kent; and Henry finishes up his days at Greenwich. By the early 1800s, Augustus William Mantell again appears to be living at Horton Priory, but the distant relative who bought the place, the Rev. Edward Reginald Mantell, may never have lived there.
Brigadier A. C. Gore invited me to visit the Priory, which was his home, in 1983. He very kindly gave me a tour of the large mansion. While the house is now very large and imposing, the Mantells would have only known the Priory side of it (which was still a very large house by any standard). The modern additions were only added between 1912 and 1914 and made to look like the twelfth century priory. Brig. Gore showed me the framed deed in the entry chamber from about 1547 when Richard Tate acquired the former church lands from the crown. He also told me that Henry VIII had the ancient church there destroyed and that the priory was where the monks had lived.
In April 2010 Horton Priory was put up for sale at £5.5 million. It is now 56 acres. See http://www.struttandparker.com/property-for-sale/ashford-kent/property_CAN080057.html for details and for a beautiful brochure. Also, see an article entitled “Sale of the Centuries” on the sale: http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article7099669.ece.
William Mantell’s Naval Career
The 1730s
William Mantell may have first joined the Royal Navy about 6 June 1730.
I found the following certificate at the Public Record Office in Kew (now The National Archives) during my visit there in 1983. It is from the Lieutenant’s Appointments, ADM 107. This is my transcription:
In pursuance &c dated the 17th Feb last, we have examined Mr. William Mantell Aged more than 23 yrs, And find he hath gone to sea more than six years in the Ships & qualities undermention’d
............................................................................Ys Ms Ws Ds
Gosport...........................Vol. P’ order..............1...7.....3....6
Gosport...................................able.....................1...5....3.....5
Lyon.......................................midsm..................0...2....3.....4
Captain..................................Midsn...................0....1....2....1
Sunderland......................Midsn Ord’ry...........0....8....3....6
Do...........................................Midsn...................0....4....0....5
Orford....................................Midsn...................2....4....3....4
..............................................................................6...10...1....3...[total]
He produced Journals kept by him in the Gosport, Lyon, Captain, Sunderland, Orford, & Certificates from Capt. Drake, Capt. Mayne, Capt. Dent, Capt. Man & Capt. Martin of his diligence & he can splice, knott Reef a sail &c, & is qualified to do the duty of an able seaman & midshipman.
Dated 16th Apr. 1737
Rb. G. P. Sr Charles Hardy
The man who signed this document eventually became Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, being knighted in 1742. Hardy would enter parliament and be one of the Lords of the Admiralty before dying in 1744. All the ships mentioned have a history of their own as they plied the seven seas to the far corners of the world. The captain’s logs would probably tell us what latitudes and climes, and engagements, Mantell experienced in his young life.
From the < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midshipman> website we learn that a son from the gentry often entered the Royal Navy as a “volunteer-per-order” with the intent of grooming them as future officers. I assume that the “Vol. P’ order” mentioned above refers to this. Since these young men arrived with a “letter of service” from the crown, they were often called the “king’s letter boys” and were to be treated as gentlemen apart from common seamen. By the 1730s these boys also served as servants to the captain. The last of these “letters of service” was issued in 1732, so perhaps a further record of Mantell’s early career may someday be found, and perhaps it will tell us who may have had the crown’s ear in obtaining this opportunity for a young boy.
The 1740s
From the National Maritime Museum:
ADM 354/120/233 it reads, “How William Mantell, Lieutenant of the Lyme, stands on the books of the Canterbury and Hugh Bonfoy and Arthur Scott, Leonard Marshall and William Mantell, on the books of the Somerset.
ADM 354/125/235 we learn that “William Mantell has complained he has not been paid for his service as a Lieutenant on the Canterbury from January 1739 to May 1740. He is entitled to pay as a Midshipman but has not applied for his pay.”—18 May 1744
The following comes from Biographia Navalis by John Charnock. (Published 1794 by R. Faulder in London.)
12 May 1740-----Appointed to rank of Lieutenant Royal Navy
1 March 1749----Made a commander
8 June 1749-----Appointed to be Captain of the Syren
The 1750s
Sources:
Biographia Navalis by John Charnock.
William Mantell’s captain’s log, ADM 51/176, parts I-IV
The Royal Navy: A History From the Earliest Times to the Present, by William Laird Clowes, Vol. III, A.M.S. Press, New York, 1966.
2 Oct. 1754--Appointed to HMS Centurion (with 54 guns) while at dock at Chatham, under Commodore Keppel. The Hon. Augustus Keppel commanded the squadron convoying Braddock’s troops to Virginia in 1754. The two ships were the Centurion and the Norwich (both having 50 guns).
Feb. 1755--According to the Captain’s Log, W. Mantell records that the ship was at anchor
to July 1755 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, from Feb. 23, 1755 to July 25, 1755.
1759--The British goal was to remove the French from British North America. Sir Charles Saunders was in charge of the naval assault on Quebec and Gen. Wolfe was in charge of the land aspects for the attack.
31 July 1759--The Centurion (under Capt. Mantell) provided cover fire when the British tried to land troops below the French positions at Quebec. They had to withdraw after an unsuccessful attempt. Forty-nine vessels were assigned to the attack on Quebec. After the unsuccessful attempt to land troops mentioned above, the navy tried to destroy the French ships above the town.
29 July 1759--Mantell and his ship are between Ft. Orleans and Ft. Lewis.
The History of An Expediton Against Fort Du Quesne in 1755 by Winthroop Sargent (pub. 1856):
“Not even the Victory, where Nelson died, was a more famous and favorite ship among British sailors than the old Centurion. In 1740, it was as her captain that Anson led his little squadron on their venturous voyage to ‘put a girdle round about the earth.’ In 1749, we find Keppel in command. In 1755, when he hoisted his broad pennant as commodore of the Virginia fleet, William Mantell, Esq., was his captain. Towards the end of July, the Centurion, along with the Nightingale and the Syren, Captain Proby, sailed from Hampton Roads northwardly; and on the 4th of September, she was with Boscawen’s fleet. Though rated as of 400 men and 60 guns, she mounted now but 54. In 1759, she covered Wolfe’s landing at Quebec.”
The Centurion was very famous after George Anson’s voyage around the world from 1740 to 1744. It was 1,005 tons, 144 feet long, and 40 feet 10 inches wide. It was intended for 400 officers and men. The lower deck had twenty four 24 lb. guns, the upper deck twenty-six 9 lb. guns, and the quarter deck had ten six pounders. Two old pictures survive of the Centurion taking the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Cavadonga on about 20 June 1743 survives. These are a lithograph (circa 1750) and later a chromolithograph (1901) by Charles Dixon. Having captured 1,313,843 pieces of eight (Spanish coins) and 35,682 ounces of silver, it was a very rich prize indeed. Anson became a vice-admiral. Later, in May 1747 the Centurion was engaged against the French in the Battle of Finisterre. A contemporary wooden model of the Centurion was built in 1747 by Benjamin Slade and can be seen at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. In Captain Mantell’s captain’s log I saw several references to the Nightingale at Hampton Roads, Virginia. See Britannia’s Bulwarks, published about 1902, for the series of antique lithographic prints.
At Quebec, the Centurion was still under Mantell’s command, and was part of 49 ships supporting the troop transports, all under the command of Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders. According to a website < http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_centurion1.htm> “. . . they anchored a few miles below Quebec on June 26th with nearly 10,000 troops. On June 28th the French sent down seven fireships and two firerafts, but these were grappled and towed clear by the activity of the seamen. On September 13th under cover of the guns of the Centurion, the troops landed and attacked Quebec. The seamen assisted with guns. On this day both General Wolfe and the Marquis of Montcalm, the English and French Commanders-in-Chief of the troops were mortally wounded. After some fighting the French retired. Additional ships were brought up to bombard, and on the 17th the enemy offered to surrender. On the 18th Vice-Admiral Saunders was one of the signatories to the surrender.”
The Centurion was eventually broken up at Chatham in 1769. On the
The 1750s
William Mantell marries Mary Hubble on 18 July 1753 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London.
Evidence of service in the Royal Navy in North America comes from ADM 8/30, ADM 7/572 p. 181 & p. 258, and ADM 176. These are places visited by the Centurion between 1754 and 1759.
January to August 1755---------------------Virginia
11 Feb. 1755---------------------------------off of Cape Henry
23 Feb. 1755--------------------------------Moor’d in Hampton Road, Virginia
26 July 1755 --------------------------------Set sail from Hampton Road, Virginia
12 Aug. 1755--------------------------------Moor’’d in Halifax Harbour Georges Island
12 August 1755 to 31 Dec. 1755--------------Nova Scotia
Sept. to November 1755---------------------North America
12 August 1755 to 1 February 1756----------near Cape Breton
1 Jan. 1756 to 1 Nov 1756--------------------Nova Scotia
1 Jan. 1757 to 14 Oct. 1757-------------------near Cape Breton
9 July 1757 to 14 Oct. 1757------------------Nova Scotia
1 Jan. 1758 to 8 May 1759-------------------near Cape Breton
17 to 28 May 1758---------------------------Nova Scotia
3 June to 3 Sept. 1758-----------------------Louisbourg
8 Sept. to 5 Oct 1758------------------------Nova Scotia
8 to 19 Oct. 1758----------------------------Louisbourg
22 Oct. 1758 to 31 Dec. 1758----------------Nova Scotia
1 Jan. to 3 May 1759------------------------Nova Scotia
28 May to 10 Oct. 1759---------------------Quebec
In the summer of 1757 Capt. Mantell and the Centurion were under Mr. Holburne’s command in an unsuccessful expedition against Louisbourg. In 1758 Mantell was under Mr. Boscawen’s command in a more successful assault on Louisbourg. See Biographia Navalis.
According to the Lists of East India Company stockholders, William Mantell bought £800 from 1752 or 1753 to February or June 1754. Then again on 7 March 1763 while living in Rochester, Kent, he bought another £500.
The 1760s
From John Charnock’s Biographia Navalis we learn a little more of Mantell’s later career:
1760-------------Mantell is captain of the Deal Castle (24 guns) at home station.
1761-------------Mantell commanded the Montague (60 guns).
1762-------------William Mantell retires.
13 Dec. 1765-----Mantell dies, age about 51 or 52.
21 Dec. 1765-----His tombstone reads, “He was a dutiful son, and benevolent to his relatives.”
During my trip to the archives in Maidstone, Kent, in 1983, I took a look at an old manuscript book (ref. P41/3/1 – created 1765) which included extensive notes on Brabourne and Monks Horton parishes. About 1765 there is a note on Capt. Mantell being descended from Walter Mantell who acquired Horton Priory in the 16th century. Mantell signs the note.
In his will, which is dated 2 October 1761, William Mantell refers to his wife Mary. He had 2000 pounds of stock in the East India Company. Half of it was given to his sister Jane Daniell, widow. He mentions her sons James and Francis. Francis is given 200 pounds for his apprenticeship. This nephew Francis Daniell (1749-1793) completed his articles at Windsor and served as some kind of soldier there in the 1770s, and at Canterbury up until his death at the barracks there in 1793. His brother Henry Mantell is mentioned as having no children in 1765. Some money is given to his widowed mother, Jane Mantell. A sister Margaret is mentioned.
Concerning his estate, William Mantell is made a trustee in the will of Honeywood Frances Dodd (relationship unknown), spinster, which was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 3 January 1754. On 31 January 1766 William’s sister Jane Daniell acknowledges receipt of money from William’s wife Mary Mantell.
William’s wife Mary later remarries Thomas Colby on 25 April 1768 at Chatham, Kent . After the death of Mary (nee Hubble) Colby in November 1799, the Daniells enter into a Chancery suit in 1801 over the portion of William Mantell estate stemming from stock held in trust for the Daniells under the marriage settlement with Miss Hubble. Mary’s will is written 9 August 1794 and proved 9 December 1799. Mary seems to have liked navy men, as Thomas Colby was one of the commissioners of the Victualling Board in charge of providing provisions to the hundreds of ships of the Royal Navy. When Mr. Colby died in 1780, he certainly would have been active in stocking those ships with meat and other foodstuff so they could wage war at sea and bring His Majesty’s troops to bear against those rebellious Americans.
Under this Chancery suit known as Daniell v. Daniell of 1801, the plaintiffs James Daniell (1744-1802) and Robert Hubble, executor of Mary Colby, prevailed in their claim for the East India Company stock against the defendants. The defendants were the representatives of Thomas Colby, who had been the last surviving trustee of Capt. Mantell’s estate, and against Anne, the widow of Francis Daniell (1749-1793).
At some point I need to try to acquire copies from The National Archives at Kew of the Chancery documents (ref. C 13/586/31) related to this suit.
My line of descent comes from this Francis Daniell and his wife Anne Adams. Their son, Francis Daniell (1773-1858) may have hoped that he could make some kind of a claim on Horton Priory after the death of his father’s first cousin, Augustus William Mantell, on 1 May 1833. Francis Daniell writes in his journal on 9 May 1833 that news arrived of Augustus Mantell’s death at Horton Priory. On 11 June 1833 Francis journeys by steamboat to Hern Bay, then walked to Canterbury. He visits the King’s School (next to Canterbury Cathedral), then some old friends from his boyhood, who are still living in Canterbury. He also writes: “Finding my little stock of cash was getting very short, instead of proceeding to Horton Priory, as I intended, I returned to London again by water.” Francis Daniell’s fortunes had sunk considerably by this time of his life as these entries certainly show.
