The
burial places of the bodies of those lost on the Sea Horse have caused great confusion for nearly 200 years. Three
sites: Tramore Church yard, Drumcannon Church yard and the Rabbit Burrows were
all claimed to hold burials of officers and men. The Drumcannon Church of
Ireland Parish Register recorded by the Reverend John Cooke, relating to the wreck
was
destroyed in 1922. However, Cooke made a copy of the
original,
according to which, the burials commenced on 2 February, when thirty three
persons, 11 men, 6 women and 16 children were buried at Drumcannon ruined
church and graveyard on the outskirts of Tramore.
The first of the deceased officers to be
buried was Lieutenant Dent whose body was cast on shore on 1 February: ‘This
day one dead officer has been cast on shore; his name is Dent. Thirty two
bodies were yesterday buried in one grave, men women and children. My pen
recoils- my heart trembles as I write! Brave warriors! Companions of
Wellington! And liberators of the world! Was this your hoped return?’ Dent’s
funeral, which actually took place on 2 February, was reported to be mournfully
striking, the officers and privates of a party of the 97th Regiment
attended with arms reversed, and three volleys were fired over the grave. Mr
Cooke, read the funeral service with feeling and dignity. The Rev Mr Wall,
Catholic Assistant Clergyman, waited on the invalid officers and proffered,
with great kindness and feeling, his and the Parish priest’s best offices. ‘All
was a union of harmony and feeling for the sufferers. Several Ladies and
Gentlemen gave assistance to the officers’.[1]
Cooke’s register records the burials of Lieutenant Dent of the 59th
Regiment, 2 men, 1 woman and 1 boy on 3 February.
There were no further burials recorded
for over a week, until, on 12 February, Lieutenants Ross, Gillespie and Geddes
were buried at Drumcannon. Lieutenant John Cowper reported that Geddes body had
been washed up in a letter dated 7 February, a considerable time before the
burial. The bodies were reported to be kept in a shed. Two days later, Mrs Baird,
wife of the Quarter Master of the regiment and four men were buried. On the 18th,
another man out of the ship was buried. On the 27th, two persons,
surgeon Hagan and one private were buried. The burials at Drumcannon continued
into the following month. On 3 March, one man and one child were buried. Over
the next three days, a further five men were buried. On the 7th, Mrs
Robinson and two privates were buried. The next day, Sergeant Major Watson and
two privates were buried. On the 9th, one woman was buried. On the
10th, and the 11th, a further 4 men were buried. On the
12th, Lieutenant Veale and two privates were buried. There may have
been some confusion as to the identity of the body as Captain McGregor’s name
has been crossed out in the original entry and replaced by Veale. Another man
was buried on the 13th and on the 15th four men were
buried. On the 16th Captain McGregor, Lieutenant Scott, Ensign Hill, Lieutenant
Allen of the Royal Navy, two privates and one woman were also buried at
Drumcannon. In total 82 people from the wreck were recorded to be buried in
Drumcannon, 10 officers, 43 men, 11 women and 18 children.
On 17 March, they began to bury the
bodies on the Rabbit Burrows, when thirteen men were buried there. The
following day a further three men were buried there. Between the 29th
and the 31st, a further five men and two women were buried there. In
April a further four men were buried. On 4 May one man was buried. The final
entry was William Baird, Quarter Master, buried on the 28 May. It has been
asserted elsewhere that the burials began on the Burrow because Drumcannon
graveyard was full. This is hardly the case as the graveyard remained in use
into recent times. It is far more likely that the decomposition of the bodies
had advanced to such a degree as to render their transport non-viable. Rev
Cooke often preformed service over uncovered bodies, at the risk of life and
health.
In total 82 people from the wreck were
recorded to be buried in Drumcannon, 10 officers, 43 men, 11 women and 18
children, with a further single officer, 26 men and 2 women buried on the
burrow. In all Cooke
recorded that he buried 18 Children, 13 women and 80 men, which if the official
total of those lost was correct, leaves 25 children, 20 women and 213 men with their
graves in the bay. What
of Major Charles Douglas and Assistant Surgeon Lambe? Their names are included
on the memorial stone as being buried in Drumcannon. However, Reverend Cooke
while naming all the other officers that were buried omits to mention Douglas
and Lambe. It is likely that their bodies were not washed ashore or were if so,
were found in an unrecognisable state.
Unconsecrated
Ground
The confusion about the burials started all of
two days after the first one on the burrows, as a letter to the editor of the
Waterford Chronicle related that the greater number of the bodies found were
thrown into a hole on the beach;
Sir-
The profound horror and dismay I have felt at the account of the Tramore wreck
have been deeply increased on hearing, that the greater number of the bodies
found were thrown into a hole contiguous to the Rabbit Burrow. As their removal
now is utterly impossible, permit me to suggest a plan to ameliorate the last
mentioned melancholy circumstance- First, to have the ground regularly
consecrated both by Protestant and Catholic Clergymen, and a certain space
around this sad depository enclosed with a low wall, a gravelled walk, and the
remainder of the ground to be raised in a large mound, rising to the centre, by
means of earth, &c. drawn there, which will serve as cover, amply, the
lamented bodies, which has not been sufficiently done- in the centre, a
handsome obelisk erected, on the pedestal of which the woeful occurrence may be
detailed- the entire ground tastefully planted with Laurel, which bears the sea
air, with privet, abundance of which can be procured at the Burrow, and other
plants. This plan, which can be put into execution at a moderate expense,
either by subscription, assistance from government, or both, will render this
now horrible spot interesting to Tramore, a pensive walk on a summer’s evening
to view it, and also a convenient deposit for the subjects of any future
misfortune- but above all it will prove a disposition to perpetuate the deep
sense we feel of the disastrous circumstance.
A
Friend to Humanity[2]
This plan does not appear to have been
implemented, as an extract from a letter to the Freeman’s Journal, some twelve
years later reported ‘the frightful sight of a quantity of human bones strewn
about…. bleached emblems of mortality seen on a barren sand-bank, with the load
roaring of the sea below, presented an appalling spectacle…. Most of the bodies
were cast on the beach, and carelessly buried on the sand bank…a little above
high water mark. The sea, it is said has since made some incursion beyond its
usual limits, and exhumed the bones of these brave men….How painful to witness,
and how discreditable to the Corporate Body of Waterford to allow, the bones of
those to whom their country owed so much to remain so long neglected and
disregarded!’[3]
The Cenotaph
A
cenotaph in the shape of an obelisk was erected in the graveyard of the Church
of Ireland by the surviving officers, inscribed with the following
inscriptions:
On
the south side: Lugo, 6th & 7th of January, 1809 Corunna, 16th of January,
1809 Walcheren, August,1809 This monument was erected by Lieut, Colonel Austin,
Lieut. Colonel Hoysted and the other surviving officers of the 2nd Battalion of
His Majesty's 59th Regiment, as a testimonial of their profound sorrow for the
loss of their gallant Brother officers who perished in the wreck of the
Sea-Horse Transport in the Bay of Tramore on the 30th day of January 1816: and
as a tribute to the heroic & social virtues which adorned their short but
useful lives.
On
the east: Vittoria, 21st of June, 1813 St. Sebastian, 31st of August, 1813
Biddasoa, 7th October, 1813. On the 30th day of January, 1816 the Sea-Horse
Transport. Capt. Gibbs, was wrecked in Tramore Bay; upon which melancholy
occasion, 12 officers and 264 Non-Commissioned Officers & Privates of His
Majesty's 2nd Battalion, 59th Regiment, together with Lieut. Allen, R. N., 15
sailors and 71 women and children perished within a mile of the shore. Of the hapless inmates of this ill-fated
vessel, only 4 officers and 26 soldiers and seamen were providentially rescued
from the raging ocean"
On
the north: Nivelle, 10th of November, 1813. Nieve, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th of
December, 1813. Bayonne, February & March, 1815. Sacred to the memory of
Major Charles Douglas, Capt. James Macgregor, Lt. & Adj. Abraham Dent,
Lieut. William Veall, Lieutenant Robert Scott, Lieutenant James Geddes,
Lieutenant William Gillespie, Ensign Andrew Ross, Ensign Rowland F Hill,
Surgeon James Hagan, Assistant Surgeon Lambe and Quarter-Master W. Baird of the 2nd Battalion 59th Regiment who were
lost by the wreck of the Sea-Horse Transport. Your heroic deeds, Brave
Warriors! Will never be erased from the page of history and though cypress
instead of laurels encircle your temples, your cenotaph is erected in the
bosoms of your countrymen.
On
the west: Waterloo, 18th June, 1815 Cameray, 24th of June, 1815 Surrender of
Paris, 6th of July, 1815 The 2nd Battalion of the 59th Regiment commenced their
Military Career in the Autumn of 1808 when they accompanied Sir David Baird to
Corunna and were conspicuously brave in the arduous campaign under Lieut. General
Sir John Moore. They partook of the Expedition to Walcheran. They also bore a
distinguished part in the principal Actions that were fought on the Peninsula
in 1813 & 1814 under the command of The Illustrious Wellington and finally
participated in the renown of the ever-memorable day of Waterloo, and the
second surrender of the French capital.
One of the first relatives of the deceased
to visit Tramore was Lieutenant John Geddes, 27th Regiment, who wrote a letter
to his brother Adam Geddes, on his visit to Ireland to pay his respects at his
brother James’s grave:
Waterford
Bks
Thursday
evening, 7th January 1819
Today
I performed the melancholy duty of visiting the place where this disastrous
shipwreck occurred.
In the churchyard of Tramore Church a neat
monument is erected by Lt. Col. Austen, Lt. Col. Hoysted & the survivors of
the 2nd Bn. 59th to the memory of their Brother Officers & Soldiers who
were lost on this melancholy occasion……
The bodies of the Officers which were
found & many of those of the men, are interred in the churchyard of
Drumcannon church, formerly the parish church of Tramore, but now in ruins,
about a mile & a half distant from it. No funerals are yet in the new
churchyard of Tramore - some of the bodies which did not come on shore until
sometime after are buried in different places. Drumcannon church & a few
farm cottages stand on a height about half a mile from the Bay. Mr. Cooke
minister of Tramore performed the funeral service.
A decent small farmer close to Drumcannon
Church pointed out to me the spot where the officers are interred, viz on the
left as entering the churchyard but no mark to point out by name the
individuals, most of the men on the right hand as entering. My tears bedewed
the monument at Tramore & the churchyard at Drumcannon, where repose the
remains of a brother I most dearly loved. I passed a melancholy hour at each.
Mr. Cooke Minister of Tramore
read the funeral service on this dreadful occasion, attending every day for
that purpose as the bodies were found. I should like to ascertain from him if
he knows the exact spot where repose the remains of James in order to mark it
by a stone with the name. I regret that I was not aware of the mausoleum being
at Drumcannon until my visit that I might have directed it & seen it done.[4]
According to a later inscription, ‘the cenotaph was restored in
October 1881 by General Hope Graham C B who as a Lieutenant Colonel commanded
the 59th regiment for seven years’.
The Monumental Tombstone
Reverend
R H Ryland, writing in 1824, stated that, a monument was ordered to be placed
over the remains buried in Drumcannon, ‘the work is now finished, but the
expense of it being still unpaid, it has not yet been erected…A considerable
number of the soldiers were interred in the sand, at the distance of a hundred
yards from the sea; it was in agitation to erect a monument over their remains
but this has not been accomplished.’[5]
In fact, Moses Robinson was contracted to build the monument in Tramore
churchyard and to place a tombstone over the grave at Drumcannon. Moses was an
architect, merchant and building contractor based in Waterford City. He erected
the Cenotaph in Tramore, but being unpaid for his work; he refused to erect the
tombstone over the grave. The following is the inscription on monumental stone:
Beneath
this tomb are deposited the remains of Major Charles Douglas, age 29, Captain
Jas McGregor, 21, Lieut and Adjutant Abram Dent, 26, Lieutenants William Veal,
21, Robt Scott, 21, James Geddes, 21, William Gillespie, 19, Ensigns, Andrew
Rose, 19, Rowland F Hill, 19, Surgeon Jas Hagan, Assistant Surgeon Lambe, Quarter
William Baird, of his Majesty’s Second Battalion, 59th Foot, who perished in
the Bay of Tramore, 30th January , 1816, by the wreck of the Sea Horse
Transport.
To
their revered memories this testimonial is erected by Lieutenant Colonel
Austin, Lieutenant Colonel Hoystead, and the other officers of the battalion,
also the monument at the church at Tramore. Returning to their native land
where they looked for solace and repose after all the toils and dangers they
had endured for the security of the British Empire and the deliverance of
Europe, their lives were cut short by the awful dispensation of an all-wise but
merciful providence.
But
the memory of those gallant achievements in which they bore so distinguished a
part under the guidance of the illustrious Wellington will never be forgotten,
but shall continue to illuminate the historic page, and animate the heart of
Britain to the most remote period of time.
The
stone lay forgotten in Moses’s yards in Bolton Street for 43 years, until Moses died in Bolton Street on 3
November 1859. From the details of his will, he appears to have remained a
bachelor all his life. His sister Mary, a spinster inherited his estate with
the stipulation that she had to honour all of his debts. At this time, Mary
published a letter, stating that Moses had been unpaid for both of his
monuments to the Sea Horse tragedy in Tramore. She further stated that unless
the Sea Horse stone was bought from her, that she would have the inscription
removed and have the stone used for her brother’s grave. She went so far as
having the stone placed outside Kennedy’s Stonecutter yard. The implication was
clear. Over a year later, the following notice appeared in the Waterford
newspapers:
A
testimonial, in memory of the brave fellows of the 59th Regiment, who perished
in the Sea Horse, at Tramore Bay, on 30th January 1816, is to be erected midway
between the life-Boat House and the Red House on the race course, exactly
opposite where the vessel was wrecked. A public subscription has been already
set on foot for the purpose, and the plan has been given by a gentleman in this
city gratuitously.[6]
The
subscription was raised and the stone was duly purchased and plans implemented
for its placement, but not at Drumcannon:
It
is nearly forty-six years since the Seahorse transport, on her voyage from
Portugal to England, after the Peninsular Wars, and with a large number of the
regiment on board, was wrecked in the Bay of Tramore, and a very large number
of lives were lost.
After
that sad event a movement was made to erect a suitable monument near the scene
of the disaster, and the monumental stone was ordered and procured, and the
names of the officers engraved upon it, when the funds fell short, and the
stone so engraved remained on the hands of the contractor, and for more than 40
years was neglected and apparently forgotten. On the decease of the contractor
this stone was being disposed of for other purposes, when it attracted the
notice of some of our citizens, and Mr Butler Hughes kindly consented to act as
secretary and collector to a fund to complete the monument, and he corresponded
with the present officers of the 59th Regiment. The following letter shows the
interest which the gallant 59th felt in the fate of their hapless predecessors:
Captain
DeMontmorency, 59th Regiment, presents his compliments to Mr Jas. Butler Hughes,
and in acknowledging the receipt of his note of the 10th June last-only
received this day in consequence of detention at different addresses-begs to
thank him on the part of his brother officers for the trouble he has taken
about the tombstone commemorative of the loss of the officers and men of the
regiment by the wreck of the Sea Horse in Tramore Bay, the purchase of which
they accept with great pleasure, and the tombstone itself they have equal
gratification in presenting through Mr Hughes to the local gentleman who have
so handsomely offered to place it on a suitable monument on the beach at
Tramore and on a spot as near as possible to the scene of the sad disaster.
A
post-office order on Waterford, payable to Mr Hughes, sent by Jos.
DeMontmorency, is enclosed, with renewed thanks for his kindness.
Dover
26th February 1862.
Subscriptions
were set on foot, and the sums hereinafter stated were collected. Abraham Denny
Esq., who has given us specimens of his architectural tact and skill in the
Protestant Hall, and in the Tramore Schoolhouse, very generously furnished the
design for the monument, made the contracts and superintended the completion of
the work, and the monument which is very tasteful in its completion, is erected
on the Strand at Tramore, as near the spot where the Sea Horse was lost as
practicable. We regret to learn that it has cost more than the sum raised by
subscriptions, and that the hon. Secretary, Mr Hughes and the hon. Architect,
Mr Denny, are both out of pocket. The following are the subscribers to the
fund, and we hope some other contributions will come in to recoup the advances
of the secretary and architect.
Subscriptions
to Tramore Monument
Wm.
Johnson, Mayor; General Roberts (2nd subscription); J. S. Ambrose, John
Sparrow; T. B. Prossor, Henry Sargent, Congreve Rogers, John Fanning, Joseph P
Mackesy, George baker, Capt. Mansfield, Henry G. Prossor, Dr. John Mackesy,
Abraham Denny, Edward Denny, Pierse Kelly, Joseph Coombe, Henry Davis, Edmund
Power, J. Butler Hughes, 10s each; John Malcomson, John Jackson, John Phelan,
Thomas Walsh, Henry Pope, Jacob Penrose, jun., T. R. Cherry, W. M. Alcock,
William M. Reade, Joshua Strangman, Richard Mahony, Hancock Strangman, Henry
Ridgway, jun., Henry Denny jun., Samuel Harris, George Morris, Pierce Ronayne,
James Henry Hickey, Benjamin Moore, Capt. Glubb, James Delahunty, 5s each.[7]
In total £15, 15s was raised, enabling the
placement of the monument on six small pillars near the three mass graves on
the strand.’ An inscription was added, recording its restoration in 1862 by
officers, non-commissioned officers and privates of the regiment. Despite his
philanthropy, Butler Hughes’s business interests in Waterford failed and he was
declared Bankrupt in 1865, having moved to England.[8]
Following a series of severe storms, the
monument was removed from the strand in 1912 by Martin J Murphy and erected on
the Doneraile Walk, high on the cliffs, overlooking the bay.
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