Arthur Fleming Morrell

Captain Arthur Fleming Morrell, RN (10 November, 1788 - 13 September, 1880) was an English naval officer and long-serving patriarch of a family of Royal Navy officers, who had a wide and varied service in the navy during the end of the Napoleonic era, and throughout most of the Victorian era. He was born in Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, the second son of John Morrell, a naval officer about whom little is known other than that he was raised from the warrant office rank of gunner. Arthur married a naval officer's daughter, Elizabeth Reid (or Reed), and served for 55 years' in the Royal Navy (although the period 1821-1843 was spent on half-pay). His exploits included joining one of the first "voyages of discovery" as a first lieutenant, attempting to discover the Northwest passage through the Arctic, the capture of pirate ships in the Caribbean and in the Mediterranean, and a period of service as a Governor of a small British colony in the Atlantic Ocean, Ascension Island. ["A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Every Living Officer in Her Majesty's Navy" W. P. O'Byrne, 1849.]

Marriage and Family

In 1820, Arthur married Elizabeth Reid, daughter of William Reid, who was a pay officer at the Devonport Dockyard. In between periods at sea, it seems that Arthur and Elizabeth lived in or near Devonport until at least the 1830s, when their sons George Truman Morrell and Arthur Morrell were born. However, by the time their last child was born, daughter Isabella Cunard Morrell, in 1840, the family had returned to Devonshire. Anna, the first child, and Isabella, the last, would never marry, and both were domestic servants in Kent, in 1881, according to the census for that year.

They had eight children together, of whom six would survive into adulthood.

*Anna Harriett Cumberland Pellew Morrell, b. June 11, 1824, Devonport, Devonshire, England, d. "unknown date"
*Lucy Elizabeth Haynes Morrell, b. November 22, 1825, d. April 25, 1876
*Charles Walter Morrell, b. July 29, 1823, d. July 4, 1839
*Eliza Truman Morrell, b. January 5, 1829, d. January 23, 1829
*George Truman Morrell, b. January 29, 1830, Dinan, France, d. May 9, 1912, Belvedere, Kent, England
*Arthur Morrell, b. May 7, 1831, Dinan, France, d. September 21, 1915
*Eliza Mary Anne Morrell, b. July 1, 1835, d. September 2, 1898
*Isabella Cunard Morrell, b. October 25, 1840, d. "unknown date"

History of service

*1788, Born at Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, second son of Lt John Morrell, RN, and Rebecca Morrell (née Fleming)

*1801, Entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman aboard HMS "Doris".

*1803, While aboard HMS "Pique", 36, was present at the French evacuation from Aux Cayes, modern-day Haiti, following the slave revolt.

*1804, Still serving aboard HMS "Pique", was present at the brief British capture of Curaçao, at the time under French control.

*1806, Promoted to Master's Mate aboard HMS "Redbridge", 12, in the same year that it wrecked off Nassau, Bahamas(then known as New Providence Island), while under the command of Lieutenant Edward Burt.

*1808, Took command of the pinnace attached to HMS "Polyphemus", 64, (Captain William Pryce Cumby commanding), and captured a French war schooner, "Colibry", near San Domingo.

*1809, Confirmed to the rank of lieutenant.

*1814, While a lieutenant aboard HMS "Termagant", sloop, (Captain John Lampeu Manley commanding), was present at the liberation of Genoa, then under control of Joseph Bonaparte.

*1818, Appointed first lieutenant of HMHS "Dorothea", under Commander David Buchan, for a "perilous voyage of discovery" ["The Royal Navy, vol. VI"] to chart Spitsbergen and find a Northwest passage to the Orient. He was later awarded the Arctic Medal (1818-1855).

*1820, Married Elizabeth Reid.

*1821, Was wounded following a desperate battle to capture pirate boats near the Gulf of Patras, in which he took command of the barge and pinnace attached to HMS "Revolutionnaire", 46, (Captain the Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew (brother of the Sir Edward Pellew, Bart.) commanding). He received "sabre cuts to the face" during the action, and the raiding party lost one man, but the action successfully saw the capture of Greek pirate boats harboured there.

*1823-1841, On half-pay, and believed to have been living in Dinan, France, following the truce between Britain and France at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It was during this period that all of his children were born, including George Truman Morrell.

*1843, Given command of HMS "Espoir", 10, he captured two slave-ships off the coast of Africa, including one laden with 543 slaves, probably destined for the Americas. Britain had abolished slavery by 1808, and enforced the cessation of slavery on the high seas.

*1844-1846, Governor of Ascension Island, then known as HMS "Ascension". Commanded HMS "Hydra" at the end of his term, for the voyage home to Britain, where he was put on half-pay once again.

*1856, Retired from the Royal Navy and promoted to Captain. In the same year, he was awarded the Arctic Medal (1818-1855) for his 1818 voyage to Spitsbergen.

*1880, Died at Erith, Dartford, Kent, aged 91 years.

External links

* [http://www3.sympatico.ca/rjwmorrell/Napoleon.htm Arthur Fleming Morrell biography - The Morrells website]
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Saint_Helena.htm#Ascension Worldstatesmen.org List of Governors/Commanders of Ascension Island]

References