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The haphazard life of Sir John Peshall, solider, debtor and possible baronet

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John Pearsall was a cleric and sometime schoolmaster from Guildford. At some point about 1770 decided he was heir to the Peshall Baronetcy. He changed his name to Peshall and styled himself ‘Sir John Peshall Bart.’  Rev John married the daughter of the vicar of Thaxted. He died in 1778. [1] Enter Sir John Peshall, the son and unfortunate heir. Born in 1759, in Guildford, he appears as an Ensign in the 85th Foot on 12th December 1780. [2]  This version of the 85th Foot, ‘The Westminster Volunteers’ were originally raised in 1777 as garrison troops for the West Indies. Apparently many died of disease and others during a storm on the way back to Britain in 1782. The regiment was disbanded in 1783. [3] The Ville de Paris by Thomas Buttersworth. She was being sailed to England as a prize, with members of the 85th on board when she sunk in a hurricane. In 1786 Sir John was in Clent, Worcestershire, to marry Elizabeth Wakelam.  Peshall, at some point, dwelt in Halesowen, which w...
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Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #8

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  Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #8 The Private Navy of Richard Whitworth.  Richard Whitworth was a Staffordshire Gentleman. This one time High Sheriff of the County took on the interests of Lord Chetwynd to become MP for Stafford. Stafford Corporation did not get on with its MP, who was involved in long running legal battles over a couple of properties.   Keen on canals, Whitworth wrote a book supporting inland navigation in 1766. He attempted to persuade the builders of the Liverpool Canal to divert over his estates at Batchacre Hall.  Whitworth was not successful. He did design a machine to sail on frozen canals.  Keen on bettering potential French invaders, Whitworth fought naval battles on his own lake in preparation. He also constructed a Martello tower with swivel guns on his estates. Sebastian Raval was a 16th century Spanish composer. H e declared himself the "best musician in the world", on account of which he was challenge...
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The Spanish Odyssey of LCT 332: A Flight P Postscript

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The Spanish Odyssey of LCT 332 – a Flight P Postscript   On 18 th  November the British Naval Attaché in Madrid wired the Admiralty. ‘IMMEDIATE An L.C.T. with engine broken down has come near Gijon. 3 officers and 16 ratings in hand for Naval Authorities. Will report further details when available and also press for repairs and release.’  Mark 3 Landing Craft [Tank]. Imperial War Museum The Flight P Convoy’s problems are dealt with elsewhere  the-flight-p-convoy-disaster .  During the transfer of 25 Landing Craft [Tanks] from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom, four LCTs would sink before reaching Falmouth. The fifth would begin a journey of approximately 550 miles which, in one sense, wouldn’t end till 1947. The Convoy left Gibraltar on 5 th  November 1943 and, despite mechanical mishaps, sailed across an almost flat calm sea.   Lieutenant Derek Luke RNVR [1], commander of LCT 332, own troubles began when a cylinder head cracked in the starbo...
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The Flight P Convoy Disaster – the largest loss of Landing Craft [Tanks] before D-Day

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The Flight P Convoy Disaster – the largest loss of LCTs before D-Day LCT 354 on Newford Rocks, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly The Convoy Departs On 5 th November 1943 the corvette, HMS Bluebell [1], the trawler ‘Man of War’ [2] and tug ‘Empire Rupert' [3] left Gibraltar.   Their objective was to escort twenty-five Landing Craft [Tank] and one Landing Craft [Gun] to Milford Haven. Ten days later only one of those craft would have arrived undamaged and then not in Wales, but Cornwall. 20% of the LCTs would have been lost. It was the single largest loss of landing craft to that point – and would only be outdone by D-Day itself. The story of the Flight P Convoy is the story of the where the abundance of the Allies would meet the overstretch of commitments in the late 1943.   The extension of the Allied War effort to the invasion of Sicily and then Italy itself had drawn resources to the Mediterranean – where many of the members of Flight P had been transferred in April of that...
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