Royal Naval Biography/Trollope, George Barne
GEORGE BARNE TROLLOPE, Esq.
A Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath.
[Post-Captain of 1814.]
This officer is a native of Huntingdon, in which county his father was a clergyman.
He entered the navy during the Spanish armament, and served under the command of his half-brother. Captain (now Sir Henry) Trollope, in the Prudente and Hussar frigates, until 1792, when he joined the Lion 64, Captain Sir Erasmus Gower, then about to sail for China with Lord Macartney and his suite. Towards the end of 1794, he followed that excellent officer into the Triumph a third rate, which ship was one of the small squadron under Vice-Admiral Cornwallis, when he made his masterly retreat, in the face of a powerful French fleet, June 17, 1795[1].
Mr. Trollope obtained the rank of lieutenant Dec. 13, 1796; and was third of the Triumph at the defeat of the Dutch fleet, off Camperdown, Oct. 11. 1797, on which occasion he appears to have been wounded in the leg and hip. The Triumph’s total loss was 29 men killed, and 55, including her captain[2], first lieutenant, and master, wounded.
After that glorious victory. Lieutenant Trollope rejoined Sir Erasmus Gower, then in the Neptune 98; and we subsequently find him in the Princess Royal, another second rate, bearing the flag of the same officer, as Rear-Admiral of the White[3].
His next appointment was, during the peace of Amiens, to la Minerva frigate. Captain (now Sir Jahleel) Brenton, which ship he left, on account of ill-health, a short time previous to her falling into the hands of the enemy, July 2, 1803[4]. When promoted to the rank of Commander, May 1, 1804, he was serving as Lord Cochrane’s first lieutenant, in the Arab, of 20 guns.
The first vessel that Captain Trollope commanded was the Cerf sloop, on the Jamaica station, from whence he returned home invalided, in consequence of a very severe attack of yellow fever. In Mar. 1806, he received a commission appointing him to the Electra brig, of 18 guns, then on the Leith station, but afterwards employed in the Mediterranean.
On the 17th Feb. 1808, the little fortress of Scylla, the only remaining post possessed by the British in Lower Calabria, was evacuated by order of Major-General Sherbrooke; and the garrison safely withdrawn from the power of the French General Regnier, by the able management of Captain (now Sir Robert Waller) Otway, assisted by Captain Trollope, who commanded the boats employed in that service. On the 25th of the following month, the Electra was unfortunately wrecked at the entrance of Port Augusta, between Syracuse and Messina.
Captain Trollope was afterwards successively appointed to the Zebra bomb; Alert sloop, stationed at Newfoundland; and Griffon brig, chiefly employed off Boulogne. His removal to the latter vessel took place in Feb. 1812; and on the 27th May following, he highly distinguished himself in an action with the enemy’s flotilla, the particulars of which are officially detailed at p. 74.
An event of the most lamentable nature occurred on board the Griffon, in the Downs, during the temporary absence of Captain Trollope, Oct. 20, 1812.
The Serjeant of marines had behaved in the most violent and disorderly manner, by threatening to beat the carpenter of the Griffon, his superior officer, who accordingly lodged a complaint with Lieutenant Richard Stewart Gamage, (then commanding on board, in the temporary absence of the captain); who, after weighing the circumstances, sent for the offender, and ordered him to walk the quarter-deck, with a shouldered musket, as a slight and summary punishment, to which he was induced by a prepossession in his favor, and a consequent wish to preserve him from degradation, and severe corporal punishment, which must have been the result, if the steps authorized by the service had been strictly adopted. This order the serjeant, in a peremptory and insulting manner, repeatedly refused to obey. What temper, however stoical, could withstand so flagrant a breach of all rules of discipline, in the eyes of a whole ship’s company? Lieutenant Gamage became violently enraged, and ran below for a sword, certainly not with any intent to use it fatally, but to intimidate, and enforce obedience to his orders. When he came again on deck, which was instantaneously, the serjeant had so far complied as to hold the musket in his hands. Gamage struck it with the sword, expressed his indignation at the subversive conduct of the marine, and ordered him to walk about. He shouldered arms, and appeared to comply, upon which the lieutenant returned his sword to its sheath, and was in the act of walking away, when, in the same instant, the serjeant threw the musket down, and, with a loud oath, asserted his determination to persist in his disobedience. Gamage became infuriated again, drew the sword, and made a short thrust. The consequence was fatal. The weapon, taking an upward direction, entered the body of the unfortunate man, and occasioned his almost immediate death.
Words cannot express the dreadful and torturing emotions which, at the awful moment, racked the heart of Lieutenant Gamage: he remained fixed to the spot, and gazing, in all the agony of unutterable grief on the terrific scene before him, whilst in his attitude and countenance, the terrible conflict of contending passions, the yearnings of pity and remorse, which swelled his bosom almost to breaking, were depicted in the strongest manner. When he recovered himself sufficiently to speak, he called the brig’s crew together, expressed his deep contrition at the sad act he had committed, and surrendered himself to justice, by giving up the command to the second lieutenant.
In the interval which took place, between the commission of the offence and the assembling of a court-martial to try him for it, he suffered much from the deepest sensations of regret: yet his sleep was calm and undisturbed, and when he awoke to the recollection of his miseries, the dread event appeared in retrospect, but as a dream of the perturbed imagination.
The court was assembled on the 27th October, and, assured of the general sympathy he attracted. Lieutenant Gamage appeared before it with a dignified composure, equally remote from confidence or dismay. When the prosecution was closed, which was conducted, under an Admiralty order, by Captain Trollope, who, on this occasion, as well as during the whole affair, behaved with the greatest delicacy and attention to him, he was called upon for his defence, which he read himself, as follows;–
“Mr. President, and Gentlemen of this Hon. Court.
“It is with the utmost poignancy of feeling, with the deepest bitterness and regret, that I appear before you in my present awful and unfortunate situation. To the wretch hardened in crimes, and growing grey in the pursuits of villany, the recollection of having actually deprived a fellow-creature of existence, the divine gift of the Creator, must ever crowd his imagination with a load of the most intolerable ideas. How then can any power of language express the multiplied pains of my situation, the pangs of remorse which swell in my bosom, with the most heart-rending sensations ou the remembrance of the past, through an unpremeditated and deeply-lamented act, which has led to this investigation. Ah, God! could years of banishment and pain atone for the mania of a moment; could tears of blood, or sobs of acutest grief, recall the flighted spirit; the scorpion’s sting, which now rankles in my bosom, might be removed, and a fever of agony be succeeded by peace of mind and the sweetness of content; but, alas ! what human power can re-kindle the vital spark, or illuminate the faded eye; the floods of affliction, and the humane tear, are in vain; they rend my soul, but yield no consolation to its wound.
“Thus, though impressed with the deepest contrition, my imagination recoils with horror and indignation at the horrid crime of murder, – though the unfortunate man did indeed fall by my hand, the violent mutinous tenor of his conduct, heightened by the most aggravated circumstances to me, his commanding officer, in the act of carrying on the duties of my situation, worked me to a phrensy of passion, in the tempest of which he fell, a sad victim of his own contumacious obstinacy. Of a very different nature from the whirlwind of rage, by which he was swept from among men, is the prepense malice of the deliberate and insidious murderer.
“God Almighty knows my heart bleeds at the recital; but it is a duty I owe to myself, and to the world, to draw your attention to my situation as a first lieutenant, and the consequent provocation; and I fondly hope this honorable court will accompany me in my feelings as an officer, and as a man. A complaint had been made to me by the carpenter of the ship, of the deceased, who had conducted himself in the most riotous and disorderly manner to the said person. Weighing the circumstances, I, with a lenity natural to me, and which I trust I shall prove to have ever been my character, from high evidence, ordered him a slight punishment, too trifling in its nature, and not unbecoming his situation as a soldier, merely to walk the quarter-deck with a musket in his hand, and to which I was induced, by a prepossession in his favor, and a wish to preserve him from condign punishment, which must have been the consequence, if the regular steps had been taken. With insufferable contempt, better expressed by the carriage, and demeanour of the countenance and eye, than by language, he impertinently refused to submit; when I again and again commanded further compliance, the same provocation was renewed; – I flew to my weapon, and here before God and my country, I most solemnly disclaim any intention to endanger the life of the deceased; I meant simply to intimidate, and thereby force obedience to my orders. Acting on this principle, I several times struck the musket, which the deceased held in his hand, and desired him to walk about. This seemingly had the desired effect; he shouldered arms, and my sword was returned to its scabbard. But in the very same moment, my soul still glowing with indignation at his outrageous audacity of air and aspect, he again refused compliance, and dared me to the fatal act. The imposing attitude of the man, the fierce arrangement of his features, his high ingratitude and disdain working on my imagination, already infuriated by irritated exasperation, shot like a flash of lightning across my brain; reason forsook its seat, raging madness usurped the sway, and my sword, obeying its horrid mandate, was passed into his body.
“Cruel! cruel! most cruel sword I which at once plunged him into eternity – to appear unprepared before his God – and me into the deepest gloom of misery and remorse. I trust I do not exhaust the indulgence of this honourable court with a repetition of my regrets – what bosom can deny the sigh, or what eye the tear, when charged with the death of a fellow-creature, under any circumstances i The full heart feels relief on the heaving forth of its sorrows; and though no pencil can pourtray the anguish which preys upon my mind at this moment, yet I feel some consolation in thinking that this man was formerly the object of my lenity, when, from motives of compassion, and the just sense I entertained of his professional abilities, I shielded him from punishment, though implicated in the serious charge of mutiny. From this circumstance, I hope it will appear to this honorable court, that there was no premeditated malice against this unhappy victim of my misguided passion – and that a moment’s cool reflection would have rather induced me to stretch forth that arm for his preservation instead of his destruction.
“I cannot look back on the unhappy event without suffering the most painful sensations, not only as respects the deed itself, but also as regards a sort of unhappy destiny, and not as a casual occurrence. God forbid that I should for a moment dare to arraign, or even to call in question, the justice of an everlasting Providence: but, if ever fate preponderated the action of an individual, or hurried him to a crisis, some unknown power, with cruel and desperate sway, tyrannized on that lamented day over the affections of my heart, and dashed its calm placidity with the tumultuous waves of violence and rage.
“I must claim the indulgence of this honourable court for occupying so much of its valuable time, if I have deviated from the subject before them: but when they recollect the very critical situation in which I am placed, I hope they will be ready to pity and forgive the wanderings of the mind. I shall beg leave to call the attention of the court to the testimonies I shall advance to prove the general calmness and indulgence of my temper towards every one in public and private. I have more particularly at this time to lament the death of my much respected friend and commander. Captain Edward Rushworth, as also the absence of Admiral Dixon from this country; but yet I trust I shall still be able, from the testimony of Captains Trollope and Braimer, and another officer in the court[5], and of many of my messmates and brother officers – and what must tend still more to convince this honourable court of the extent of my clemency, as it respects my conduct to those placed under my command, together with my other depositions, the leading men of the Griffon are also ready to bear testimony. I trust the warm and artless effusions of their manly and unsophisticated hearts, will sufficiently convince this honourable court, of the repugnance of my nature to the act, and that nothing but the irritating conduct of the deceased could have made me outstep the bounds of reason and justice.
“A seeming obedience returned the blade unpolluted to its sheath, when an unexpected recurrence of the offence, under aggravated circumstances, overwhelmed at once my discretion and my judgment, and drove me on to commit the horrid deed with which I stand arraigned at the bar of this honourable court. When I turn my thoughts towards the melancholy catastrophe, the retrospect is agonizing in the extreme; but I look forward to whatever may be the result of this court-martial, with becoming deference and resignation, which can only proceed from a conscience void of the offence of a wilful guilt, and assisted by the Divine Power, I feel supported by the confidence of ever having acted on humane and honourable principles. I know myself incapable of committing an ill action, and am horror-struck at the magnitude of this.
“I trust there is not a spectator in this court, who does not believe these emotions to be the genuine inmates of my breast. If there be any amongst them of a contrary opinion, I address them in the language of the Apostle, ‘Would to God you were all together such as I am, except these bonds.’
“Mr. President, and gentlemen of this honourable court, in your hands I place my honour and my existence, the hopes and fears of my family, and all that is valuable to the officer, the gentleman, and the man; fully sensible they can be no where so safely confided as to the breasts of those of my own profession, the pride and boast of my country, and the terror of its foes. I have poured before you, as before my God, the case of my unfortunate situation; and whilst you decide on my future destiny, I earnestly entreat you to remember, ‘That earthly power doth then shew likest God’s, when mercy seasons justice!’”
The Court, after due deliberation upon the case, adjudged Lieutenant Gamage to be guilty of murder; regarding him, however, as a fit object of royal clemency. The case was laid before the law-officers of the crown; the utmost intercession was made in behalf of the unhappy prisoner; and a letter from the whole of the crew of the Griffon was sent, praying a pardon, but without effect. Perhaps it was feared, that the pardoning of this offence might lead the inferior ranks in the navy to suppose that justice was not duly administered. On the Saturday previous to the execution of the sentence. Admiral William Young issued, to the fleet under his command, the following general order, and feeling and forcible address:–
“General Memorandum.
“Impregnable, in the Downs, Nov. 2l, 1812.
“Lieutenant Richard Stewart Gamage, of H.M. brig Griffon, having been adjudged, by a court-martial, to suffer death, for having murdered a Serjeant of the royal marines of that brig, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have directed that he shall be executed on Monday morning next, on board the Griffon.
“When the signal for punishment is made, two boats, kept quite ready, manned and armed, are to proceed from every ship to the Griffon, the officers commanding them being directed to obey such orders as they may receive from her captain. All works are immediately to cease; the crew of every ship is to be turned up to observe the execution; and, that the attention of the officers and ships’ companies may not be diverted from the melancholy scene, nor the salutary reflections to which it may give occasion be interrupted, no work is to be begun till after the body has been lowered down. Soon after the execution shall have taken place, and while the body is still hanging, the 28th article of war, and so much of the latter part of the 19th article as relates to the behaving with contempt to a superior officer, shall be read to each ship’s company, and immediately after them, the following admonition, with such additional observations as the captain may think proper, to impress strongly on the mind of the officers and all the crew, the necessity of a strict attention to discipline, and a perfect obedience to the laws.
“To be read to each Ship’s Company.
“The commander-in-chief most earnestly desires to direct the particular attention of the fleet to the melancholy scene they are now called to attend; a scene which offers a strong, and, much he hopes, an impressive lesson to every person in it; a lesson to all who are to command, and to all who are to obey.
“Lieutenant Gamage is represented by every person who knew him, and by the unanimous voice of the ship’s company of the Griffon, as a humane, compassionate man; a kind and indulgent officer; yet, for want of that guard, which all men should ever keep over their passions, this kind, humane, compassionate man, commits the dreadful crime of murder! Let his example strike deep into the minds of all who witness his unhappy end; and, whatever their general disposition may be, let them learn from him, that, if they are not always watchful to restrain their passion within its proper bounds, one moment of intemperate anger may destroy the hopes of a well-spent, honourable life, and bring them to an untimely and disgraceful death; and let those who are to obey, learn from the conduct of the Serjeant, the fatal effects which may result from contempt of, and insolent conduct towards, their superiors. By repeated insolence, the Serjeant overcame the kind and gentle disposition of Lieutenant Gamage, and, by irritating and inflaming his passion, occasioned his own death. The commander-in-chief hopes this afflicting lesson may not be offered in vain; but that, seriously contemplating the awful example before them, every officer, and every man, will learn from it, never to suffer himself to be driven, by ill-governed passion, to treat with cruelty or violence, those over whom he is to command; nor by disobedience or disrespect, to rouse the passion of those whom it is his duty to respect and to obey.
(Signed)“W. Young.”
Captain Trollope continued to command the Griffon until promoted to post rank, June 7, 1814. He was nominated a C.B. Dec. 8, 1815.
This officer married, in 1813, Barbara, daughter of J. Goble, of Kinsale, Ireland, Esq. by whom he has a large family. His brother. Captain Trollope, of the 40th regiment, was killed, serving under the Duke of York, in Holland, Sept. 19, 1799; his half-brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Trollope, commanded the marines on board Admiral Duncan’s flag-ship, at the battle of Camperdown, and retired from that corps in 1800.
Agent.– J. Hinxman, Esq.
- ↑ See p. 296.
- ↑ The late Sir William Essington, who died a Vice-Admiral, July 12, 1816.
- ↑ See p. 228.
- ↑ See Vol. II, Part I, p. 266.
- ↑ Captain Francis William Austen, under whom he had previously served in the St. Albans 64.