Coastguard crew, Coastguard Station, Budleigh Salterton circa 1890  

The following is a list of men who served in the Preventive Service and Coastguard Service in the nineteenth century.  This is a sister piece for the article in OVApedia by David Daniel on the Budleigh Salterton Coastguard Station (1).  The Preventive Service was set up to discourage smuggling, and this later became the Coastguard Service.  The information on the men has been gleaned from a number of sources (2,3,4,5,6,7) and is undoubtedly not complete.  

A main source for the information is census material which inevitably leaves gaps, particularly before 1841.  In addition, if a man served for a short period between the censuses he will be missed unless he had children baptised locally during his stay or there is some other record of him in the town.  It was the practice for men to be sent to stations away from their place of birth to avoid them being too friendly with the local population and thus they would be less likely to turn a blind eye to smuggling.  The men were often also moved to another post after a few years because they might have developed friendships in the area. 

The information for the smaller Otterton (Ladram Bay) Station was provided by Gerald Millington.  Although it is not relevant to the 19th century, I include a short list of men who served at the Ladram Bay Station in the 2nd World War that Gerald has provided. 

At the end of the article are short biographical details of a few of the men that have so far been identified as being in charge of the station. (W Clay; W Hole; Prawle; J Taylor; C Sprankling; J Ellis; T Howell; W Fisher and J Bowditch.)  

The lists contain the names of the men, and the first and last date found for them so far in the records.  They are in chronological order.  The letter “p” after a date records that they were by then on pension and living in the town.  Their service would undoubtedly have been for longer periods than recorded here. 

Between 1817 and 1828 the complement at the Budleigh Salterton Station consisted of 1 chief officer, 1 chief boatman, 2 commissioned boatmen and 4 boatmen; this was reduced by 1 commissioned boatman and 1 boatman in July 1828 (7). 

BUDLEIGH SALTERTON 

MacDuff, William1817-1831 chief boatman

Foreman, Richard1817-1829 commissioned boatman

Lording, John1817-1829 commissioned boatman

Davis, Richard1822-1828 boatman

Hodnett, Philip1824    boatman

Serjeant, Lieutenant John1825-1832 chief officer

Friccock, ILeft 1825 date of appointment unknown. Boatman

Griffiths, JohnLeft 1825 date of appointment unknown. Boatman

Heenan, J (?)Left 1825 date of appointment unknown. Boatman

Rouse, James1825-1832 commissioned boatman

Besant, James1825-1828 boatman

Laughlin, Peter1825-1831 boatman

Herbert, Edward1825-1828 boatman

Taylor1825 ?    (see note after this list)

Knowles1825 ?                ibid

Drew, William1826-1831 boatman

Hodge, ?1828-1831 boatman

Ireland, John1828 May to July commissioned boatman

Lording, GLeft 1828 date of appointment unknown. Comd. boatman

Thomas, J1828-1831

Rowse, Joseph1828

Pollard, James1829-1832 commissioned boatman

Harrington, Jack1831 May to November boatman

Harty, Davis1831 boatman

Harwood, ILeft in 1831 appointment date unknown. Boatman

Hawkins, William1831-1832

Laughlin, Peter1831-1832 boatman

Maginnis, Hugh1831-1832 boatman

Woodruff, HLeft 1831 appointment date unknown.  

Hampson, Edward1835, 1845

Clay, William1835, 1836

Morinchor(?), John1839

Pearse, Joseph1840, 1841

Collins, Joseph1840, 1856

Harris(?), George1840

Tucker, Joseph1841, 1849

Ahern, James1841, 1851

Churchouse, John1841

Lopwell, Thomas1841

Rogers, Edward1841

Tregidgo, Willam H1841

Yarks, John1841

Lerwill, Thomas1844, 1850

Hole, William1845, 1851

Matson, Robert S1848, 1861

Ahern, James1851 chief boatman

Axon, Henry1851? on attachment from Exmouth

Brewer, Thomas1851p

De Costa, Joseph1851

Emmett, Samuel1851p 

Jory, Edward1851

Laphorn, John1851

Matson, Robert Scott1851

Robinson, Robert1851

Russel,1851

Scott, Arthur1851, 1861p

Wallace, Joseph1854, 1860

Collins, Joseph1856, 1861 (also had child baptised 1840)

Prawle, (?)1857 (see note below in section on chief officers)

Munslow, Richard1858

Davis, Richard1859

Shannon, George1859

Featherstone, Henry1859, 1871

Saunders, Anthony1860, 1861

Davie, Matthew1861, 1863

Emmett, Samuel1861, 1871p

Gready, Patrick1861

Greet/Greel or Greek, George1861, 1863  (could be Steel below)

Lifton, James1861  (but see Otterton list below)

Nosworthy, William1861

Otton, William1861

Russell, James1861, 1871p

Vincent, Francis J1861

Dudley, Francis1862, 1864

Steel, George1864, 1866

Gibson, John1865, 1870

Purchase, John1866, 1871

Elms, Thomas1869

Gibles, John1871

Horsford, William1871, 1874

Meachen, William1871

Monger, John1871

Taylor, Joseph1871, 1881p

Taylor, William1871

Walsh, James1871

Walsh, John1871p, 1881p

Gould, William1872

Marshall, William1872, 1875

Marker, George1876

Russell, Edmund1878, 1880

Hughes, Robert H1879, 1881

Sprankling, Charles1879, 1881

Troake, Henry Charles1879, 1881

Bennett, James1880, 1881

Uglow, William1880, 1881

Constant, William1880, 1881

Hayden, Thomas1881

Hurley, John1881

Lethbridge, William H1881

O'Brien, Maurice1881

Hawken, William1881

Hitt, Henry1883, 1891

Fry, Robert1885, 1887

Ford, George Henry1886, 1891

Weedon, James1886, 1891

Waterson, John1887

Filewood, Benjamin John1889, 1891

Wells, Edward1889, 1891

Whittle, Phillip1889, 1893

Ellis, John1889, 1891

Wills, Edward1890

Cripps, Edward1890, 1892

Brice, William1891

Batten, Robert1891, 1893

Gay, Charles1891

Holman, Joseph1891

Parish, Thomas1891, 1892

Webster, Robert1891, 1892

Grute, Eli1893

Howell, Thomas1893

Ruhl, Frederick1893, 1897

Balsdon, William1894

Shawyer, Richard1894

Fisher, William Pond1896

Boulton, Ernest Thomas1899

Bowditch, John1900, 1901

Wedlake, Edwin1900, 1901

Chapman, Amos1901

Howse, Richard L1901

Kirk, Samuel1901

Knight J C1901

Mayo, Richard1901

Norton, Thomas1901

Vanstone, John1901

Wing, Searle1901

Wright, French1901 

Also noted was a baptism in 1874 of a child of Hugh Lask described as “Custom House Officer”. 

Note on Taylor and Knowles 1825 

These men could have been excise officers from Exeter but they may possibly have been at Budleigh Salterton. Their names appear in the following account. 

Dec.1,1825 "A carrier from Budleigh Salterton, applied yesterday to Mr. Alderman Floud, stating, that a box consigned to his care, addressed to persons in this city, had been stolen from his cart and having named persons whom he suspected of being the thieves, Taylor and Knowles were put on the alert; they were soon secured, and the box, which had been broken open, as also its contents, were produced ; this, to the astonishment of the carrier, proved to be a keg of smuggled liquor, with a regular invoice. A further hearing of the matter was ordered for this morning, but the carrier not appearing, the parties were discharged. We understand the Excise Officers will take further cognizance of the matter."  

OTTERTON (6) 

Symonds, William1841 to 1851p  born Dover

Lifton, James1847 to 1851  born Milford, Pembrokeshire

Wagg, William1846 to 1851  born Lynn, Norfolk 

There were no coastguards listed as living in Otterton in the 1861 census 

West, William1867 to 1874  (may have been at Budleigh for the first two years)

Rider, James1871  born Ireland

Spicer, William1871  born Parkstone, Dorset

Bell, William1881  born Harwich. Previously served in Ireland

Griffon, Patrick1877  to 1881  born Ireland

Ford, James1871 then 1891p  born Harwich 

During WWII the Coastguard Station at Ladram Bay was manned by the following: Reg Staddon, Bob Bagwell, Redvers Please, Bert Harris, and Frank Smith. 

Drowning of a coastguard at Budleigh Salterton. 

This is an account printed in the Exeter Flying Post 10/1/1877. 

S. Cox Esq, County Coroner, held an inquest last Saturday at the Rolle Arms on the body of Thomas Cusack, coastguard, aged 35 who was drowned on the previous Wednesday while ferrying the 2 guards detailed for duty across the River Otter. .. in the attempt to cross the river near the mouth, the tide having turned, the freshet caused by the recent heavy rains took the boat out to sea, all attempt to stop it proving useless. The boat was dashed against the rocks, the deceased having the oars at the time. Russell and Griffin saved themselves by swimming until help reached them. Deceased could also swim but it is thought that he must have been jammed between the boat and the rocks. His body was found at 1.30 on the following morning. The jury returned “accidental death” and gave their fees to the widow. 

The Griffin mentioned is probably Patrick Griffon attached to the Ladram Bay watch house. 

Her Majesty's Revenue Vessel 

There was at least one larger revenue vessel that patrolled this area at one time. She was the NIMBLE which was a 65 ton vessel with a crew of seventeen based at Exmouth (8). 

This following account may relate to the larger revenue vessel based at Exmouth or more probably to a local gig at Budleigh Salterton.  

Feb.17,1825. "On Thursday last, 60 kegs of spirits were crept up in Budleigh Salterton Bay, by the Custom-House Boat on that station."  

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION for SOME CHIEF OFFICERS  

JOHN SERJEANT, Lieutenant (1787- ?1850)

John Serjeant was a marine lieutenant and he was the son of the Rev. John Serjeant of Callington in Cornwall. According to one of his descendants (Cherylanne Bailey of Newcastle NSW Australia) John was born in Wooton Courtaney and he married his first wife Mary Anne Peters Benny by license in Callington in 1810 and they had 7 children. John is recorded in several naval lists as being on half pay but must have taken the option to join the Preventative Water Guard (later Coastguard) Service. He came to Budleigh Salterton as Chief Officer in 1825(7). He had previously been stationed on the River Crouch in Essex, probably on the Watch Vessel there which was on the look-out for smugglers. He remained in Budleigh until 1832 when he transferred to Lulworth Cove but probably didn’t stay there long as he was in Port Wrinkle by1841. He married again in Plymouth in 1840 and his second wife Louisa Carter is rather coy in the censuses as to her place of birth – Lulworth in 1851, Exeter 1861 and Colaton Raleigh in 1871. They had 10 children but she actually had 3 children with John in 1833, 1835 & 1836 before they married and they were christened later when the couple was in Port Wrinkle. I think there is a story here as I am not convinced that his first wife was dead at the time the first three children were born! 

WILLIAM CLAY, Lieutenant (1798-1850) 

William Noble Clay entered the Navy, 17 March, 1813, as Midshipman on board his uncle’s command HMS Raisonnable, lying at Sheerness (9).  He soon transferred to HMS Princess Caroline  which sailed to Greenland.  Later in 1813 he joined HMS Glasgow in the English Channel.  He sailed in 1815 to India on board HMS Orlando and came home in 1818 in HMS Melville, and went on half pay.  He was then appointed to HMS Topaze and sailed to India again few months afterwards, and was wounded in the operations against Mocha in 1820.  

He next served in HMS Alligator, Bulwark, and Tartar receiving the rank of Lieutenant in 1822.  He was subsequently appointed, 30 May, 1825, and 22 Jan. 1829, to HMS Aurora, and HMS Warspite, on the Lisbon and South American stations; and, from 28 Nov. 1832, until 1836, he served in the Coast Guard.  After the latter date he was unemployed and retired to Bath.  His wife Arabella (Neville) was from Leeds and their first child was born in Exmouth in 1832 and they had two further children in Budleigh Salterton in 1838 and 1840. They were living in a house “on the beach” in 1841. 

While in Budleigh, Clay was involved in an incident with the famous smuggler William Rattenbury as the following account from Devon Quarter Sessions - Epiphany 1836 [DRO - QS32/125] relates. 

William Rattenbury [34] Henry Bird [29]: Committed by Sir Digory Forest, knight, William Thomas Hull, and Richard Perring, esqs, and W.B. Coham, clerk, charged with having on the morning of the 2nd day of December inst (1835), at Budleigh Salterton, in the parish of East Budleigh, with force and violence, assaulted, resisted, opposed, molested, hindered, and obstructed William Noble Clay, Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in the execution of his duty as chief officer, stationed at Budleigh Salterton aforesaid, for the prevention of smuggling. Warrant dated 7th December, 1835.

See also the OVApedia entry on local smuggling (10). 

WILLIAM HOLE , Lieutenant.  see OVApedia entry 

Mr PRAWLE 

I haven’t found any direct evidence that he was a Chief Officer but the article below from the Exeter Flying Post suggests he may have been in command in 1857. I think it likely that his name was mis-spelled because he doesn’t seem to be in any census records. 

"9 July 1857. Smuggling. We stated last week that two men named William Mutters and Charles Blackmore had been apprehended on a charge of smuggling.  They were brought up before W.Cole Esq., and Rev.T.Boles, magistrates, at Exmouth last Saturday .... The evidence was to the effect that at about 2 o'clock on Monday morning week Richard Jago, Coast Guardsman belonging to Exmouth, was on his beat at Straight Point and observed a boat a little distance from the shore.  A Coast Guardsman from Budleigh Salterton, named William Wagg, soon joined him, and both descended to the beach.  The two men, Mutters and Blackmore, hid themselves from the Preventive men, but the latter made a search and, having found them, immediately fired an alarm for assistance from Budleigh Salterton, when Mr Prawle and his men came over.  They found 41 tubs and 4 flagons and other articles.  The Bench found the Prisoners guilty and fined them £700 or six months imprisonment.  They were committed to gaol."  

William Wagg is in the Otterton list above but may have transferred, or perhaps as the two stations were so close together, men were shared between them. 

JOSEPH TAYLOR 

Joseph Taylor was from Coverack in Cornwall. He had been promoted to Chief Officer in the Service in 1861 during his previous appointment in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, and he came to Budleigh Salterton as Chief Officer in June 1870.  In Morris’ 1870 Directory he is recorded as Joseph Taylor RN, Chief Officer.  He was living in the High Street in 1871 but seems to have retired around about that time but this isn’t totally clear (see Sprankling below). By 1881 he was living on Surgery Hill on a naval pension. 

CHARLES S SPRANKLING (1828 – 1894) 

Sprankling was appointed Chief Officer at Budleigh Salterton in June 1879 (Navy List).  He came from Dorset and been awarded the Albert Medal in June 1867 for Officers and Men of the Royal Navy.  At that time he was a Chief Boatman in the Coast Guard.  The London Gazette described his medal winning rescue thus: 

London Gazette 1867: Bridport fishing boat capsized at Burton, Dorset. 

On the 11th June, 1866, the fishing boat containing five men ran for the beach at Burton. As she touched it, a heavy sea struck her and threw her upon the crew.  CHARLES SPRANKLING, a Commissioned Boatman, of the Burton Coast Guard station, who was near the spot, managed by great exertion and at some risk to himself, to raise the side of the boat which was washing backwards and forwards in a heavy surf, and thus enabled three of the men to get from under her.  The other two men, who had been injured by the gear in the boat, drifted into deep water, when SPRANKLING, who is a good swimmer, rushed into the sea and succeeded in bringing first one and then the other safely to land, but apparently lifeless.  He then followed the directions given for treating the apparently drowned, and when the men had somewhat recovered sent them to their homes, and sent also for medical attendance.  In rendering this service SPRANKLING was unaided, as the men who succeeded in getting from under the boat were too exhausted to render him any assistance. 

He was promoted to Chief Officer in August 1872 and while in Budleigh lived at the Coastguard Station.  He was described in the 1871 census as “chief boatman in charge” of the Station therefore his predecessor Joseph Taylor must have just retired (vide supra).  When he retired from the service, he became Lodge Keeper at Arundel Castle (1881 census).  He was married with at least four children. 

JOHN ELLIS 

Ellis was Chief Officer between at least 1889 and 1891 according to information in the town Directories and the 1891 census.  He was born in Bovey Tracey in 1838 and served in Dorset and Cornwall before coming to the Budleigh Station.  He had retired by 1901 and was living in “Haven House” in Exeter. 

THOMAS HOWELL R.N. 

White’s Directory has him as Chief Officer in 1893. He was born in Brighton in 1841 to Henry and Susannah Howell.  In 1861 he was unmarried and an ordinary seaman in the navy.  By 1871 he was a commissioned boatman in the coastguard service in Pembrokeshire but appears to have been moved to Fleetwood in Lancashire by 1872 where a daughter was born.  

At the time of the 1881 census he was one of eight Chief Officers of the Coast Guard on board HMS Cambridge in Plymouth but, as he was living as a lodger in Stoke Damerel without his family, I suspect this was a temporary attachment.  HMS Cambridge was a gunnery training ship so presumably he was undergoing gunnery training.  In 1891 he was at a ten day drill period at HMS Alexandria in Portland on attachment from his post at Pendeen Coast Guard Station, Boscaswell, St Just, in Cornwall.  He was become Chief Officer in Budleigh Salterton in 1893 but had retired to Torquay by 1901. 

WILLIAM POND FISHER (1852-1932) 

I believe William Fisher was the Chief Officer of the station towards the end of the 1890s.  He and his wife Elizabeth had a son, Victor, baptised at East Budleigh Church in November 1896 and his profession was given as Chief Officer Coast Guard.  

He was born in Weymouth and his service with the coastguards was at Chaldon Herring in Dorset (1881 census) and as Chief Boatman at St. Keverne in Cornwall (1891).  In 1892 he had a son Henry born somewhere in the Honiton registration district.  Axminster & Sidmouth were sub-districts of Honiton so it is likely Fisher was attached to one of those stations at the time.  Victor’s baptism in 1896 suggests an attachment at Budleigh but by 1901 he was Chief Officer in Pembrokeshire and by 1911 had retired back to Weymouth. 

JOHN BOWDITCH R.N. 

According to the town Kelly’s Directory Bowditch was Chief Officer in 1900 and 1902.  The 1901 census has him born in Wetherby, Yorkshire in 1852 but there is a record in the National Archives for a John Bowditch born October 1851 in Netherby Dorset.  He apparently joined the navy in 1867 and in 1871 was an ordinary seaman on board HMS Lord Warden carrying Vice Admiral Sir Hastings Yelverton’s flag as Commander in Chief in the Mediterranean.  Bowditch then seems to have disappeared from sight probably because he was in Ireland because his wife was from Donegal and they had children born there between 1885 and 1893; presumably he was a coastguard at the time.  In 1911 he was quaymaster in Teignmouth. 

Compiled and Researched by Roger Lendon, © 2011 

(1)Coastguard Operations and the Coastguard Grade II listed Station. David Daniel. OVApedia 2011

(2)Stan Waight et al.  http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/Coastguards

(3)Cenuses 1841-1901

(4)East Budleigh Baptismal Records

(5)http://www.coastguardsofyesteryear.org

(6)Information from Gerald Millington

(7)Salterton Beach: Smuggling, Coastguards, Fishing. File at Fairlynch Museum

(8)1848 Navy List, Revenue Vessels

(9)A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Vol.1. William K O’Bryne. John Murray, London (1849)

(10)Smuggling Salterton, Otterton, Bicton, East Budleigh C14, C18, C19. Gerald Millington 2008

 

 

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