The extraordinary action packed life of this brave man, although only 53 years long, was nearing its end. It was a life which encompassed most of the events of British naval history during the latter half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. His Will, written with beautiful calligraphy using a feather quill pen, was prepared by the long established legal firm of James Selby in West Malling, Kent. It describes how he wished his worldly goods to be distributed.
Born in 1760 on the 15th November and christened on the 13th December, Charles John Moore Mansfield was the son of a dockyard officer at Stoke Damerel, Devonport. Childhood was a very brief affair in those days. At the age of eleven in 1772 he joined the Navy as Captain’s Servant to Captain Fielding aboard HMS Kent.
The American Revolution
Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1776, he transferred to HMS Foudroyant, and having been rapidly promoted to Midshipman he transferred again to the frigate Diamond, and saw action in North America. At the age of eighteen, in 1778, when he was two years younger than the usual age, he was promoted to Lieutenant, joining HMS Albion. He transferred to HMS Sultan in 1779 and was in action at the Battle of Grenada, and later the Battle of Martinique. In 1780 he was made First Lieutenant of the frigate HMS Fortune, and in January 1782 he was in action against the French attack at the Battle of Frigate Bay in St Kitts. He then successfully sailed through enemy lines at night to gain information from the besieged British fort at Brimstone Hill, leading to the recapture of the fort and the island.
Return to England
In 1782 Mansfield returned to England. He served for a short time at the start of 1783 as First Lieutenant on the frigate HMS Monsieur before joining HMS Irresistible. Five years of peace followed and he returned to shore in 1788.
Marriage, Setting Up home in West Malling and Children.
Still only 28 and with all that action behind him, Charles married Anna Spong on 21st August 1788 at St Edmond’s Church Lombard Street London. The Spong family owned extensive riverside properties on the Medway including those at Mill Hall, East Malling and Aylesford. The family’s business interests included paper-making and milling.
Charles and Anne set up home in West Malling. Their first child Seymour Herbert Mansfield born on 5th December 1789 in Rochester died aged twelve. Mary Mansfield was born in January 1792 and their third child James Hawkins Hughes Mansfield was born on 5th April 1794. After two years ashore war threatened again and he joined HMS Lion in 1790 as First Lieutenant, followed by service on HMS Assistance and HMS Stately.
French Revolutionary Wars
On the 17th July 1793 he was promoted to Commander of HMS Megaera being elevated in 1794 to Post Captain of HMS Sphynx. He soon moved to HMS Andromache in which, after a very fierce and deadly encounter, he captured a substantial Algerian Corsair. In 1799 he moved to HMS Dryad and stayed with her until the peace of 1802. The memoirs of one of the Midshipmen describe Mrs Mansfield and the two unruly children living aboard the Dryad in Portsmouth. She dressed in her own version of an officer’s uniform complete with epaulets. Despite, or perhaps because of her eccentricity, she was well liked.
Napoleonic Wars
After the end of the brief peace following the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, Mansfield was given command of the battle-hardened ship HMS Minotaur of 74 guns. Soon he was party to the capture of the French frigate Franchise in the Channel and served as Admiral Collingwood’s Flag Captain.
The Battle of Trafalgar
Also serving on Minotaur was Midshipman Charles Benjamin Douce (later Lieutenant) aged seventeen, being the fourth son of Thomas Augustus Douce of Douce’s Manor, St Leonard’s Street West Malling Kent.
On the 21st October 1805 during the famous Battle of Trafalgar, Minotaur proactively defended Nelson’s ship HMS Victory from the counter attack by Rear Admiral Dumanoir’s squadron. Suffering many casualties, Minotaur captured the ship Neptuno (see ship’s log in the Nat Archives). (The treasure chest of Neptuno was auctioned in London in 2022, the date of the writing of this text). The actual Union Flag which was flown by Minotaur at Trafalgar is preserved in the Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Nelson was shot by a sniper and the Admiral’s body was brought home preserved in a barrel of rum. Unfortunately the sailors had drilled a small hole in the barrel and drunk the rum.
Minotaur returned to England in 1806, with Mansfield suffering from rheumatism. For his actions at the Battle of Trafalgar, Mansfield was awarded the Naval Gold Medal. Mansfield visited Bath few a few days before returning home. The reason for his visit is unknown but Bath was known for its health-giving waters and sparkling social life!
In the spring of 1807 following the writing of his last Will and its Codicils, he was Flag Captain to Rear Admiral William Essington and third in command at the Bombardment of Copenhagen. In Denmark this devastating offensive marks the first terror attack on a European capital, and led to the Anglo-Russian War of 1807. Mansfield received a share of the prize money for the captured ships but retired due to ill health at the end of the year. He did not live to see the end of the “Napoleonic Ware” (sic) as he died at Rochester on 23rd October 1813. His memorial is in St Margaret’s Church, Rochester.
In fiction Manson appears as a character in the Hornblower series Hornblower and the Hotspur.
The end of Minotaur, the fate of Lieutenant Salsford and his pet wolf.
Minotaur met her end during a terrible storm which is commemorated by the famous painting by J W M Turner The Wreck of the Minotaur. There were many dead. Newspapers carried the eyewitness accounts of the sad deaths of Lieutenant Salsford and his pet wolf. The inseparable pair was drowned with paws and arms around each other’s necks, the wolf howling miserably.
The Collingwood letters
There are letters held by Duke University, North Carolina which include some written by Admiral Lord Collingwood to Captain Mansfield. It is clear from these letters that they were friendly and personally acquainted.
Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as Nelson's successor in commands. At the Battle of Trafalgar the fleet split in two to attack the French, with Nelson leading one half and Collingwood the other. Collingwood died in 1810 and is laid to rest in St Paul's Cathedral alongside Nelson.
For more information on the Collingwood letters click here.
Ashford & Tenterden Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable Dover, Deal & Sandwich Faversham, Isle of Sheppey and Sittingbourne Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh Gravesend & Dartford Maidstone Margate, Broadstairs & Ramsgate Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham Sevenoaks Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells