The Life and Times of ‘Captain’ Horatio James - Sailor in Queen Victoria's Royal Navy

Part 1

A naval group shot of the time onboard the HMS Duke of Wellington

This is the story, as best I know it of my most interesting ancestor; 'Captain' Horatio James.

In amongst a legion of farmers, labourers and publicans Horatio stands out. He was a tough sea-dog, a hero of the seas. None of my other ancestors as far as I know travelled to the Orient to fight pirates!

Horatio was my great-great grandfather (mum’s, dad’s, mum’s dad.)

He was born on 16th May 1839 in the parish of St Andrews, Hertford, the son of Nathan Smith James and Sarah James (nee Southwood).  He was the middle of a family of five children.

He had two brothers and two sisters:

• Jane S James b. 1833
• Henry James b.1835
• Nathan S James b.1842
• Isabella James b. 1844

Horatio’s father  Nathan worked as a solicitor’s clerk. He had been born into the metropolitan social mixing pot of Soho, London in 1802.   Soho has always been one of the capital's most vibrant areas. I’ve not managed to locate any record of his birth or baptism as yet, so unfortunately do not know who his parents were.

Sarah (Southwood) his mother on the other hand was a country girl from the mill village of Uffculme in Devon, though her father too was a Londoner.  Uffculme’s main industry at the time was woollen cloth production in the large mill there. A mill that is still in operation today. It’s possible that the Southwood family moved to Uffculme to work at the mill.

The young Horatio was known to his family as Horace (which isn’t quite as swashbuckling!) The first years of his life were spent in St Andrews Street, Hertford, where his father is listed as working as a solicitor.  They would have enjoyed a reasonably middle class lifestyle. The James’ neighbours are listed as bakers, teachers and governesses. The Street has some lovely old properties with some half timbered Tudor and later Georgian town houses. By coincidence I’ve attended a training course in one of the old houses on this street, though I didn’t know of its significance at the time.

In 1851 with Horace aged 12 the family were living in London. They lived in Bolton Terrace, St Mary’s, Newington, in the borough of Lambeth. The parish of St Mary's is located in South London where Elephant & Castle, Kennington and Walworth meet. Bolton Terrace is no longer there, though appears to have been near where Delverton Road is now. The James’s were a musical family, older brother Henry was a musician and older sister Jane was a music teacher. His father Nathan was still in the legal profession and is listed as an attorney's clerk.

The Thames at this time was the highway of London and it’s gateway to the world.  London was the richest city in the world. The ports were busy importing exotic goods from China and the East Indies.

Was Horatio caught up in the romance of the sea? Did he lust for travel and adventure to foreign lands?