Genealogy Chat

Hello, i'm helping my partner identify an ancestor that is in a portrait with his Gt grandmother. On the man's hat it says HMS Dia... at least we think it starts like that. any ideas on how we can trace the ship and then possibly the man? any suggestions would be greatly received as i haven't researched any military etc personel before. from working out the rough dates going back through the generations i think the photo was taken around 1900 if that is any help. Thank you all!

One of my ancestors was on an HMS Diamond. There is a RN website somewhere - I'll see if I can find the link. Jill

I have added details from the following link: http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/D1.HTM DIADEM,64. (1782 Chatham. BU 1832) 1791 Capt. A SUTHERLAND. 1794 Capt. T. TYLER. 1796 Capt. G.H. TOWRY. 1799 Capt. J. DAWSON, 8/99. 1800 Capt. T. LIVINGSTONE, Ireland. Armed en flute. On 18 April 1800 a court martial was held on board GLADIATOR in Portsmouth on John Briscoe, a marine belonging to DIADEM. He was found guilty of writing a letter to Gen. Averne, and causing others to sign it, calculated to cause a disturbance in the ship. he was sentenced to receive 200 lashes from ship to ship and to spend 6 months in the Marshalsea. 1801 Capt. J. LARMOUR. With the captains of AJAX, DRUID, EUROPA, STATELY THISBE and the transports, he directed the boats as they went ashore at Aboukir Bay on 8 March 1801. She had no losses. 1803 out of commission at Woolwich. 1805 Capt. Sir Home POPHAM. On a secret expedition, which turned out to be an attack on the Cape of Good Hope. On the way out the fleet of ships-of-war, transports and Indiamen under convoy, made one stop at Madeira for water. NARCISSUS was sent on ahead to obtain intelligence and capture or destroy any vessels which might give the Dutch notice of the approach of the fleet. The fleet anchored to the westward of Robben Is. on 4 January 1806 and LEDA and the transports containing the 24th regiment demonstrated off Green Point. On the 5th the troops were put in the boats and assembled alongside ESPOIR but the surf was so high that they were put back in their ships. Capt. POPHAM joined Gen. Baird on ESPOIR to examine the coast but when DIOMEDE, with the transports of the 38th regiment, cavalry, and some of the artillery, reported that a landing was possible in Saldanha Bay, the army was landed there, covered by DIADEM, LEDA and ENCOUNTER. Only one boat was lost with 35 the 93rd Highland regiment. The efforts to save them were defeated by the long and thick seaweed which rendered the boat's oars useless. A number of officers from the naval ships, transports and East Indiamen joined the troops ashore. The Dutch Gen. Jansens had 5OOO troops which included Hottentot riflemen but was defeated by Gen. Baird with the loss of only 15 British soldiers killed. At 9 o'clock on the morning of 4 March three ships, one a French warship, were reported coming from the southward towards Table Bay where DIADAM was lying under Dutch colours. Capt. POPHAM ordered DIOMEDE and LEDA to slip and then realised that the two ships in the offing were RAISONABLE and NARCISSUS. The French ship passed within hail of DIADEM which lowered the Dutch colours, hoisted British and called on her to strike. She did immediately and Capt. PERCY, a volunteer, took possession. She was the VOLONTAIRE,48, from Brest, with 270 prisoners on board, 217 men of the Queen's and 54th regiment which had been taken in two transports in the Bay of Biscay. Capt. POPHAM appointed Capt. Josceline PERCY to command the prize. She was manned by as many sailors as could be spared from the squadron and sent to St. Helena to act as escort for the homeward bound Indiamen. At St. Helena Capt. BUTTERFIELD, in charge of the transports manned VOLUNTAIRE from the crews under his command, replacing them with Dutch prisoners. Capt. PERCY had come out to take command of ESPOIR but she had sailed for England with dispatches and he had been sent to take command of the BATO, a Dutch 68, in Simon's Bay but she was found to be a complete wreck. Capt. POPHAM's squadron captured, retook or destroyed 11 vessels between 4 October 1805 and 30 March 1806. Sir Home POPHAM finding himself with a squadron and a small army, persuaded Gen. Baird to join him in crossing the South Atlantic to attack Buenos Aires. He appointed Lieut. William KING, who had been first lieutenant of DIADEM and then commanded ESPOIR during the expedition against the Cape, to act as captain of DIADEM. (These were unauthorised promotions and were not ratified by the Admiralty.) They were reinforced at St. Helena by troops under Major Gen. Beresford and reached Monte Video on 16 June 1806. 1700 men were landed on the 25th at Point Quelmey a Pouchin about 12 miles from Buenos Aires covered by ENCOUNTER which ran close in shore. They included the marines of the squadron, augmented by seamen, plus three companies of 'Royal Blues' from the same source, under the command of Capt. KING. (The Royal Blues were 'grenadiers' selected from among the ship's companies and equipped as artillery men. They were constantly drilled by the army officers on board the ships. Other volunteer seamen were attached to the marines, dressed and accoutred like them.) The heavy artillery had to be dragged by the navy through several miles of swamps but the British force pushed back 2000 Spaniards with a bayonet charge, and took possession of Buenos Aires on the 27 June. 1,000,000 dollars in the public treasury were sent to England. Meanwhile Sir Home POPHAM sailed to attempt an atta

Try the national archives site for seaman service records. You may be lucky and find all the ships that he sailed on. Sheila

DIADEM,64. (1782 Chatham. BU 1832) 1791 Capt. A SUTHERLAND. 1794 Capt. T. TYLER. 1796 Capt. G.H. TOWRY. 1799 Capt. J. DAWSON, 8/99. 1800 Capt. T. LIVINGSTONE, Ireland. Armed en flute. On 18 April 1800 a court martial was held on board GLADIATOR in Portsmouth on John Briscoe, a marine belonging to DIADEM. He was found guilty of writing a letter to Gen. Averne, and causing others to sign it, calculated to cause a disturbance in the ship. he was sentenced to receive 200 lashes from ship to ship and to spend 6 months in the Marshalsea. 1801 Capt. J. LARMOUR. With the captains of AJAX, DRUID, EUROPA, STATELY THISBE and the transports, he directed the boats as they went ashore at Aboukir Bay on 8 March 1801. She had no losses. 1803 out of commission at Woolwich. 1805 Capt. Sir Home POPHAM. On a secret expedition, which turned out to be an attack on the Cape of Good Hope. On the way out the fleet of ships-of-war, transports and Indiamen under convoy, made one stop at Madeira for water. NARCISSUS was sent on ahead to obtain intelligence and capture or destroy any vessels which might give the Dutch notice of the approach of the fleet. The fleet anchored to the westward of Robben Is. on 4 January 1806 and LEDA and the transports containing the 24th regiment demonstrated off Green Point. On the 5th the troops were put in the boats and assembled alongside ESPOIR but the surf was so high that they were put back in their ships. Capt. POPHAM joined Gen. Baird on ESPOIR to examine the coast but when DIOMEDE, with the transports of the 38th regiment, cavalry, and some of the artillery, reported that a landing was possible in Saldanha Bay, the army was landed there, covered by DIADEM, LEDA and ENCOUNTER. Only one boat was lost with 35 the 93rd Highland regiment. The efforts to save them were defeated by the long and thick seaweed which rendered the boat's oars useless. A number of officers from the naval ships, transports and East Indiamen joined the troops ashore. The Dutch Gen. Jansens had 5OOO troops which included Hottentot riflemen but was defeated by Gen. Baird with the loss of only 15 British soldiers killed. At 9 o'clock on the morning of 4 March three ships, one a French warship, were reported coming from the southward towards Table Bay where DIADAM was lying under Dutch colours. Capt. POPHAM ordered DIOMEDE and LEDA to slip and then realised that the two ships in the offing were RAISONABLE and NARCISSUS. The French ship passed within hail of DIADEM which lowered the Dutch colours, hoisted British and called on her to strike. She did immediately and Capt. PERCY, a volunteer, took possession. She was the VOLONTAIRE,48, from Brest, with 270 prisoners on board, 217 men of the Queen's and 54th regiment which had been taken in two transports in the Bay of Biscay. Capt. POPHAM appointed Capt. Josceline PERCY to command the prize. She was manned by as many sailors as could be spared from the squadron and sent to St. Helena to act as escort for the homeward bound Indiamen. At St. Helena Capt. BUTTERFIELD, in charge of the transports manned VOLUNTAIRE from the crews under his command, replacing them with Dutch prisoners. Capt. PERCY had come out to take command of ESPOIR but she had sailed for England with dispatches and he had been sent to take command of the BATO, a Dutch 68, in Simon's Bay but she was found to be a complete wreck. Capt. POPHAM's squadron captured, retook or destroyed 11 vessels between 4 October 1805 and 30 March 1806. Sir Home POPHAM finding himself with a squadron and a small army, persuaded Gen. Baird to join him in crossing the South Atlantic to attack Buenos Aires. He appointed Lieut. William KING, who had been first lieutenant of DIADEM and then commanded ESPOIR during the expedition against the Cape, to act as captain of DIADEM. (These were unauthorised promotions and were not ratified by the Admiralty.) They were reinforced at St. Helena by troops under Major Gen. Beresford and reached Monte Video on 16 June 1806. 1700 men were landed on the 25th at Point Quelmey a Pouchin about 12 miles from Buenos Aires covered by ENCOUNTER which ran close in shore. They included the marines of the squadron, augmented by seamen, plus three companies of 'Royal Blues' from the same source, under the command of Capt. KING. (The Royal Blues were 'grenadiers' selected from among the ship's companies and equipped as artillery men. They were constantly drilled by the army officers on board the ships. Other volunteer seamen were attached to the marines, dressed and accoutred like them.) The heavy artillery had to be dragged by the navy through several miles of swamps but the British force pushed back 2000 Spaniards with a bayonet charge, and took possession of Buenos Aires on the 27 June. 1,000,000 dollars in the public treasury were sent to England. Meanwhile Sir Home POPHAM sailed to attempt an attack on Monte Video with DIADEM, DIOMEDE and RAISONABLE. On 30 July, when DIADEM was anchored off Monte Video, a strange sail was seen. Capt. KING weighed and gave chase until DIADEM was in 4 fathoms of water, when he hove to and sent off the boats which soon captured her. She was the Spanish man-of-war brig ARROGANTE, pierced for 12 guns but with only 2 mounted. After three weeks the Spaniards in Buenos Aires realised how small the British force was and rose against them. Sir Home ordered DIOMEDE to go up to to Ensenada and for Capt. KING to bring the remaining marines of DIADEM and seamen from the ships to join her for an attack on the Spaniards at Colonia. On 1 August he went across the river in LEDA and anchored about 12 miles off Buenos Aries. He landed the next day to consult with Gen. Beresford and attempted to return to LEDA in ENCOUNTER but the wind was too strong. On the 5th Capt. KING managed to get through the gale with 150 men from DIADEM to man the small vessels they had found in the harbour but on tne 6th and 7th it blew a hurricane and five of the gunboats foundered at anchor. The launches and large cutters of DIADEM and LEDA were also lost. The enemy managed to cross the river under cover of the bad weather and eventually Beresford was surrounded and forced to surrender on the 12 August. On 3 October DIADEM fell in with ROLLO which had brought a detachment of the 38th from the Cape. Sir Home took the troops out of her and sent her up to Rio Grande in southern Brazil to obtain bread or biscuit. On the 6th he joined PROTECTOR with the ADAMANT and COLUMBINE transports and ordered them to load provisions for 3 months from the DIADEM victualler in case any accident happened to her. The following day MEDUSA, LEDA and two of LANCASTER's convoy joined. The weather was hazy and the current so strong that LANCASTER and the two remaining ships did not arrive until the 12th. The next day Col. Backhouse proposed a look at Monte Video prior to attacking the place but from the 15th to the 27th it blew so hard that nothing could be attempted. On the 28th they had a go a breaching the walls for the army but could not get close enough, so Sir home POPHAM proposed taking Maldonada instead. The troops from DIADEM assembled alongside LEDA and a landing was effected without opposition. On the morning of the 3Oth Lieut. WISEMAN of DIADEM accepted the surrender of the fortified island of Gorretti which formed the harbour. When news of his exploits reached London, the Admiralty recalled Sir Home POPHAM and Capt. Samuel WARREN, accompanied Rear Ad. STIRLING to the River Plate as a passenger in the SAMPSON,64, to take over command of DIADEM as the Rear Admiral's flagship at Maldonada. Sir Home POPHAM was severely reprimanded by a court martial for abandoning his post at the Cape without orders. More troops were sent out under Brigadier Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty and, after assembling off the Island of Flores, a landing was made at Carreta Point, 7 miles to the eastward of Monte Video on 16 January 18O7. About 800 seamen and marines were la

Forgot to say that on that Wikipedia list there are several ships beginning with 'Dia ...' Jill p.s. Good idea re National Archives - it's £3.50 to download the record and gives you lots of info - including colour of hair/eyes any tattoos etc.

Cannot find RN link - but Wikipedia have an alphabetical list of ships This is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Royal_Navy_ship_names If you've never researched RN ships you need to know the time period (roughly) of your ancestor's service on the ship - the Royal Navy use the same ship's names over and over again - when one ship is de-commissioned/sunk or whatever the name is used for another ship that is built/launched. They also have a way of using certain names for certain types of ship. I find it all a bit confusing but if you know the rough time-period you will probably be able to find an image and/or info about the ship of the time. Does this make sense? Jill

wow! thats fantastic! thank you so much everyone! i'll start checking all the info out now! Thank You! xxx