Samuel Brokensha – Commander RN

With the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Friends of Teignmouth Cemetery a number of people wrote in with details of relatives buried in the cemetery.  Mike Brokenshaw sent us the following story about Samuel Brokensha, his 3^rd cousin four times removed who is buried with his wife Charlotte Mary in plot J61, close to the main chapel.

Quite coincidentally the eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted Samuel in the previous post about Bowyer Vaux where they both appeared at the inaugural meeting for the establishment of parochial schools in Teignmouth:

This is Mike’s story in his own words with some limited editing for the blog:

Samuel Brokensha, Commander RN

Plot J61 was purchased on 28^th July 1858 by Samuel Brokensha of East Teignmouth. On 30^th July his wife Charlotte Mary was buried there and on 2^nd January 1880 Samuel, despite having passed away in Bath, was laid to rest with her. Samuel was my 3^rd cousin 4x removed.

Naval Career

Samuel was born in Mevagissey in 1795, baptised on the 9^th August, to Samuel and Mary. (Note that Samuel Snr, along with his brother Luke, was a master in the Royal Navy. The role of master was to run the ship in terms of Navigation, Sailing, Provisioning, Loading and Trimming etc. The master was appointed by, and served under a warrant from, the Board of Admiralty. The captain was the military commander and fought the ship.)

Samuel jr entered the Royal Navy 25^th March 1806 as a first-class volunteer on board the 74 gun Mars.

Yes, the dates are correct, he was probably just 10 years old, but this was not unusual in those days – Nelson himself entered as an ordinary seaman when he was 12. The Master of the Mars was at that time Samuel’s uncle, Luke Brokensha who, as the master of the Revenge, had been wounded at Trafalgar just a few months earlier. Samuel saw active service against the French and was involved in the capture of several ships.

In July 1807 he removed to the Ganges, another 74 where the Master was once again none other than his uncle Luke. He took part in expeditions to Copenhagen and to the Walcheren.

In May 1810 Samuel became a midshipman of the Bedford, 74 guns, in which ship we find him employed in the North Sea, West Indies and off Bordeaux until discharged in September 1814. He obtained his commission as a Lieutenant in March 1815 and until 1831 took part in the coastal blockades.

Coastguard Service

After leaving the navy he joined the Coastguard Service at Folkstone as Chief Officer, in September that year transferring to the Ramsgate Station again as Chief Officer in which service he continued until 1833. Between July 1833 and June 1836, he commanded the Revenue Cutter Lively around the coasts of England after which he returned to the Ramsgate station as Chief Officer until 21 May 1838, on which date he resigned from the service.

Family Life

Samuel married twice, on 27^th May 1819 at Higham in Kent to Mary Edwards and, following her death, he married Charlotte Mary Cobb on the 9^th Feb 1837 at Palgrave, Suffolk. Following his second marriage he moved to South Devon settling in Teignmouth. We don’t know exactly when he moved to Teignmouth but he is mentioned in newspaper reports from about 1849 onwards. He can be found in the Teignmouth census returns for 1851, 1861 and 1871.

Following the death of his second wife, Charlotte, Samuel continued to live in Teignmouth with his niece from his first marriage, Hannah Edwards. Hannah’s mother died in the early 1860s and we believe that her father Henry (Charlotte’s brother) came to live with them at the Heywoods. Henry died in 1871 and was buried in a grave, now under the hedge, immediately adjacent to his sister.

During his time in Teignmouth Samuel lived in:

• Grove House (Now demolished but was on the site of the lock-up garages in Daimonds Lane)
• The Strand
• Ivy Lane
• 3 The Heywoods

Activity in Teignmouth

The Teignmouth Improvement Commission

Between May 1849 – Sept 1852 he was a member, and occasionally Chairman, of the Teignmouth Improvement Commissioners. This sparked an interest in what is a piece of social history affecting us all. The fact that it concerns Teignmouth made it more interesting (to me at least).

Boards of improvement commissioners were ad hoc urban local government boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries.  Around 300 boards were created, each by a private Act of Parliament, typically termed an Improvement Act. The powers of the boards varied according to the acts which created them. They often included street paving, cleansing, lighting, providing watchmen or dealing with various public nuisances. Those with restricted powers might be called Lighting Commissioners, Paving Commissioners, Police Commissioners, etc.

Older urban government forms included the corporations of ancient boroughs, vestries of parishes, and in some cases the lord of the manor. These were mostly ill-equipped for the larger populations of the Industrial Revolution and the result was that the commissioners developed naturally but not consistently, neither in their responsibilities nor to the extent of their democratic constitution.

Improvement Acts empowered the commissioners to fund their work by levying rates. Some acts specified named individuals to act as commissioners, who replenished their number by co-option. Other commissions held elections at which all ratepayers could vote, or took all those paying above a certain rate as automatic members.

With their ability to raise the money required to fund a large range of facilities, coupled with the fact that there was an element of election, the Commissioners were in effect the forerunners of today’s local council.

Harbour commissioners remained separate in many cases, and they or their successor body are today the competent harbour authority in many UK ports including Teignmouth.

The Teignmouth Improvement Act was passed in about 1836. A number of the minute books of the Teignmouth Improvement Commissioners (TIC) have survived and are lodged in the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter.  The minutes were hand written by the Clerk to the Commissioners who in this case was John Chappell Tozer. (Today TOZERS is a well-known firm of solicitors in Teignmouth).  The role of the TIC can be no better explained than by reference to the description at the front of each minute book:

Further indication of the range of responsibilities can be found in an entry that indicates some of the costs of providing services:

Wages paid to the Turncock	12/- per week
Wages paid to the Gasman	15/- per week
Wages paid to the Lamplighter	15/- per week
Thermometer for Gas Station	£3-4-6d
Work on fire plugs in gas house	£2-1-0d
Building wall in Combe Brook	£20-0-0d
Work on Gas Station Smithy cellar and Coke cellar	£32-7-5d

Other posts that were mentioned included Scavenger, Waterman, Policeman (including uniform), Street keeper and Surveyor.

A minute of 4^th February 1845 illustrates the powers that the TIC held:

Such offenders could be, and were, taken before the magistrates for punishment.

The minutes also show that the restriction in funding often experienced by today’s council is nothing new. At a meeting of 1^st Dec 1846 the Clerk read a request from 7 worthies including James Spratt asking for a further 3 gas lamps near Gorway Lodges, at the foot of Woodway Lane and one other. (Note: James Spratt was a hero of Trafalgar where he was a Masters mate on HMS Defiance. The injuries he sustained ultimately resulted in him being posted to command a signal station at Teignmouth. He married a local girl and on leaving the navy settled here permanently in Woodway House that he had built)

The Commissioners response was that:

We noted earlier that the commissioners could co-opt new members in order to maintain their numbers and this is how Samuel first became involved. At the meeting of Tues 8^th May 1849, it was resolved and declared –

Other Interests

Samuel was Treasurer of the Teignmouth Ladies Bible Society, involved in the Useful Knowledge Society and was a founder and patron of the Teignmouth Peoples Dispensary that provided medicines to the poor.

(Editor’s note:  a trawl through the newspaper archives confirms that Samuel Brokensha was a very active member in many aspects of Teignmouth life.  A list is appended to this main story)

His Death

Samuel died in Bath on 29^th Dec 1879 and was buried with his wife Charlotte.

You will notice that between the death of his wife and his own passing Samuel rose in rank from Lieutenant to Commander RN. Although he had retired from the navy it was common practice in those days to adopt promotions based purely on seniority.

There is a memorial inscription to his niece Hannah on her fathers grave adjacent to plot J61 but until we are able to access the burial records again we don’t know if she is buried there.

Here is a transcription of the headstone on Plot J61. It is very worn but this represents the best guess of a number of our family historians.

Sacred To the memory of Charlotte Mary The beloved wife of Samuel Brokensha Lieutenant in the Royal Navy And eldest daughter of the late Francis Cobb Esquire of Margate Her sincere and evangelical piety united to The Private and benevolent disposition That endeared her to her own family Led her loss to be truly mourned By a far wider circle Entered into rest July 25 1858 Aged 52 years But with the precious blood of Christ 1 Peter 1 C 19 Also Samuel Brokensha Commander RN Husband of the above Who after a long life of usefulness and Christian consistency fell asleep in rest December 29 1879 in the 85th year of his life Accepted in the Beloved Ephesians 1 – 6

Sources

Devon Heritage Centre Ref 1571A/9/1 to 5 and R230A/0/2/6 – Minute books of the Improvement Commission

Appendix – known activities of Samuel Brokensha in Teignmouth (Editor’s notes)

• Member of, and sometime Chair of, Teignmouth Improvement Commissioners
• Member of Botanical and Horticultural Society, winning a number of prizes
• Subscriber to the Dispensary
• Treasurer of the Teignmouth Medical Relief Institution and Dispensary for the sick poor
• Member of the Teignmouth branch of the Church Missionary Society
• Member of the British and Foreign Bible Society
• Committee member (and shareholder) of the Teignmouth Extra Mural Cemetery Company
• Treasurer of the Useful Knowledge Society
• On the committee of the Council of Education for the development of “Parochial Schools”
• Possibly governor of Teignmouth Infirmary
• He was also a member of what seems to have been a short-lived movement in Teignmouth to suppress “Popish Practices”!