66th Regiment of Foot

I managed to get some information connected to this brick from the Regimental Timeline on www.thewardrobe.org.uk which deals with the 66th Regiment/2nd Royal Berkshire.

“On 21 May 1821, St Helena.  Regiment (Headquarters plus two companies and regimental band) embarked on ‘Camel’. On 24 May the rest of the Regiment began to embark for the voyage home. The ‘Camel’ reached Spithead on 31 July, the rest of Regiment arriving shortly after. The ‘Camel’ continued to Chatham on 13 August, where the Regiment disembarked, the last detachment disembarking on 20 August.”

“On 22 September 1821, England, Hull. Regiment from Chatham on 20 March and reached Hull on 22 September and detached one company to Scarborough“

Reading the above information leads me to doubt the veracity as, if the second paragraph is true, the regiment began their march to Hull two months before they left St Helena.

While I follow this up I shall let you see the lovely brick on the south wall of the ropery.

Photograph produced by Jack Picknell (All Rights Reserved)

Rear Admiral Cedric Swinton Holland

This tiny scrap of graffiti mentions Cedric Swinton Holland

Rear Admiral   Cedric Swinton Holland was Admiral Superintendent in residence from 2nd September 1899 and superceded on completion of his period of duty.

The full name, although inscribed in nice characters, is hard to find among the numerous names and dates. The large date of 1902 coincides with the time he was superceded as Admiral Superintendent … but were either of the inscriptions written by the man himself?

There are references to him on the back wall of Commissioner’s House with his full names as well as just initials and surname. Another example is of M.E.Holland

The Former Lead & Paint Mill

This building is of particular interest to me as I spent nearly a year on the upper floor when I was an apprentice (1952 – 1957).

The telephone repair workshop was located here and items such as telephone dials were stripped down, mended and governed after sustaining damage from irate users attempting to obtain a new handset or other equipment.  In 1957 we still had a number of the old ‘candlestick’ phones connected to the system.

The north end of the building is occupied by the Fairbridge organisation and the southern end is used by The Fountain Workshop Ltd.

Please note that Dockyard visitors are not to enter this building unless invited to do so.

On the front wall, the eastern wall, there are numerous examples of graffiti scratched into the face of the brickwork. You will notice names of ships, workers and comments about happenings of the day, for example, one brick states that “Ramshaw crushed his finger” (A photograph will appear here soon … of the brick, not the finger!)

Built between 1817 and 1819 by an architect for the Navy Board, Edward Holl, it was extended in the mid C19. The construction was of brick with stone dressings and a slate roof, with cast-iron posts, joists and flagstone floors. It was built as a fireproof building. The doors and windows frames were of all-metal construction.

The north end of the upper floor has tall iron canvas stretching frames for painting (sails and canvas items) suspended from threaded rods. This could account for the names of vessels on the brickwork.

Originally the southern building had a steam powered lead rolling mill and casting area with a beam engine and boiler located on the west side.

Paint mills connected by line shafting to the engine were located in the north building.

The works had sufficient capacity to supply all the naval dockyards with paint and rolled lead. It has considerable significance as an early and almost entirely complete example of a specialist manufacturing building of the early nineteenth century.

This sporting capture was spotted by Paul Johnstone at the north end of the building, in the walkway.

The following image is from the east wall and I shall fill in as much history as I can.

A Brick with a Story (Image copyright Steve Keat)

HMS Goliath was a ‘Canopus’ first class battleship, built at Chatham. She was laid down on 4th January 1897 and launched on 23rd March 1898, designed to operate on the China station acting as a counter-weight to the Japanese fleet expansion.

Despite her displacement of 12,950 tons, Goliath had a sufficiently shallow draught to allow her to use the Suez Canal.

She carried a complement of 682 officers and men and had a top speed of 18.25 knots. She was 390 feet long and 74 feet wide and her armaments comprised of four 12 inch breach loaders, twelve 6 inch quick-firers, twelve 12 lb. quick-firers, six 1 lb. quick-firers and five 18 inch torpedo tubes.

Her history (after fitting out):-

27th March 1900: Commissioned at Chatham for the China station playing a small part in the Boxer uprising.

September 1901: Refitting in Hong Kong before returning to active duty in April 1902.

January – July 1904: At Palmers, UK for re-fitting.

May 1905: Sailing with the Mediterranean Fleet, transferring to the Channel in December.

1907 – 1908: Refit to machinery and fire control added.

October 1908: Damaged her propeller shaft on the way to Malta. Retained in Malta ‘yard for a further refit which was completed in January 1909.

April 1909: Commissioned at Sheerness for Nore Reserve.

August 1914: Goliath served with 8th Battle Squadron operating out of Devenport. Transfered later to Loch Ewe for defence of Grand Fleet anchorage. Then, in September, she was dispatched to the East Indies for escort duties. In November she operated against the German light cruiser ‘ Konigsberg‘.

April 1915: Transferred to the Dardanelles, in order to support landings upon the beaches around Cape Hellas. On May 13th she was sunk bu the Turkish torpedo boat ‘Muavanet‘ which was manned by a German crew at the time.

Of the Goliath’s crew, 570 died …

You will notice on the graffiti that when Goliath was mentioned on the wall two names of Captains are mentioned, Wintz and Henderson. Hopefully more details of them will follow.

The names of various ships appear on the front of the building.

Vessels remembered here are HMS Circe as well as HMS Vindictive (1940)

Graffiti Locations

There are many locations in the Dockyard where you can see historical graffiti. There are also many locations in the Dockyard where you may miss lots of historical graffiti.

One of the prime locations is The Ropery and, in particular the south wall of the ropery!

A description of the Ropery contains the following details, depending where the information comes from:

• Building dates from 1785 – 1791
• engine house added c1836.
• Red brick with grey headers, stone dressings and a slate valley roof
• engine house English bond brick.

“History shows that it is known as a double ropery for combining ropelaying on the ground floor and spinning on the upper two floors.

“The building is over 1,100 feet long, rope being wound by twisting the strands together on a forming machine mounted on a wheeled carriage which ran back down the building.”

  Halfway down the east side of the ropery.

This area is very rich in military memorablia but does little to prepare you the delights round the corner at the end!

Section of the South Wall

This part of the ropery nestles into a quiet corner near the southern end of the property and a couple of sets of stairs takes you down to the Anchor Wharf with its large storehouses.

However a closer look at this wall reveals the extent of the inscriptions available  for examination, and so often, completely passed by.

At times it is difficult to imagine what was going on in the area of this part of Kent when these inscriptions were being added to the walls but I hope to enlarge on this part of the research project as I go along.

Look a little closer, friend

A closer look at the previous photograph shows just how much additional data is visible and just how well it seems to have survived.

You could spend all day just marvelling at this wall which I always introduce to people as a “social document”.

I hope you will revisit these ‘posts’ from time to time as they will be updated as new information comes in.

LJB 1951

As an example of “nicely done” graffiti I have included this one.

This person (LJB) seemed determined to make their mark as neat as possible (check out the framing)

The Commissioner’s House

Of all the buildings within the Dockyard, Commissioner’s House is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating. Compared to the ropery and the storehouses, where one would expect to find graffiti, the house which was the residence of the various Admirals Superintendent may be the last where you would encounter the names of those who “should know better”.

The list of those whose names appear on the rear wall of the building begins with

[35] Rear Admiral George Willes Watson in residence from 1st December 1881. He achieved the rank of Vice Admiral before he left on 12th March 1886.

The name of [36] Rear Admiral William Codrington, CBS was there from 1st May 1886 but resigned the post due to ill-health ad died 29th July 1888.

[37] Rear Admiral Edward Kelly lived in the house from 1st November 1887 from the result of aneurism of the heart, which had laid dormant and unsuspected since the severe rheumatic fever he contracted from exposure at the burning of the Bombay.

[38] Rear Admiral George Digby Morant. From January 1892 to 2nd September 1895. He was promoted Vice Admiral in June 1895 and superceded 2nd September 1895 o promotion.

[39] Rear Admiral Hilary G Andoe CB from 2nd September 1895 and was superceded 2nd September 1899 (extended one year) on completeion of term of service.

[40] Rear Admiral Swinton C Holland from 2nd September 1899 and superceded on completion of period of office.

The above information has been taken from the Chatham Dockyard Historical Society Research Paper No 12 “Commissioners in Residence, Admiral Superintendents and Port Admirals. (Transcribed from the original lists by Peter Dawson, General Editor for CDHS)

84th Regiment of Foot

The York and Lancaster Regiment

South Wall of the Ropery

The name of S * Plant can be seen on the same brick as the obliterated regimental number “84″. The date is clearly “1834″

Three of the regiment’s battle honours have been included: - ”Nive”, “India” and “Peninsula”.

Also, the name of the regiment is confirmed as being, at that time, “York and Lancaster”.

This brick has always been high on my list of favourites … yes! I do have favourite bricks!

I was intrigued as to why the number 84 had been obliterated and I have  found a possible answer.

I shall include a number of quotes from a contact I found in Rotherham who writes “The 84th received the York and Lancaster title in 1820 … can find no direct reference to Chatham in the histories”.

In 1834 the Regiment was in the West Indies having left Ireland in 1827 for Jamaica, returning in 1838.

At present there is no record of S. PLANT.

Between 1838 and 1842 the Regiment were home, spending two of those years in England.

At the time of the Cardwell Reforms in 1881 the 84th became the 2nd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. (Note  that the name was kept).

The 65th (2nd North Riding) Regiment of Foot became the 1st Battalion at the same time.

The numbers of the predecessor Regiments were officially dropped but continued to be used unofficially for a long time.”

After this a theory began to form as to the obliteration of 84.

The York and Lancaster Regiment did pass through Chatham at later dates, especially the First World War and possibly a soldier who knew little, or nothing, of the 84th connection, took out the ‘84′ to leave just the name of his own Regiment.

As I stated earlier, this is just a theory and if anyone knows more please leave some details.

90th Light Infantry

This is a wonderful example of graffiti art.

Exquisite scribing

90th Light Infantry
Dated 1st July 1818, during the period when servicemen were not recognised for their penmanship, I consider this example as really special.
Situated on the east wall of the Ropery
After a little searching through the internet I discovered that: -
“Chatham was the station of the 90th LI until December of 1818 when they moved on to Brighton.”
(Information supplied by Kevin Asplin)

Robert Casey of the 90th inscribed this in July 1818. Beautifully done.

I like the way a stylized laurel wreath was added as part of the regimental design. There are several more examples of this type of embellishment in the dockyard.