St
John's Church, Ainsdale
St
John's Church, Ainsdale
Stained Glass Windows - HMS Queen Charlotte
This
window, on the north side of the Nave of the Church, was given by the ship's
company of HMS Queen Charlotte in 1947. HMS Queen Charlotte was the name given
to an A.A. gunnery school opened at Ainsdale Lido, Ainsdale-On-Sea in March
1941. An inscription on the window reads: "Presented by the captain, officers,
W.R.N.S and ship's company to commemorate their stay in Ainsdale 1941-1946 and
in appreciation of the services of our Chaplain the Vicar of this Parish."
The window was unveiled by Commander A.D. Tidd (Retired) and dedicated by the
Lord Bishop of Warrington at 8pm on Friday 17th October 1947.
The inscription running across the tracery lights reads "These men see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep." (Psalm 107:24)
The window was designed by James Powell and Sons Ltd. Middlesex under the personal directions of their artist James Hogan.
In
the centre light there is the figure of St Nicholas, the Patron Saint of Sailors.
The figure can be identified as St Nicholas of Myra not only by the words "St
Nicholas" at the bottom of the window but also because he is dressed as
a Bishop and is carrying a ship. In other pictures he is often shown with an
anchor or with a tub and three children.
In
the light to the left there is the Naval Coat of Arms with the heading "Brest
1794" above. In the light on the right of St. Nicholas there is a figure
of Queen Charlotte (see below), George III's wife after whom
the ship was named. Above this are the words "Algiers 1816"
Queen
Charlotte was the wife of King George III (the subject of the film 'The Madness
of King George'). She was born in 1744 as Princess Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz.
The first time that the couple met was at their wedding on the 22 September
1761! King George's choice of bride was governed by the laws of Britain and
of the Holy Roman Empire (he was also Elector of Hanover). The Act of Settlement
laid down that the King must not marry a Roman Catholic and the Holy Roman Empire
that he must marry into 'a princely house'. The Kings advisors were sent to
the continent to find a suitable Protestant bride. It seems that Queen Charlotte
was chosen because she was not too headstrong, a criterion brought about by
the reaction to the influence that Queen Caroline had over King George II. She
was described as 'no beauty' or worse. She certainly was a strong woman, she
had 15 children and lived to an age of 74. Over all she seems to have been a
devoted wife and mother, little is known of her as a person because she complied
so much with the views and wishes of the King.
There have been five ships in addition to the base at Ainsdale to be called Queen Charlotte. The first ship was a first rate ship-of-the-line with 100 guns. Launched at Chatham Dock Yard on the 15 April 1790 she was 190 ft x 52½ ft with a displacement of 2286 bm (bm = builder's measurement, based on the number of casks or tuns a ship could carry). She was accidentally blown up off Leghorn on the 17 March 1800.
Between 1800 and 1810 the Navy hired two vessels given the name Queen Charlotte
On 17 May, 1810 a new HMS Queen Charlotte was launched, this time from Deptford Dock Yard. She was the same length but one foot wider than the first Queen Charlotte and had four extra guns. At the end of 1859 she was renamed HMS Excellent and converted into a gunnery training school (the Navy's first Naval Technical School) in Portsmouth Harbour. Another source states that this happened in 1830. There is a difference of opinion about what happened to her, one book says that she was scrapped the year after being made a gunnery school and another that she was sold in 1892.
The fifth vessel to bear the name was a hired cutter.
The last Queen Charlotte was the gunnery school on Ainsdale beach. In 1941 the Lido at Ainsdale was taken over by the Navy, converted into a gunnery school and named HMS Queen Charlotte. A series of guns were installed facing the sea. Aircraft from No 776 Squadron (Fleet Air Arm) flying from RAF Woodvale would tow targets past or dive-bomb the school to give the gunners Anti-Aircraft target practice. At the end of January 1946 it was placed under care and maintenance only and then closed completely.
Main Source: Ships of the Royal Navy, A Historical Index, Vol 1 - Major Ships
Brest
1794 and the Glorious First of JuneThe French Revolutionary War began in 1793. The French declared war on Britain after the British expelled the French Ambassador in response to the execution of Louis XVI. The grain harvest in France of that year failed and she was relying heavily on grain imported by convoy from America. The British Channel Fleet under the command of Lord Howe was trying to stop them. Howe's flagship was the Queen Charlotte. Much of the French Fleet was in the port of Brest. Rather than blockade the port Admiral Howe kept his ships in port, if a convoy sailed it would be intercepted and engaged. This nearly happened in early 1794 when a French convoy sailed out to America but the convoy managed to get clear and carry on to Virginia. It departed again from America on 11 April. A squadron of the French Fleet under Rear-Admiral Nielly sailed from Brest on the same day to meet it. Sometime later in May the main French Fleet under Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse sailed out to meet the combined convoy. In the meantime the British had sailed out into the Atlantic and taken up position between the convoy and the main French fleet coming out to meet it. The French fleet was spotted on 28 May, after three days of skirmishes during which one ship from each side was crippled; full battle was finally joined on 1 June. The Queen Charlotte was one of the few British ships to follow orders and sailed through the French line to attack them to leeward. She made for her opposing flagship, the 120 gun Montagne and forced her way between the stern of the Montagne and another ship, the Jacobin, firing on both sides. Six of the French ships were captured and another sunk which was hailed as a magnificent victory (in terms of the damage inflicted on the enemy fleet no other battle in the eighteenth century was as successful) but the convoy had still made Brest with its cargo intact.
Another battle involving the Queen Charlotte not commemorated in the window (possibly because the Queen Charlotte was not the flagship) was that of Croix 1795. Admiral Bridport took on Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse in Quiberon Bay. Three of the French ships were captured.
Algiers
1816At the beginning of the 19th century Britain adopted a new foreign policy of 'freedom of the seas for all'. To enforce this policy Admiral Edward Pellew took a squadron of warships to Algiers lead by the Queen Charlotte, a 100 gun First Rate ship-of-the-line, captained by James Brisbane. With the Queen Charlotte were the 98 gun HMS Impregnable, three 74 gun ships (Superb, Minden and Albion), five frigates (Leander, Severn, Glasgow, Granicus & Hebrus) and several smaller sloops, gunboats, rocketboats and bomb vessels. They were accompanied by six Dutch frigates that had requested permission to join them at Gibraltar.
The Dey of Algiers had been supporting the Slave trade in North Africa (banned in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna) and was holding 1,600 Christians captive as slaves. The reason given for sending a force to Algiers was that the Algerians had massacred some Italian Fishermen. The Dey of Algiers was sent an ultimatum demanding indemnity for the massacre and his abandonment of slavery of Christians. The response of the Dey was to imprison the British consul and 18 crew members from the sloop Prometheus. It seems the Dey had already been warned of the attack as 40,000 men had been assembled to defend the port.
The British squadron arrived on 27 August 1816 and immediately sent another ultimatum to the Dey to release all the Christian captives, return money recently paid for the return of Italian slaves, peace between Holland and Algiers and the release of the British consul and the crew from the Prometheus. The Dey refused, the British sailed into position, the Queen Charlotte just 100 yards from the pier. Suddenly one of the land batteries opened fire, the British replied with three broadsides which practically demolished the town. The battle continued until 10 p.m. until most of the guns on the forts protecting the port had been silenced and the whole Algerian fleet sunk. At daybreak the Dey surrendered and released the slaves (none were found to be British) and the consul. The Algerians had lost 7,000 men, the British hundreds.
Admiral Pellew was made Viscount Exmouth for his part in the action.
Sources: The Royal Navy - An Illustrated History,
A.J. Watts, ISBN 1-85409-124-7
Sea Battles In Close Up: The Age of Nelson, D. Lyon, ISBN 0-7110-2283-6
Fleet Battle and Blockade - The French Revolutionary War 1793 - 1797
Page Last Updated: December 1, 2002
