Arthur Thomas Hunn Bessey
Arthur Thomas Hunn Bessey
By M.V.
Arthur Bessey was the illegitimate child of Mary Ann Hunn (Bessey) and was born in Rollesby Workhouse on 18th March 1878 when Mary Ann was 17 years old. He was brought up by Jeffery when he and Mary Ann married and became a fisherman when he left school, but left home in 1894, aged 16 years, to join the Royal Navy. He was described in his Royal Navy records as being 5’3” tall, brown hair, blue eyes and fresh complexion. According to the records, Arthur was on HMS Impregnable, which was a training ship for boys. Many of the wooden sailing ships used for training had seen service in Nelson’s fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. After the wars many of the men had been put ashore and the ships were decommissioned. It was decided to use these vessels for training boys for a life in the Royal Navy. The ships had a reputation for hard discipline, and the daily routine was punishing. The boys had to scrub the decks before breakfast, then drill practice, sail practice, cleaning all their kit, as well as lessons in warfare and seamanship. Life on board the training ships could be enjoyable but also brutal. Corporal punishment was written into the navy’s training regulations and was carried out publicly in front of the other cadets. They were whipped with birches or rope-ends, sometimes so badly that it drew blood. Arthur’s record showed his character to be ‘very good’, but he only managed to serve from January 1894 until May 1894, when he was taken to the RoyalNavalHospital in East Stonehouse, where he died on 14th May of pneumonia and a carbuncle.
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04-06-2006, 07:43 PM
