Oh! Boy! Bingo! I LOVE the internet for gene research!
Thanks Dave, I'd love to take you up on your offer!
I have forwarded your emailing to our other Caswell researchers, hopefully
they may give you some more information.
If you could have a look for us, we'd really appreciate it.
I have a feeling that the Caswells of Wilts were involved in the navy. One
Robert Casswell was the surveyor General to the King for Wiltshire c
1607-12 when James I asked him to sell off the forests.
His son, John Casswell, born c 1600, was called a captayne in Robert's
will. What he was a captayne of, I am not sure, but his dad was hob
knobbing it with the big ducks! :-)
----------
From: David Jacobs <Dave_Jacobs(a)ibm.net>
To: Mike Caswell <mike(a)caswellplating.com>
Subject: Re: An RN captain c 1800+ ?
Date: Thursday, August 28, 1997 08:09
At 05:10 PM 8/27/97 -0700, you wrote:
>How does a person obtain a captaincy in the Royal navy c 1800+?
>
>Also, does anyone know where I should look to find the records of a
William
>Caswell, captain RN, who emigrated to Australia from England.
====
Hi Mike
Just a few ideas!
The usual career path was via Midshipman, Lieutenant, Captain. Promotion
was usually strictly by seniority, unless a man particularly
distinguished
himself in action.
He probably entered as a teenage Midshipman by knowing someone with
social
influence.
There was no equivalent of purchasing commissions as there was in the
Army.
=
His brief career can be discovered by looking him up Steele's Navy List -
they have copies in the R.N Collection at Portsmouth Library, which I
visit
frequently.
=
I would guess he emigrated after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, 1815
onwards, when the need for active officers was drastically reduced.
=
It is likely that a great deal of detail can be found at the Public
Record
Office at Kew, which I visit about once a month.
=
If you'd lik em eto try to help, send me all the details you have, and
I'll
see what I can find.
Cheers
Dave Jacobs, Southampton England