{"id":6668,"date":"2019-10-28T00:40:02","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T23:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6668"},"modified":"2019-10-28T18:20:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T17:20:43","slug":"wenvoes-part-in-the-battle-of-trafalgar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6668","title":{"rendered":"Wenvoe\u2019s Part In The Battle Of Trafalgar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wenvoe\u2019s Part In The Battle Of Trafalgar<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October, 1805) is probably Britain\u2019s most famous naval victory. The main facts are well known. The Royal Navy led by Admiral Lord Nelson, aboard HMS Victory, defeated a larger combined French and Spanish fleet under the command of the French Admiral Villeneuve. In what was to prove a key event in the Napoleonic Wars, victory confirmed the naval supremacy Britain had established during the course of the 18th century. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer and died of his wounds. Villeneuve was captured, along with his ship Bucentaure and later attended Nelson’s funeral while a captive on parole in Britain.<\/p>\n

\"\"What is less known, but of interest to us, is that Frederick Jennings Thomas, originally of Wenvoe, played a significant part in the battle. Frederick was born 19 April 1786, the younger son of Sir John Thomas, fifth baronet of Wenvoe Castle, and his wife, Mary. He entered the navy in March 1799 and by 1803, while serving on the Prince of Wales flagship of Sir Robert Calder, was present during several important naval actions. On 19 September of the same year, he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of HMS Spartiate, an appointment that led him to the Battle of Trafalgar. During the battle the Spartiate, with Frederick playing a key role, forced the surrender of the 80 gun Spanish ship Neptuno. The Spartiate was damaged in the fierce fighting, but there were only three killed (two seamen & one boy) and twenty wounded.<\/p>\n

Until 1814, Frederick served on the Spartiate and other ships in the Mediterranean, finally commanding the San Juan, flagship of Rear-Admiral Linzee at Gibraltar. The San Juan had been captured by the Royal Navy at Trafalgar following a heroic fight led by its commander, Don Cosme Churruca. During the battle, Churruca had ordered the Spanish flag to be nailed to the highest mast, as a way to tell everyone involved not to expect an easy surrender. With a decimated crew, and despite being mortally wounded as a result of having a leg torn off by a cannonball, Churruca refused to submit. Even following their Commander\u2019s death, his officers kept their word. It was the last one alive who finally yielded, to save the ship and lives of the crew. In recognition of Churruca’s courage, the commander\u2019s cabin on the San Juan was given a brass plate in his honour. All who entered it, including Frederick, were required to remove their hats as a mark of respect for a gallant enemy.<\/p>\n

Frederick Jennings Thomas retired from active service in 1814 settling down to family life. He stayed in the public eye, writing on naval matters and even inventing a lifeboat with three keels, so designed to prevent capsizing. It also seems that he was the first person to propose a pier at Brighton. Having accepted the retired rank of Rear-Admiral, Frederick died near Southampton, on 19 December 1855.<\/p>\n

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Wenvoe\u2019s Part In The Battle Of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October, 1805) is probably Britain\u2019s most famous naval victory. The main facts are well known. The Royal Navy led by Admiral Lord Nelson, aboard HMS Victory, defeated a larger combined French and Spanish fleet under the command of the French Admiral Villeneuve. In what was to prove a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,127,40],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-1Jy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16282,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16282","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":0},"title":"The \u201cWenvoe What\u2019s On\u201d Website Treasure Trove","author":"Alan Williams","date":"24th October 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"THE \u201cWENVOE WHAT\u2019S ON\u201d WEBSITE TREASURE TROVE My name is Alan Williams. I am one of the \u2018Backroom\u2019 boys responsible for producing the Wenvoe What\u2019s On. My task is to translate or digitize the paper version of the magazine for the online Wenvoe website. I\u2019ve been doing this for ten\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Website2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6020,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6020","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":1},"title":"Wenvoe\u2019s Part In A Game Of Thrones","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE\u2019S PART IN A GAME OF THRONES As Brexit heralds an uncertain future, it is worth a look back to what was going on in Wenvoe and other Vale villages during the turbulent summers of 1648 and 1649. Following a prolonged period of civil war between King and Parliament, our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/World-turned-upside-down.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6480,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6480","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":2},"title":"Wenvoe’s Rarer Trees","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th August 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe's Rarer Trees Summer is often the best time to appreciate some of Wenvoe's rarer trees. Just opposite the park is a stunning Eucryphia nymanensis which was covered in flowers this year and as it is popular with the bees, needless to say it was covered in them as well.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Eucryphia-8-19.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7301,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7301","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":3},"title":"Wenvoe\u2019s Commitment","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st April 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 WENVOE\u2019S COMMITMENT TO THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY By the time we are reading this edition of \u2018What\u2019s On\u2019, we will all be aware of the speed with which our trustworthy community organisations are responding to the challenging times we face, so that everyone in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid-19 Info"","block_context":{"text":"Covid-19 Info","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=359"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15901,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15901","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":4},"title":"When The Battle of Britain Came To Wenvoe","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"WHEN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN CAME TO WENVOE September brings the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. While the events are mostly associated with the southeast of England, the Vale of Glamorgan played an important part in the victory over the Luftwaffe. The Vale villages, including Wenvoe, also found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10155,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10155","url_meta":{"origin":6668,"position":5},"title":"History Of Wenvoe’s Allotments","author":"Alan Williams","date":"24th August 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"HISTORY OF WENVOE'S ALLOTMENTS As a former allotment holder I was fascinated to read this article in the South Wales Star dated 31 March 1893. Next business: the selection of Field wardens for the Allotment. Mr T Thomas and Mr G J Thomas re-elected. Wenvoe Vestry Meeting: The Allotment question.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Allotments"","block_context":{"text":"Allotments","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=146"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/allotments.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6668"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6669,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6668\/revisions\/6669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}