Name

John Cawle

Biography

Served on HMS Temeraire — the ship that fought alongside Victory at Trafalgar. Lost his right arm in the battle. He came home to Kirk Bride, a parish the census counted at 678 souls. He became a schoolteacher. He taught children to read with one arm, because the arm was gone and there was nothing to be done about it. The Navy that took his arm paid him nothing. The Crown that had pressed him into service offered no pension, no support, no acknowledgment. The children he taught would have been the generation that grew up in the 1820s and 1830s — the years Moore identified as the lowest depth of Manx misery. They learned to read from a man who had seen Trafalgar.

Active Period

fl. 1805–c.1840s

Place

Kirk Bride

HMS Temeraire

Trafalgar

Period

Crown Administration

Role / Office

Naval Seaman

Schoolteacher

Book Chapter

Chapter 15

Chapter 18