James Henry Croucher (1816-1878)

Dates

Birth: 1816 Hastings, Hampshire, UK
Father: James Henry Croucher b1799-1816/51
Mother: Elizabeth Blackman b1799-a1816

Christening: 29 March 1816 St Clements, Hastings, Sussex, UK

Marriage: 5 July 1849 All saints, Portsea, Hampshire, UK
Wife: Maria Fullick 1827-1899

Death: April-June 1878 Fareham, Hampshire, UK

Children

Maria Croucher 1851-a1871
Eliza Jane Croucher [Sansom] 1854-a1901
Rosa L Croucher c1856
John William Croucher 1859-1909
Clara Croucher c1864-a1871
Laura Ella Croucher 1865-1935

Notes

There are two entries in Ancestry England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 for James Henry Croucher christened at St. Clement's, Hastings, Sussex, parents james and Elizabeth Croucher, one giving the year 1816 and the other the date 29 March 1816. An entry in Ancestry England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 for James Henry Croucher has the same information as the latter.

There is an entry in Portsmouth and Southsea Marriages p 91, No. 181 for James Henry Croucher , a bachelor of full age, a seaman living in Charlotte Street, Landport, father James Henry Croucher, a blacksmith, to Maria Fullick on 5 July 1849 by banns at All Saints witnessed by Joseph Page and Jane Fullick. There is also an entry in FreeBMD for the marriage of James Henry Croucher and Maria Fullick in July-September 1849 in Portsea Island (7 223).

I cannot find an entry in the 1851 census - his wife was with her parents. I assume he was at sea.

In the 1861 census as James Croucher, aged 46, born in Hastings, Sussex, employed as Captain of the Hold on the Agamemnon in Suda Bay, Candia Island, Mediterranean.

Captain of the Hold refers to a specific leading man of the ship's company charged with maintaining order in the portion of the ship below the lower deck. Candia Island is better known as Crete. This was the second ship named after the legendary Greek king Agamemnon. It was the first warship to be built with screw propulsion (though other sailing vessels had been fitted with engines after commissioning) and was launched at Woolwich Dockyard on 22 May 1852.

(In the Royal Navy, a second-rate was a ship of the line mounting 90 to 98 guns ( 91-guns) typically built with three gun decks. The additional deck gave the second-rate an advantage in close combat, and it also had the further tactical advantage of sometimes being mistaken by the enemy for a first-rate which could make enemy commanders reluctant to attack where they otherwise should have. Second-rate vessels displaced about 2000 tons, carrying a crew of 750. Being smaller than first-rate vessels, lighter guns were carried on their middle and upper decks. Powerful and able to fight in the centre of a line of battle, second-rates were sometimes criticised for being slow and hard to manoeuvre. Where a first-rate vessel was considered too expensive or vulnerable to risk, a second-rate often served as a flagship.) In 1857 the government fitted her out to carry 1,250 tons of telegraphic cable for the Atlantic Telegraph Company's first attempt to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable. The picture is from page 28 of The Atlantic Telegraph by W H Russell and has the caption: H.M.S. Agamemnon laying the Atlantic telegraph cable in 1858: a whale crosses the line.

Although this was unsuccessful, the following year the project was resumed. The 'Agamemnon' and her American counterpart USS 'Niagara' spliced their cable ends in midatlantic on 29 July 1858. On 16 August Queen Victoria sent a ninety-nine-word message to President Buchanan, a process that took more than sixteen hours. Three weeks later the cable failed because of insulation failure due to over enthusiastic operators using too high a voltage. During the Crimean War she took part in the bombardment of Sebastopol on 17 October 1854 and the shelling of Fort Kinburn, at the mouth of the Dnieper, one year later. The 'Agamemnon's' success was such that she remained the basic model for the first decade of Britain's steam battlefleet. After service on the Caribbean and North American stations, the 'Agamemnon' was paid off in 1862 and sold in 1870.

In the 1871 census as James Hy Cronelier (sic) aged 55, born in Hastings, a Greenwich Pensioner, and living with his wife and three daughters (Clara, Laura and Maria) in East Street, Widley, Hampshire next door to his father-in-law.

Entry in FreeBMD for the death of James Henry Croucher aged 61 in April-June 1878 in Fareham (2b 345) which included Widley.

Relationship

James Henry Croucher was the husband of Maria Fullick , my first cousin three times removed.

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