FOOTNOTES:
[161] There are some of the public papers written by Mr. Brock which may be profitably studied as models of this kind of composition.—Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842.
[162] Mr. Brock was no doubt ambitious, but his ambition was gratified in beholding the advancement of his country. Personal advantage—individual distinction—were things that never occurred to his imagination, or occurred only to be contemned. He might have had an augmentation of salary—he might have received the honor of knighthood—he might have had the sources of fortune opened to him—but these would have brought no advantages to Guernsey, and he rejected them.—Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842.
[163] The extracts in inverted commas are from the Guernsey Star of Thursday, 29th September, 1842.
APPENDIX C.
The common ancestor of the Guernsey family of this name was John Tupper, who settled in the island about the year 1592. He was an English gentleman, of German, extraction, his forefather, it appears, having, about the year 1525, fled from Cassel during the religious persecution in the reign of Charles the Fifth. The elder son of this John Tupper married Elizabeth, daughter of Hilary Gosselin,[164] procureur du roi, or attorney-general—the younger removed to England.
In the memorable year of 1692, John Tupper, Esq., (the grandson of the said John Tupper and Elizabeth Gosselin,) at some expense and risk of capture, conveyed to Admiral Russell, who commanded the combined English and Dutch fleets lying at St. Helen's, the intelligence that the French fleet, under Admiral Tourville, was in the channel. This intelligence led to the battle of La Hogue; and as a reward for this patriotic service, Mr. Tupper was presented by his sovereigns, William and Mary, with a massive gold chain and medal, which are now in possession of his heir male; his descendants being permitted to bear them as an honorable augmentation to their arms and crest.
The elder son of John Tupper, who acquired the medal, by his wife, Elizabeth Dobrée, of Beauregard, had three sons, of whom the eldest died without issue; the second was Elisha, a much-respected jurat of the Royal Court, who died in 1802, leaving five surviving children;[165] and the youngest was John, who obtained, in 1747, a commission, by purchase, in General Churchill's regiment of marines, that corps being then differently constituted to what it is now. He served as a captain at the celebrated defeat of the French fleet in Quiberon bay, by Sir Edward Hawke, in 1759; as a major and commandant of a battalion at Bunker's Hill, in 1775,[166] where he was slightly wounded, and where the marines, having greatly distinguished themselves, won the laurel which now encircles their device; and as a lieutenant-colonel in Rodney's victory of the 12th of April, 1782, having been especially sent from England to command the marines in the fleet, about 4,000 men, in the event of their being landed on any of the enemy's West India islands. At his decease, in January, 1795, he was a major-general in the army, and commandant-in-chief of the marines. Had the honors of the Bath been extended in those days to three degrees of knighthood as they have been since, he would probably have been a knight commander of that order.
The fatality which has attended the descendants of the two brothers just named, will appear in the following brief summary:
1.—Lieutenant Carré Tupper, of his majesty's ship Victory, only son of Major-General Tupper, slain at the siege of Bastia, on the 24th of April, 1794.
2.—William De Vic Tupper, (son of E. Tupper, Esq.) mortally wounded in 1798, in a duel in Guernsey, with an officer in the army, and died the day following.
3.—John E. Tupper, aged twenty, perished at sea, in 1812, in the Mediterranean, the vessel in which he was a passenger, from Catalonia to Gibraltar, having never been heard of since.
4.—Charles James Tupper,[167] aged sixteen, captain's midshipman of his majesty's 18-gun brig Primrose, drowned on the 17th August, 1815, at Spithead, by the upsetting of the boat in which he was accompanying his commander, Captain Phillott, to the ship.
5.—Lieutenant E. William Tupper, of his majesty's ship Sybille, aged twenty-eight, mortally wounded in her boats, June 18, 1826, in action with a strong band of Greek pirates, near the island of Candia.
6.—Colonel William De Vic Tupper, Chilian service, aged twenty-nine, slain in action near Talca, in Chile, April 17, 1830. The four last sons of John E. Tupper, Esq., and Elizabeth Brock, his wife; and nephews of William De Vic Tupper, Esq., already named, and also of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.; of Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, and of Lieutenant Ferdinand Brock, who all fell by the bullet.
7.—Colonel William Le Mesurier Tupper, of the British Auxiliary Legion in Spain, and a captain in the 23d, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers, mortally wounded near San Sebastian, May 5, 1836, aged thirty-two. Colonel Tupper was also nephew of W. De Vic Tupper, Esq., and first cousin of the four brothers last named.
LIEUT. E. WILLIAM TUPPER, R.N.
This promising young officer, third son of John E. Tupper, Esq., by Elizabeth Brock, his wife, was educated at Harrow, and commenced his naval career in 1810, in the Victory, of 110 guns, under the care and patronage of the late Lord de Saumarez, with whom he continued some time in the Baltic. He served on the American coast during the latter part of the war, in the Asia, 74; and was present at the disastrous attack of New Orleans, in January, 1815, forming one of a party landed from the fleet, to co-operate with the army. On the night of the storm, this party, in conjunction with the 85th light infantry, under Colonel Thornton,[168] attacked some fortified works on the right bank of the Mississippi, and were completely successful; but the failure of the main assault rendered this success unavailing. In the same year he joined the flag ship of Sir Thomas Fremantle, who, having been an intimate friend of his late uncle, Sir Isaac Brock, kindly assured him of his influence and support; but peace taking place before he had attained the requisite age for promotion, all the bright prospects with which he entered the service were blighted. In November, 1817, on his return in the Active frigate, Captain Philip Carteret, from the Jamaica station, he passed at the naval college at Portsmouth, and was one of four midshipmen complimented as having undergone a superior examination. In 1823, he was appointed to the Revenge, Sir Harry Neale's flag ship, in the Mediterranean, and placed on the admiralty list for advancement. Early in 1826, he was at length promoted into the Seringapatam frigate; but Sir John Pechell, under whom he had previously served for a short time, prevailed upon the admiral to transfer him to his own ship, the Sybille, of 48 guns, "a crack frigate," in a high state of discipline, the crew of which was remarkable for its skill in gunnery.
The Sybille was at Alexandria, when intelligence arrived there of the plunder of a Maltese vessel, under atrocious circumstances, by a nest of Greek pirates, on the southern coast of Candia. Sir John Pechell set sail immediately in quest of these lawless and desperate men. On Sunday, the 18th of June, 1826, at daylight, two misticoes were observed under sail, near Cape Matala, standing towards the frigate; but on discovering their mistake, they made for the land, and were followed by the Sybille, into a narrow creek formed by a rocky islet and the mainland of Candia. On this islet were posted from 200 to 300 armed Greeks, chiefly the crews of three or four piratical misticoes at anchor in the creek; and in a desperate attempt to cut out these misticoes, with the boats, Midshipman J.M. Knox and twelve men were killed; and the first lieutenant, Gordon, dangerously; Lieutenant Tupper, mortally; Midshipmen William Edmonstone and Robert Lees, both very severely; and twenty-seven men were wounded, of whom five died in a few days. Two of the misticoes were afterwards sunk, and many of the pirates were killed and wounded by the frigate's guns.[169]
Lieutenant Tupper commanded the launch, and although severely wounded in three places, he stood up the whole time, and retained the command of her until he returned to the ship. The bullet, which proved fatal, entered his right breast, and was extracted from under the skin over the false ribs. He lingered until the 26th June, when he breathed his last, in a state of delirium, on board the Sybille, at Malta, where his remains were interred, and a monument was erected to his memory by his captain and messmates. In person he was rather above the middle height, with a pleasing and intelligent countenance; and when his brother Charles and he were midshipmen together in the Victory, in the Baltic, they were designated on board as the handsome brothers.[170]
The surgeon of the Sybille, in a letter to the family in Guernsey, wrote of Lieutenant Tupper:
"When I first saw him he was firm and cool. He asked me to give my opinion without reserve, and knowing him to be possessed of
great fortitude, I told him that the wound in the chest was of a most
dangerous
nature, but not
necessarily
fatal. He had by this time lost a great deal of blood, but the internal hemorrhage, though the most alarming, was slight. He remained so low for three days, that it was expected he would have sunk, though he still continued collected and firm. On the fourth day he rallied, his pulse became more distinct, and he evidently encouraged hopes. Need I say that I felt myself incapable of destroying them—indeed I was not altogether without hope myself. The principal danger was from hemorrhage upon the separation of the sloughs, and my fears were fatally verified, for on the 25th, at noon, it commenced and increased internally, until his lungs could no longer perform their functions, and he died at about three o'clock on the morning of the 26th. During the whole time he was resigned, evincing the greatest strength of mind. As it was with unfeigned sorrow that I saw a fine and gallant young man fall a victim to such a cause, so it was with admiration that I witnessed his heroic bearing when the excitement was past, and hope itself was almost fled. I have seen many support their firmness amidst danger and death, but it belongs to few to sustain it during protracted suffering, which is indeed a trial often too severe for the bravest, but through which your lamented brother came with a spirit and resignation which reflected lustre upon himself and family, and endeared him to all his shipmates."