William Walford

Posted by Clif on Wednesday 7th of October 2015 10:48

ADM/36/16498 entry 674, Bellerophon Muster Rolls, April to November 1805. ADM 196, 509, William Walford’s postings. National
Maritime Museum Greenwich, LBK 38, Bellerophon Log Book. Walford had joined the Royal Navy when he was 12 years old and was still only 15 when he was a midshipman on the Bellerophon at Trafalgar. Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre,
P306/1/19, Rochester marriages. Ipswich Journal, 3 December 1859, William Walford’s obituary. Walford had a possible greater claim to fame than Trafalgar. Following defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon fled to Rochefort on the west coast of France hoping to find asylum in America. He was trapped by the British blockade outside the port and surrendered to the Bellerophon, the ship on which Walford was now senior lieutenant. Walford accompanied Napoleon to Plymouth where he awaited sentence and eventual exile to St. Helena. SROI, FC 22/D1/4, Playford Baptism Register, 1813-1971.