Adam De Grey of St Kitts and the Royal Navy

By John D Ellis

Adam De Grey (rendered as Dagray, Da Grey, De Gray and Degray) was born in St Kitts c.1737-41. Nothing is known of his origins. He was awarded a Royal Navy out-pension by Greenwich Hospital in May 1802 when it was recorded that he was 5 feet 6” tall and “A Blk”. This single annotation in an admittance register was the only reference found to his ethnicity in any records. His last ship had been HMS Thunderer, but prior to that he had also served on HMS Trident and had been wounded in the right hand and foot whilst serving on HMS Edgar.

The Edgar had fought at the Battle of Copenhagen (February 1801), where it had led the right of Nelson’s line. Thirty-one officers, ratings and soldiers were killed and 115 wounded, with Adam De Grey likely to have been one of the latter. Married to Elizabeth, he was a father to one boy and two girls and had been resident on the Isle of Wight prior to being examined at Greenwich.

Both ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk contain information about Adam De Grey:

In June 1790, shortly after joining HMS Alcide from HMS Goliath, Adam De Grey, “a mariner” had a will drawn up, in which he named his friend James Goodeve as beneficiary. The latter was a grocer of Portsmouth, Hampshire.  In 1790, James Goodeve (1720-1797) was occupying a property in College Street, Portsmouth.

At St Thomas, Portsmouth in July 1794, Adam Da Grey (sic) married Elizabeth Hasell.

An Adam De Grey, almost certainly a son to Adam and Elizabeth, was buried at St Thomas, Portsmouth in August 1795.

Adam De Gray appears in six family trees on ancestry.co.uk: The ‘steve frost family tree’ (stevefrost67) reveals that a second son, also named Adam, was born at Greenwich in 1800. Adam De Gray (junior) was a fisherman by occupation and resided in Greenwich, where he married and raised a family. Both a son and a grandson also made their living at sea.

Elizabeth De Gray, aged 60 years, was buried at Greenwich, Kent, 23^rd September 1814. Adam Degray (as De Grey was rendered) died at Greenwich Hospital on the 3^rd of November 1814, and was buried at Greenwich on the 8^th of November.^[1]Sources: The National Archives (TNA) ADM 6/272. ADM 73/36 Part 2. ADM 73/55. ADM 73/65. TNA/RG/4/1672. For the will of Adam De Grey see: TNA ADM 48/21/86. For James Goodeve see: Hampshire, … Continue reading