Samuel Sparshott

Commander Samuel Sparshott (1783 – 10 November 1851) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars. As signal-mate on HMS Caledonia, he was called to testify at the court-martial of James, Lord Gambier. As commander, his last ship was HMS Nimrod, which was driven by a gale onto rocks in Holyhead Bay. Although he and his crew refloated the ship and brought her to dry dock for repair, she was too damaged for naval use, and was sold. His final office was Deputy Inspector-General of the Coast Guard, a position that he held for over twenty years. After he died, it was suggested that he might be called, "Father of the Coast Guard".

Sparshott was descended from Hampshire farmers, and was the seventh of eleven siblings. His brother was Admiral Edward Sparshott, R.N., K.H., K.R.E.

Background At least three generations of Sparshott's family lived in Hampshire. His paternal grandfather was husbandman John Sparshott, who had a small farm in Soberton. His paternal grandmother was Elizabeth née Hall, and his grandparents married in 1730. His father was Daniel Sparshott, who was later described as a gentleman. They were married on 29 November 1771, in Hampshire. They had 11 children, of whom most were born in Portsea, Portsmouth, and Samuel was the seventh. He was born in 1783, In 1841, Sparshott and his brother Edward were living in Brompton, in Kensington, London, with Elizabeth and Sarah Sparshott, aged 27 and 23 respectively, and two servants.

Sparshott married Elizabeth Cooper, daughter of farmer William Cooper, on 7 July 1842, in St Marylebone Parish Church. They had no children. The 1851 census finds Sparshott aged 68, and his wife Elizabeth aged 37, living at 19 Marlborough Road, St John, St Marylebone, Middlesex. He died on 10 November 1851 at The Lodge, Marlborough Road, St John's Wood, Middlesex. He was buried on the same day at Highgate Cemetery. His will was proved at Canterbury on 5 December 1851. He left most of his assets to his wife Elizabeth, and an annuity to his god-daughter Sarah Sparshott, the daughter of his brother Edward.

A memorial tablet carved by Charles Raymond Smith was erected to Samuel Sparshott behind the pulpit of St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth. Its inscription says:

To the memory of Samuel Sparshott, Royal Navy, who departed this life the 10th November 1851, in his 69th year while filling the office of Deputy Comptroller General of the Coastguard which he had held for nearly 25 yrs. This tablet is erected by officers and men of that service to record their high estimation of his character as an officer and gentleman.

Career Able seaman, 1803–1805

On 1 May 1803, at approximately 20 years old, Sparshott joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman, serving in the 98-gun HMS Prince of Wales under Captain John Giffard.

Lieutenant, 1809–1818 Sparshott passed the lieutenant's examination in May 1809, and was promoted to lieutenant on 22 August 1809, "for [his] distinguished service in the Basque Roads". On 31 August 1809 he was appointed to the 26-gun frigate HMS Ganymede, to serve at Home Station, the Mediterranean, and the West Indies, under Captain John Brett Purvis, Captain Robert Preston, Captain Edward Crofton, Captain Hassard Stackpoole, and Captain Robert Carteret. On 26 December 1811 he was appointed to the 32-gun frigate HMS Aquilon, under Captain William Bowles, serving in the North Sea and in the Baltic. "While serving in the Aquilon [in the Baltic] he commanded the boats of that ship at the destruction of a convoy off the island of Rügen". He then continued under Captain Bowles in the same ship, off the South American coast. In 1814 he sailed back to England, with Bowles, in the 32-gun HMS Ceres. On 5 August 1814 he was appointed to the 36-gun frigate HMS Euphrates, serving again under Captain Robert Preston, and cruising the Western Isles. Under Captain Bowles again, and still in the Western Isles, he sailed in the 38-gun HMS Menelaus on 22 September 1815, and to South America in the 32-gun frigate HMS Amphion, on 3 October 1815, again under Captain Bowles. In March 1823 he was "appointed to the Preventive Service, at Sheerness, in the room of Captain King, who is to superintend the Packet Service at Falmouth". He was appointed to the 18-gun HMS Nimrod on 13 September 1826, but in the following winter that ship was damaged: and Nimrod was not the only ship in Holyhead Bay to be driven onto the rocks on that day. There was also the American packet, Panthea, which was bringing despatches to Liverpool from the British ambassador to Mexico.

Holyhead, [14 January 1827], about 6 p.m., wind N.N.W. blowing a gale, blew His Majesty's ship, Nimrod, Captain Spartiate (sic), from Cork to the Clyde, brought up in these Roads and about midnight drove onto the shore and bilged; as did also the Panthea, [captained by] Hathaway, from New York to Liverpool, and it is feared both will be wrecked – all on board saved. By 30 January 1827, the circumstances of Nimrod incident were better understood, following the publication of the ship's log. On the night of 14 January, Nimrod was taking shelter ... The following is a summary of the original log. What the log does not mention, is that this was January in a gale at sea, so that all of the crew were working soaking wet and cold.

Early on 13 January, a squall rose. The sloop made it to five leagues off Bray Head. Early on the morning of 14 January the ship was hit by a gale so bad that she had to reef all sails but one, and that one was ripped to shreds by the weather: on HMS Britannia, in Hamoaze. Sparshott testified in court, and he and his officers and crew were fully acquitted of the loss of the ship.

Coast Guard, 1827–1849 While retaining the rank of commander for the rest of his life, Sparshott was promoted to Deputy Inspector-General of the Coast Guard on 16 May 1827. He was on shore duty from 23 December 1842, based in London. In 1844, he was called to testify to the Select Committee on Tobacco Trade, on the level at which smuggling was controlled at that time. By the end of his career, he had overseen "the last flicker up of smuggling [in Cornwall] before its final suppression", that is to say, although the old, daring ways and old methods had subsided, a little smuggling did continue quietly. Shore (1892) says:

This particular time was marked by the death of Commander Sparshott, the Deputy Comptroller-general, who from his long and intimate connection with the force might in truth have been styled the Father of the Coastguard. Having been associated with it almost from its inception, he possessed a wider and more detailed knowledge of this branch of the public service than any living person, and his death at this particular period of its history was a singular coincidence.