Severus William Lynam Stretton

Severus William Lynam Stretton (14 May 1793 – 22 November 1884) was a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars. the youngest child of William Stretton. He was baptised at St Mary's Church, Nottingham, on 29 May 1793. His name of Severus followed his parents habit of naming their children with unusual names that begin with "S". He was their second child called Severus as an earlier child had died young ten years before. youngest daughter of John Stapleton de Courcy, 28th Baron Kingsale. There were seven daughters and one son from the marriage: Sarah A. C. Stretton, born 1855. Florence C. Stretton, 1857. Catherine M. Stretton, 1859. Frances A. Stretton, 1861. William de Courcy Stretton, 1862, who became a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, and wrote the words to the song Follow the Colours set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. Susanna E. Stretton, 1864. Amy Stretton. 1867. Gertrude Stretton, 1862.

He died at Southampton on 22 November 1884.

Career

Stretton obtained a commission in the Nottinghamshire Militia in Plymouth in 1810, and accompanied the regiment to Ireland. In 1812, he obtained an ensigncy in the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry), and joined the regiment in Portugal, serving in the second Peninsular campaign of 1812–13. (Prior to this, one of the balls was extracted, but the other, at different periods, was a source of great trouble and pain, relieved only by severe surgical operations until it was successfully extracted in 1870.) The medical treatment he received at his father's house at Lenton Priory restored him so far that after twelve months he was enabled to rejoin his regiment stationed in Ireland. He succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy and command of this regiment in 1842, having accompanied it to the West Indies and Nova Scotia, from whence he returned with it in 1843. He had, in the meantime, inherited the Lenton property from his brother Sempronius Stretton but never resided there.

In 1862, Colonel Stretton was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Borough of Southampton, and he took an active part in the management of the Royal South Hampshire Infirmary, Southampton Dispensary and other charitable institutions in the town.

His medals are held in Medal Case 27, Display Group 24 in the Durham Museum and Art Gallery.