William Hennah

Captain William Hennah (January 1768 – 23 December 1832) was a British naval officer, whose largely undistinguished career was suddenly highlighted by his assumption of command of HMS Mars at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 upon the death of that ship's captain, George Duff, who was decapitated by a cannonball.

Early career

Hennah was born in January 1768 and baptised on the 7th, the son of Richard Hennah, the vicar of St Austell in Cornwall. He joined the navy because of his Cornish hero, the circumnavigator Samuel Wallis, and was entered as captain's servant to Philip Walsh of , in 1778. In March 1779 Hennah was rated as midshipman. He passed the lieutenant's exam at the beginning of January 1788 but was not promoted until the general round of promotions at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War in 1793. Hennah had little opportunity for distinction until 1800, when he participated in a boat raid on the Morbihan river in which the French corvette Réloaise was burnt. He reportedly acquitted himself "with great judgement and gallantry", under the command of Lieutenant John Pilfold, another lieutenant who was to command a ship at Trafalgar. He was promoted to Captain on 1 January 1806. He also received the very unusual honour of a Letter of Commendation from the ship's company, indicative of the esteem with which he was held even by the common sailors who served under him, who were rarely given over to such overt displays of affection. Hennah did not serve at sea again, settling with his family at Tregony in Cornwall where he lived as a country gentleman and involved himself in local affairs. He was invested as a Companion of the Bath in 1831, on the occasion of King William IV's Coronation Honours. He died peacefully at home in 1832 and was buried nearby at St Cuby Parish Church.

His obituary in The Times of 31 December 1832 read: