In March 2009 I was
forwarded an e mail by Gwenllian Jones who runs the excellent
website rhiw.com. The e mail was from Rich Hughes who is the Dive
Officer with the Red Dragons Divers Club based in Fishguard,
Pembrokeshire. In April 2000 whilst diving on an un-named shipwreck
off Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire he had found a silver pocket
watch.
The watch had an inscription
RICHARD PRICHARD 1866
ABERSOCH NORTH WALES
Rich Hughes had been trying
for many years to find any relatives of Richard Prichard but had
failed in his efforts and had asked rhiw.com for assistance. So the
job fell to me.
Rich Hughes had attached a
report of his findings to the e-mail and this is a summary:
Rich found the watch in
April 2000
There is a crest on the
rear cover of the watch
The brass mechanism was
remarkably intact and it also had an inscription which reads “Richd
B Thomas No 63826”
Richd
B Thomas – Richd B Thomas was “Richard Bonner Thomas ( watchmaker),
Bank Place, Porthmadoc, North Wales” , He traded from 1865 to 1895
The
Inscription “Richard Prichard Abersoch 1866 North Wales” is clear to
see on the silver case
The
hall mark on the right is a hallmark for 1863.
It has
been said that a person who would own a solid silver hand made
pocket watch at this period of time, 1866 must have been high status
/ Master Mariner.
In the search for the
identity of Richard Prichard, the first place I looked were the
gravestone inscription books for Llanengan Church and Bwlch
cemeteries which are published by the Gwynedd Family History
Society. I found the following entry in the Bwlch book:
B:36. Er
coffadwriaeth am/ROWLAND PRICHARD/Bryncethin, yr hwn a
fu farw
Awst/21, 1878 yn 72 ml. oed
Yma am
hir amod - rhaid llechu
Yn llwch
oer y beddrod
Ond codi
gaf o'i geudod,
Yn hoew
a rhydd y dydd sy'n dod
Ganddo ef ei hun
Hefyd am ei
fab/Capt. RICHARD PRICHARD/Barque Barbara/Yr
hwn a fu
farw ar ei fordaith i Rangoon/Mai 12fed, 1881/yn
38 mlwydd
oed
Fry
hedodd yn adferadwy - o'r môr
A’r marw
ofnadwy,
Ni wel
nerth na rhyferthwy,
Un mor
mawr na marw mwy
W.N.
Hefyd am
JANE PRICHARD/Gwraig y dywededig ROWLAND PRICHARD/
Yr hon a
fu farw Medi 28ain, 1893/yn 81 mlwydd oed
Jane dan
y gwys a orwedd – Yma
Mewn
anmharch a llygredd;
Ond daw
allan mewn dullwedd,
Cadarn,
foreu barn o’r bedd
M.E.
Could this be our man? It
looked promising. This Richard Prichard was born in Bryncethin Fawr
in September 1842 to Rowland and Jane Prichard. He was at Bryncethin
Fawr in the 1851 census with his parents and older sister Jane. By
the 1861 census Richard Prichard was an ordinary seaman on board the
‘Angora’ at Falmouth dock.
1851 census
Bryncethin
Name
Status Age Occupation
Place of birth
Rowland
Richards Head 45 Farmer
Llangian
Jane Richards
Wife 39
Denio or Pwllheli
JaneRichards
Dau. 11
Llanengan
Richard Richards
Son 8
Llangian
Mary Richards
Dau. 6 months Llangian
1861 census
Angora at Falmouth Dock, Cornwall
Name
Status Age Occupation
Place of birth
James Owens
Married 34 Master Bangor
John Roberts
Widower 42 Mate
Pwllheli
John Jones
Unmarr. 26 AB seaman
Bangor
Roland Jones
Unmarr. 33 AB seaman
Pwllheli
Richard Prichard Unmarr.
19 Ordinary seaman Pwllheli
Alexander Ross
Unmarr. 20 Ordinary seaman Dunbar
Scotland
John Jones
Unmarr. 18 Ordinary seaman Anglesey
Information gathered from
the Welsh Mariner’s website shows that Richard Prichard was the
captain of the barque ‘Barbara’ from 1879 until his death on board
‘Barbara’ on 12th May 1881 en route to Rangoon. It also
mentions that he became a mate in 1866, a first mate in 1868 and an
overseas captain in 1874.
It would seem therefore that
Richard Prichard would have been presented with the watch when he
got promoted to mate in 1866. The watchmaker Richard Bonner Thomas
ran his business in Porthmadog so one must assume that the watch was
bought there and presented to Richard Prichard either by his senior
officers and crew or maybe his parents Rowland and Jane Prichard of
Bryncethin Fawr.
The wreck lying off the
Pembrokeshire coast at Freshwater West is Richard Prichard’s ship
the Barque Barbara. There are several newspaper reports of the
shipwreck in November 1881.
A month later there was an
inquiry at Liverpool. There is a report of it in the Liverpool
Mercury of 21st December 1881
An article appeared in the
North Wales Chronicle in April 1887 where the son of the owner of
the ship who was on board that fateful night presented a tribute to
Captain J O Williams of the Coastguards who had rescued the crew
apart from Captain Jones who went down with his ship.
Therefore the barque Barbara
foundered on the rocks in Freshwater Bay, Pembrokeshire laden with a
cargo of rice on her way back from Rangoon. Richard Prichard had
died on the outward journey to Rangoon on 12th May 1881
and one must assume that Captain Jones took over as captain only to
go down with the Barbara on the night of Tuesday 22nd
November 1881. The crew one would assume were bringing Richard
Prichard’s watch back to his family but the watch went down with the
ship. A sad story indeed.
Richard Prichard had married
Margaret Jones of Hendy, Llanbedrog and they had a son John
Meriedydd born in 1877. There is also a memorial to Richard Prichard
on the gravestone of his wife and son in Llanbedrog cemetery.
Er cof am
Capt. RICHARD PRICHARD
Barque Barbara
Bu farw ar ei fordaith i
Rangoon
Mai 12fed 1881
Yn 38 mlwydd oed
Hefyd ei anwyl fab
JOHN MERIEDYDD PRICHARD
Hendy, Llanbedrog
Bu farw Ebrill 8fed 1910
Eto, MARGARET PRICHARD
“Gynt Hendy” Llanbedrog
Anwyl briod Capt Prichard
Bu farw yn Isfryn Llanbedrog
Rhagfyr 26 1927, yn 85 mlwydd
oed
His son died in 1910 at
Hendy aged 32; he was also a mariner. His wife Margaret died in 1927
in Isfryn Llanbedrog. It does not seem that his son married and had
children. Richard Prichard had three sisters, Jane born 1840, Mary
born 1851 and Anne; born 1856. I do not know what became of Jane and
Mary but Anne married John Jones in Abersoch Chapel in 1880. John
and Anne Jones moved to Liverpool to sell milk for a few years but
returned to farm Bryncethin Fawr in 1893 following the death of Jane
Prichard (nee Williams), Anne’s mother.
John and Anne Jones had five
children including Richard Prichard Jones of Angorfa Stores, Mynytho
and Margaret Dilys Roberts of Bryncethin Fawr but there would seem
to be no surviving relatives down this line of descendants. Three
other children Annie (1881-1898), Evan Walter (1889-1921) and Jennie
(1892-1895) died without issue. It would be interesting to find out
what became of Jane Prichard born 1840 and Mary Prichard born 1851,
both sisters of Captain Richard Prichard.
There are relatives of
Richard Prichard:
On his wife’s side –
descendants of Hendy Llanbedrog.
On his mother’s side
–descendants of Captain Richard Williams of Sarn Bach. He was the
grandfather of Richard Prichard, and father of Jane Williams –
mother of Richard Prichard.
Rich Hughes of the Red
Dragons Divers Club feels it is high time the watch came home after
a gap of 130 years. One can only agree with such a sentiment.
Notes
Barque Barbara
The Barbara was built at
Sunderland in 1877 by W Doxford and Sons. She was an iron clad
barque with a net weight of 1082 tons. The owners were W Thomas and
Co. of Amlwch; son William Thomas junior was aboard on the night
that Barbara sank in 1881. Her home port was Liverpool.
Shipwreck site
There are two wrecks at the
site in Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire. There is the Barbara, which
sank on 22nd November 1881; all hands were saved apart
from Captain Jones who went down with his ship. Also on the site is
the Italian barque Guanito which sank in January 1887. All twelve
hands were lost, eight bodies being washed ashore. Rich Hughes’s
diving team have recovered the ship’s bell belonging to the Guanito.
David Roberts
Llanbedrog 20/06/2009
