KGM8 4. Children of Dr. John Mudge.

4.  Children of Dr. John Mudge.

1. John b. 1742. d  1760
2. Thomas b. 1743 ; d. 1782.
3. Mary b. 1746.   
4. Charles b  1747 d. 1775.
5. Ann         bap. 1748; d. 1783.      m Rev James Yonge
6. Elizabeth bap. 1751.    
7. Kitty bap. 1758; d. 1789         m William Rosdew
8. Jane          b. 1761 ; d. 1818.           m  Richard Rosdew
9. William b. 1762 ; d. 1820.          m  Margaret Williamson
10. John b. 1768 ; d. 1793.
11. Zachariah b. 1770; d. 1852.           m  Jane Granger d 1834
12. Elizabeth b. 1771; d. 1808.           m  Major Sir Richard Fletcher RE
13. Mary b. 1772.
14. Charles Paul b. 1775 ; d. 1797.


4.1.  JOHN MUDGE was born at Plymouth in 1742 and baptized at St. Andrews Oct. 4th, 1743. He was the eldest son of Dr. Mudge by Mary his first wife. Though there is nothing known of his life, and he died early, his features at the age of 15 have been handed down to us by Sir Joshua : in connection with the painting of this portrait there is an interesting story.

I quote from Leslie's life of Reynolds.

" A young lad, the son of Dr. Mudge the physician, then employed in the Navy Office in London, was very anxious to visit his father on his birthday, (his sixteenth) ; but unfortunately he was confined to his room by illness. He expressed his disappointment to Reynolds, who said, 'Never mind, I will send you to your father,' and accordingly sent a portrait of the youth, in which he represented him as peeping from behind a curtain.

This portrait was of course a gift ; though the painter was somewhat chary of making presents of his pictures. He used to say he found they were seldom highly valued, unless paid for.

Mr. Cotton points out the probability that the arrangement of the picture was suggested by a mezzotint by B. Lens.''  The portrait of Master Mudge, as the picture is known, was painted in Feb., 1758.

4.2.   THOMAS MUDGE, 2nd son of Dr. Mudge, was born in 1743. His portrait, as his brother's, was, according to Leslie, also painted by Sir Joshua in 1758. This picture, when hanging over a mantelpiece in a bedroom, unfortunately caught fire and was burnt. There was sufficient of the features remaining, in what was rescued from the flames, for James Northcote to make an excellent copy of the picture, which is extant.

Thomas Mudge, died at Lineham, Mar. 4th, 1782.
His father says, he died with the same sweet composed countenance, he ever possessed in health, and I trust enjoys the happiness promised to the innocent and simple in heart."

4.3,   MARY MUDGE, baptized at St. Andrew's, Plymouth, Mar. 18th, 1746.

4.4.   CHARLES MUDGE, born 1747 third surviving son of Dr. Mudge. He served in the Royal Navy, and died at St. Helena in 1775.

4.5.   ANN MUDGE, baptized at St. Andrew's, Plymouth, Feb. 22nd, 1748. She married in 1782 the Reverend James Yonge of Puslinch.

The following year, 1783, she died, after the birth of a daughter.

My dearest Nancy,'' Dr. Mudge writes, '*was relieved from her sufferings this morning between one and two, and with the greatest calmness left the world with a thorough trust in the next."

She was buried in Newton Ferrers Church.

Mr. Yonge married afterwards, Anne Granger, sister of Mrs. Zachariah Mudge. Of the second family, James married Jane Mallock; Elizabeth married Field Marshal Lord Seaton; and Jane married the Reverend Joseph Harris, Vicar of Torre.


JAMES YONGE  : Born 1748. Younger brother of P1 John. Matriculated Pembroke College Oxford aged 23 (23 November 1772). Succeeded to Puslinch. He was Rector of Newton Ferrers from 1774 to his death.   Married first (about 1780) Anne Mudge, daughter of the Reverend Zachary Mudge D.d. of St Andrews Plymouth; Anne died in 1783. James married secondly (1787) Anne, daughter of Edward Granger of the Castle, Exeter. James died 5 December 1797; Anne, his second wife, died 2 November 1839.

EDMUND: Born 1795. Lived at Brixton, Devon. Entered Royal Navy 12 August 1808. Sailed and trained under Captain Zachary Mudge, passed his Lieutenant's examination at Plymouth (September 1814); Lieutenant (6 March 1815), reprimanded over loss of the Partridge (27 November 1824); sailed under Captain Stirling in HMS Success for Australia (June 1827). Commended for efforts in helping repair Success after grounding in Australia. Promoted to Commander (11 February 1830); appointed to the Melville, 74 guns, flagship of Sir John Gore, East India station (16 November 1830); Commander of H.M.S. Indus, 78 guns, (17 November 1840); Captain (23 November 1841); placed on half pay (26 January 1842). By deaths, became Rear Admiral (July 1855); Vice Admiral (24 May 1867).

He married in 1835 Jane Ley, daughter of John Bennett of Sandwell, Devon. Edmund died 14 April 1868 and is buried in Newton Ferrers churchyard. His personal estate was just under £10,000. Probate by his wife and R7 Rev. Duke Yonge. His wife died 20 February 1881. They had one son, R12 James Edmund.

4.6.  ELIZABETH MUDGE  baptized at St. Andrew's, Plymouth, April 3rd, 1751.


4.7.   KITTY MUDGE was born in 1758, May 16th. She was married the same year as her sister in 1782, to Mr. William Rosdew.

There are two portraits, miniatures, of her extant, shewing her to have been a person of great beauty, painted by Nixon in 1780 and 1782. The last painted represents her as Ophelia. She died in 1789, May 1st, and was buried at Yealmpton, in which Church there is a tablet to her memory.


4.8.  JANE (Jenny) MUDGE, daughter of Dr. Mudge by his second wife, born on Oct 29th, 1761.

She married in 1783, Mr. Richard Rosdew of Beechwood near Plympton. Of this event Dr. Mudge has a record in his note book, ''Jenny was this day married, dined at Beechwood, and gave Jenny the watch."

Her portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence. She died in June, 18 18, at Beechwood.

There is a monumental tablet, representing a kneeling figure, to her memory, by Sir F. Chantrey, in the South Aisle of St Andrew's Church.


Throughout the memoirs, is mention of various members of the Rosdew Family.  Richard Rosdew Senior was a banker, and their home was Beechwood, St Mary's Plympton, which Richard Mudge and his wife Alice, sister of Lady Raffles, were to inherit.  Beechwood was built in 1797
 

4.9   Major General William Mudge Royal Artillery.

4.9. WILLIAM MUDGE, Major General R.A., RRS., LL.D., F.S.A., F,R.A„ CM. of the Royal Institute of Paris, etc,

" A geographic Labourer."

Wordsworth.

WILLIAM MUDGE was born in Plymouth, December 1st, 1762. He was the son of Dr. John Mudge by his second wife, Jane. His mother died soon after his birth.

Shewing a desire to enter the Army, he was sent in 1777 to Woolwich as a Cadet, where he distinguished himself by his abilities. While he was there his godfather, Dr. Johnson, paid him a visit and gave him a guinea and a book.

Of his time at Woolwich Dr. Hutton said, he was a sharp boy, but not particularly attentive. There were at that time only two Academies, the Senior and the Junior; over the first Dr. Hutton presided, and in the Junior a Mr. Charles Green, who was rather remarkable for his slowness in teaching. In consequence of this, the friends of a lad named Hislop, (afterwards Sir Thomas Hislop), applied to the Master General for permission to qualify him for examination for the Senior Academy, that he might not lose time under Mr. Green. On this permission being granted, Mr. Green determined, if possible, to thwart the execution of its object, by sending a Cadet for examination from his Academy, in opposition to young Hislop, and selected William Mudge, though he had not nearly completed the course, but he judged from his quickness and ability that he would be likely to succeed. In this however, as might be expected, he failed, and it is to be noted that Mudge did not succeed in getting into the Senior Academy until his third examination.

 In 1779, he became 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, and was sent out almost immediately to South Carolina, where he served in Lord Cornwallis' Army. During this time there is mention made in his father's pocket book of his writing home from Charlestown.

In 1781, he was made 1st Lieutenant.

Soon after his return from Carolina, he was put on duty in the Tower, where he began studying mathematics and mechanics, which latter he practically applied to the construction of some clocks for his private amusement. He found that Shrapnel, afterwards Major General Shrapnel, to whom he was senior in the Corps, had made considerable progress in mathematics; unwilling to be outdone in anything, and perceiving the advantage of this branch of science, he set to work sedulously at mathematics, applying to Dr. Hutton for assistance, when he found himself in any difficulty, and thus by perseverance became at last a first rate mathematician.

When the Duke of Richmond, as Master General of the Ordnance, purchased the three feet theodolite, intended for the East India Company, for the purpose of carrying out the general survey of Great Britain, commenced by General Roy, he applied to Dr. Hutton to know what officers of the Artillery and Engineers were best qualified for the management of this part of the undertaking. Dr. Hutton, after deliberation on the matter, recommended Lieut. Colonel Williams and Lieut. Mudge, as the
best qualified officers; and Dr. Hutton said, that in doing so he sincerely believed he had named the best mathematicians in the two corps, and the fittest officers for this duty. Indeed, he added, it would have been very difficult to have found persons better qualified anywhere.

 
This was in 1791. Under Colonel Williams he continued to work, till Colonel Williams' death in 1798, when he was appointed head of the Survey in the following terms : —

*'SlR,

I have the commands of the Master General to acquaint you that, sensible of the zeal and ability you have shewn in that part of the Trigonometrical Survey, which it has fallen to your lot to execute on the death of Lieut. Col. Williams, it was his Lordship's intention to have intrusted to you the conduct of its continuation; and it is with additional satisfaction and confidence that Lord Cornwallis now appoints you to that situation, assured of its coinciding with the wishes of his Grace the Duke of
Richmond.

His Lordship desires that you will accordingly take on yourself the charge, as it has hitherto been held by Colonel Williams.

I have the honor to be,

R. APSLEY."

In March of the same year, he received a letter from Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, informing him that he had no doubt, as the members of the Society were well aware of the zeal, diligence and ability, he had shewn in executing the interesting duty in which he was engaged, he would be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

This work of the Survey of England he carried on with great success for many years, and always received the highest commendation from the heads of the Department, to which he belonged. With reference to this part of his work, which was the work of his life, the following remarks may very well be inserted in this place.

Major General Mudge is best known to the world by his labours upon the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, on which he was employed for nearly thirty years. The attention he had paid early in life to the mathematical sciences, and the habit of accuracy as well as the necessary previous information, which their study afforded, qualified him peculiarly for that task, which he proceeded in the execution of, so much to his own credit and the advantage of the country.

''Major General Roy had measured a base line on Hounslow Heath, and conducted a series of triangles from it, (verified by another base line measured on Romney Marsh) through Kent and Sussex, to the French Coast, for the purpose of connecting the Observatories of Greenwich and Paris. The skill and ingenuity of General Roy, and of the French Academicians who performed the portion of that work, which lay on their side of the channel, had done much towards the development of the best methods and precautions, requisite in conducting surveys of large tracts of land, and in ascertaining such data as might be applied to the discovery of the figure of the earth. But what they had done, far from exhausting the field of science, and leaving merely the labour of following prescribed rules to their successors in it, tended to shew the excessive imperfections of all that had preceded them, and pointed to a road, where mathematical and philosophical genius might find ample exercise, and be rewarded by new discoveries.

'' The measurements of Picard, Capini, Bougner, Maupertius, Lacaille, Boscovich, Liesgaing, Mason and Dixon, &c., had been executed with instruments far inferior to those employed in the new measures; and as those very able men were also unacquainted with the aberration of light, and various other matters, which the progress of science had made known since their time, of course their works had lost much of their original value, and required repetition. The very eminent members of the Academy of Sciences at Paris have since pursued this subject, during all the discouragement which the political revolutions of France must have thrown in their way, with a degree of ardour which does them the highest honour.
And it is not to be wondered at, that a young man of an aspiring genius, like Lieutenant Mudge, should avail himself of the opportunity afforded by Dr. Hutton's recommendation of being employed on the Survey of Great Britain, which commenced under the most favourable auspices.
The Duke of Richmond, then Master General of the Ordnance, took a most decided interest in its progress, and was never deficient in attention to the suggestions of its superintendent. Thus encouraged, the conductors of the survey proceeded with unremitting alacrity, and Mudge soon distinguished himself as a prominent character in it's execution. The Duke took notice of him, treated him with the greatest kindness, and gave, what he most valued, every facility to the progress of the Survey. Mudge was in communication with most of those scientific men in this country, who had devoted their attention to the pursuit of natural philosophy and mathematics, and he used every exertion to render the work, in which he was engaged, as perfect as the state of science would admit. From Dr. Hutton, Dr. Maskelyne, etc., he derived some valuable assistance in the theoretical part of
the undertaking. However, the Survey of a country like Great Britain required much time for its execution, and it could hardly be expected, that the Duke of Richmond, whose love of science and desire to promote the internal improvement of the country had led him to direct its commencement, should remain in power, long enough to preside during the progress of any very considerable portion.

A political change put a new Master General into the Ordnance ; and though the utility of an accurate Survey was too obvious, and the qualifications of Mudge were too well known, to escape the observation of the noblemen, who successively held that office, yet they did not possess that degree of information, respecting the mode of conducting the Survey, and feel that lively interest in its progress,  which it's founder had done. The Survey still proceeded under Mudge's direction, with great accuracy and consequent credit, but it had lost its patron, and become a work of labor. General Mudge was a man of the nicest feelings of honor, of the strictest integrity, and almost penuriously careful of the public money. With such sentiments, he was fearful lest his character should suffer by making applications for assistance, that might be deemed superfluous to those who were unacquainted with the necessities of his department, and who might, in the hurry of business, neglect to give him opportunity of affording full explanations. This disposition deprived him of those means which would, had he possessed them, have enabled him to display his abilities to much greater advantage, both for his own fame, and the progress of the work.

The public expected much more from the conductors of the Trigonometrical part of the Survey, than it was possible for the number of individuals employed to perform ; and whilst a continual arrear of business was unavoidably accumulating, the ardour of Science could not but suffer an abatement. Before General Mudge could make up his mind to apply for any new assistant, the aid of that assistant had been long required; and as an assistant in the Trigonometrical department had always much to learn, and could be of little use till long after his initiation had commenced, the arrears of computation and other business could never be entirely removed. However, General Mudge had a facility in obtaining the utmost exertions of those under his directions ; the uniform kindness with which he treated them always endeared him to their affections, and they on his account willingly submitted to privations and labours, which few other persons in his situation could have induced them to undergo."

In 1799, Captain Mudge, with the assistance of Mr. Dalby, published Volume I of the Account of the Survey revised from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and in 1801 he issued, unaided. Volume II. The same year Thomas Colby obtained his commission, as 2nd Lieutenant in the Engineers. His diligence and success in scientific study were such, that in January of the following
year, at the special request of Captain Mudge, he was appointed one of the assistants in the great work of the Survey. Entering at once on his duties, he justified the expectations formed of him, by the intelligence and conscientious activity, which he brought to the work of surveying.

He was on a tour of inspection in Cornwall in 1803, when he lost his left hand by the bursting of an old pistol, and suffered at the same time such a fracture of the skull from a fragment of the barrel, that he felt the effects of the accident for the rest of his life, whenever he attempted any long continued mental exertion.
Though the loss of his hand was a hindrance to the active discharge of his duties. Colonel Mudge was so well satisfied of his merits, that he kept the young Lieutenant permanently
attached to the Survey.

Colonel Mudge, who himself united energy of character, mathematical talent and culture, had the valuable faculty of readily observing and appreciating the existence of corresponding qualities in others; he recognized a kindred spirit in Colby, and by attaching him to himself as his chief personal assistant, conferred an inestimable benefit upon the national work which he conducted.

In 1803, he published An account of the measurement of the Arc of the Meridian; extending from Dunnose in the Isle of Wight to Clifton in Yorkshire.

During this period of his life, Colonel Mudge, as he became in 1804, resided at the Tower, from which are dated one or two letters here inserted; they are interesting, as they shew us how he entered into the passing events of the day, and they give us moreover an insight into his personal character.

Nov. 20th, 1804.

My dear Rosdew,

Your letters and your present are at variance with each other, and I am very glad they are so, for I should be very sorry ever to receive from you an unequivocal testimony of your being seriously offended with me. Time and the run of things will shew you, that I value your friendship at too high a rate, lightly to sport with it ; and I am sure if I advert to the present occasion, you will have too much goodness to retain the sentiments with which you penned your letter. Northcote has had two sittings from me and has near finished the face. He has put too much brains in it or behind it. But I perceive the likeness to be extremely strong, and I think the portrait is likely to turn out a very fine one, for he is evidently trying his best. He shall not want the necessary sittings.

My boy, thank God, is getting much better, but as usual at the expense of the Mother, who is but very
indifferent. Richard continues to improve in his studies and in his appearance. Nature has written a letter of recommendation in his countenance, of the most flattering kind. He is grown very tall, and discovers no symptoms of a weakly constitution. Woolcot is hard at work at Blackheath, preparing work for the surveyors. The moment he has done, he goes into the West, first to you for his horse. The survey of Dorset is to be taken up, and all hands doubled. You will say upon this, that surely I have
enough on mine !

My Map goes on well and will soon be out ; I trust it will afford the world some proofs that I deserve the mite I get. But if I keep my timbers stout and my planks tight, I shall never complain if I ever continue as I am.

I am glad to hear Jane is well ; give our love to her, and say we send no such angry messages as she sends to me.

Yrs ever,

W. MUDGE.

P.S. — Neville has a couple of the cocks. Haddon I have not sent any to. Dick ate a whole one himself."

Blackheath, Dec. 20th, 1804.

My dear Rosdew,

Seven parts of the New Encyclopaedia, two numbers of my last paper, and one of that which preceded it, were yesterday sent off by the Plymouth wagon, directed for you.

As to the first, I apprize you of their backs being a little soiled, and of their having been mine. I send them to you because they are proofs; and proofs for love or money cannot be had, but by those whose names were first put down. Such was the case with me, and as every day's •experience tells me, that I shall every future day have less leisure for amusement, I part with them willingly, trusting- you will receive them as willingly yourself. The future numbers shall be regularly sent to you. Colonel Archer is to have one of my last papers and the previous publication, if you have got it yourself, but if you have not, that single paper may be kept by you. The country all around us here is one white sheet, so much the better. You, I imagine, are the most destructive of Nimrods, and I wish you as much luck, health and happiness, as you can wish yourself.

Our Hive begins to swarm, for all are at home except Janets image. Little Zach has got well. On Saturday all the Nevilles came down for the Christmas. Beechwood, I imagine, will be gay and full. I should be very glad to sit down to your sirloin ; but when I hear that a thousand Artillery are going on the Expedition now fitting out, and also recollect, that, but for Triangles and Maps, I might very soon winter elsewhere, I may think myself very well off, although I cannot have that wish gratified.

My head is on canvass, but not my coat; but I think of doing myself the honor of sitting, you remember the French cant, sometime next week.

I trust Jane is very well, give my love to her, and
believe me, dear Rosdew,

Your sincere friend

W. MUDGE."

" Tower, January 8th, 1805.

My dear Rosdew,

I thank you for your New Year's gift, your letter ; and I answer it by an early post, that the value of my reply may not be diminished by delay or apparent tardiness. I should however, if your letter had not been written, still have wrote to you, for I did not send you a line by Mr. Woolcot, and it would have been right to have told you why I had not done so.

The Philosopher left me on Saturday, and I imagine will call on you at Beechwood sometime about to-morrow. He has seen much of us of late, and can tell you, or has told you, viva voce, how we all are and go on. On that score, I shall not for this reason enlarge or say more of my family, than what may engage your attention on the part of your namesake, Dick. Jane's letter, with its enclosure, brightened up the eyes of our favourite boy, and he will in a day or two thank her for her donation. He has so well rewarded my care of him, in making the best of his time at Mr. Bonnycastle's, that I have thought it right to continue his old master through the holidays. He is grown very tall and personable ; has become a very good Frenchman ; and has attained great excellence in the art of drawing.
Of his military efforts in this way I send you a small specimen ; and he will very shortly send two landscapes to his Aunt, which will, I believe, not disgrace her walls. Early in February he will go to Mario w.

Mr. Woolcot will very probably have told you, that I am not yet settled in a house, my own, either by year, or lease ; very difficult it is to find anything hereabouts to be had at hand, but, having- two or three kind friends looking out, I hope soon to be covered with a roof of my own.
Your letter holds out the hope of your visiting Town ; may you not disappoint me in that hope !

The year of 1805 has begun, and I trust the conclusion of it will bring us, or see us possessed of, political health ; quietness in the shape of peace I do not reckon upon. Far indeed is such a prospect from us ; but yet I hear from people of no mean capacity or sources of information, and I have heard it to-day, that a general congress is to be held, for settling the disputes between France on the one part, and the Northern Powers with Britain on the other. I cannot tell, but I persuade myself, that an Imperial Bourbon would follow the steps of an Imperial Buonaparte, and that we should not gain much by a change of monarchs.

I verily think in my own mind, that let matters be as they will, or let them be accommodated as we wish to our own contrivances, that peace between this country and France will not, for 50 years to come, ever occupy a space of four years. Holland and Brabant give to our natural enemy such advantages, that, restless as she is, we shall know little or no rest from her, let her be governed by whomsoever she may. A change, a mutual exchange, of prisoners is decided and agreed on, between us and our belligerent neighbour.

I heard from Mr. Dawson some few days ago, on the score of Dick Holberton's progress, and I shall write him forthwith giving him further instructions. His commission will be given him soon I hope, and nothing shall be wanting on my part to procure it for him ; but I must possess his drawings and plans to present them to General Morse, and he must not be disappointed in waiting the arrival of his
hour.

 I shall desire Mr. Dawson to detain him at Liskeard after his drawings are sent up, and employ him in further matters of drawing, for I do not wish him to come up till he has his commission. It is but fair he should be rewarded for his diligence, yet it may be useful to tell Dick, that it is far more easy to get a company in the Guards than a commission in the Engineers.

At Woolwich all is bustle and confusion. To what place the troops composing the expedition will ultimately receive a destination, I know not, but I have a very shrewd guess, that I know where they are going to, in the first instance— Ferol ; — but silence on this point.

Dick and his brothers, with Jane, are all bent on drinking a glass of sweet wine in aid of his cake, to the health, the happiness, and the prosperity of yourself and Jane in the year 1805. Farewell!

Yrs truly

W. MUDGE.

"Drawing-room, Tower, Nov. nth, 1805.

My dear Rosdew,

The colours of victory are again waving on the battlements of the White Tower. The occasion by an extra Gazette tells us of four French ships, belonging to the ruined combined squadron, being taken by Sir Richard Strahan. Good news has so long been a stranger to the British Land, that I doubted whether our ensign, triumphantly floating at this time close to me, had not forgot it's way up the staff. Be that as it might, it has now refreshed its memory again, and God grant it may soon wear out
the stick by its repeated use !

This intelligence of the capture of the four ships you may have heard perhaps, before this reaches you. But there is a chance, that you may first know it by this communication, provided you call, as you were wont to do, at the Post Office in Plympton for letters. If however the news be stale, my letter will serve the purpose of renewing my correspondence with you.

I cannot yet enter on any matter with you. I must first tell you, how sincerely I grieve for the loss of our country's Darling, the brave — no doubt the immortal, Nelson. The sure way to Heaven is dying in defence of that order which is necessary for our happiness, and the furthering the designs of its Architect. In Heaven then is poor Nelson ! That man had indeed a soul, formed neither by common materials, nor stamped in a common manner. It had been well for us, had he not been Caesar ; but Caesar, and nothing else, would he be in the presence of his enemies. The star omitted on his coat perhaps rendering him less distinguished, he might have survived the Battle; had such been the case, it might have been well for us. But as to himself ! could he have sealed his life in any other way so gloriously, as in the hour of that victory which saved his country ? For the loss of this benefactor of the whole European race, we are all here internally mourning ; and it is imagined a general wear of black will soon take place.

Can anyone be acceptable to you, who is insensible to the feelings of gratitude and justice on this occasion ? I am sure not. I shall therefore offer no excuse for writing so much about this Man.

Tell Zach that I trust there are many men yet in store, to give perpetuity to the reputation of our Naval Flag, and tell him too, that I think he is one of them ; convey with this message my earnest good wishes for his future welfare. Let him make a perfect Phoenix of his ship. Tell Zach that John is put, according to his desire, to a school proper for the purpose, not to his old one.



I am very well ; much better than I have been for some years past. I may patch up into a strong vessel yet; so much the better. Thank God you are got into good order : but why ride that horse ? I am very glad I did not know your accident was a serious one, till I found you were out of danger. Keep yourself free from the chance of its recurrence.

Tell my sister I hold her in sincere Jove, and estimation, and believe me, that I am, your most affectionate friend,

W. MUDGE.

P.S.' — "You may expect to hear soon of something being done at Boulogne.''

In January 1806, after referring to Lord Nelsons funeral, Colonel Mudge adds, " How retrograde seem to run the affairs of France from the channel in which we all wish them to steer. It is not for mortal man to unravel the intricacies of Providence ; doubtless the changes making in the affairs of the civilized world are the work of God himself. I cannot but believe so. For what end, as we cannot unravel the web, we cannot see ; the general welfare of future society may be the end, and I doubt not it is ; but I am greatly mistaken, if you and I do not live to see such a game played on this side of the water, as shall put all to the hazard. I believe the great question, aut Ccesar aut melius, must be tried on English ground. I shall have my share of it when the period arrives, and so will you ; for no man would go further in the defence of his country than yourself."

In 1808, Col. Mudge purchased a house in Holies Street, No. 4, which became his residence for the remainder of his life.

While engaged in the work of the Survey, he was appointed unexpectedly in 1809, Lieutenant Governor of the Military Academy at Woolwich, which office he held for some years. This appointment was the last of Lord Chatham's official acts. He found the Academy, as he said, in ruins ; to remedy the state of things he at once struck at the root of the evil, and set to work to bring about better discipline, and management, among the Cadets.

Of his success in the management of the Cadets, Lord Chatham speaks in the following terms. In a letter addressed by Lord Chatham to him in the year 1817, in which he thanks him for some maps. Colonel Mudge had sent him, and expresses his high satisfaction at the success with which the Survey continued to be prosecuted. Lord Chatham adds, that it is no less gratifying to him to learn that the Royal Military Academy has so fully answered all that was expected from it, and that :t has attained that degree of perfection, the accomplishment of which was, he was confident, best insured, when it was placed under Colonel Mudge's auspices.

Since the year 1798, the Cadets of the East India Company, destined for the service of the Artillery and Engineers, had been sent to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where they continued to be educated until the commencement of 1810, when they were removed to a similar institution at Addiscombe, established by the Company for the education of their own Cadets, but still to remain under the superintendence of General Mudge, who was appointed public examiner. In the discharge of this duty, General Mudge was ever anxious and assiduous to ascertain, by private and repeated examinations, the respective qualifications of the youths placed under his superintendence, and the efficacy of the mode adopted for their instruction. At public examinations, he was actuated by no
petty view of displaying his own attainments ; his efforts were directed to encourage and assist the modest and apprehensive candidate, and to obtain for merit, that prize, which in public displays is too frequently borne away by superior confidence. To render their education yet more complete, he availed himself of his situation, as superintendent of the General Survey of Great Britain, to give
the Cadets that experience and information, which might qualify them to conduct similar operations, for military or commercial purposes, in the hitherto imperfectly described districts of India.

He committed this branch of their education to Mr. Dawson, who had, early in life, been selected to instruct the officers intended for the Quarter Master General's staff, and had subsequently been employed under himself, in executing the General Survey, and instructing the Candidates for the Engineer Corps. Besides his other qualifications, Mr. Dawson had the merit of bringing topographical drawing to a degree of perfection, that had given to his plans a beauty and accuracy of expression, which some of our eminent artists had previously supposed unattainable. The propriety of General Mudge's selection was evinced by the improvement of the pupils, which corresponded to the unwearied diligence of their master, and in countries so extensive, and in many parts so imperfectly known, as our Indian territories, such attain ments have been found eminently useful and valuable.

In such an Institution as Addiscombe, the merit due to the individual, who presided and watched over it, from its origin and in its infancy, can be best estimated by the conduct and qualifications of those, who there received their education, and it must have been peculiarly gratifying to learn the high rank and character which both the Corps of Artillery and Engineers, attained in India ; they not only shewed themselves gallant and skilful officers, but many of their number became known as men of education and science.

In the same year as his appointment to Addiscombe — ^1810 — Colonel Mudge published his Map of Devon, over which he had taken special care, and for which he claimed the prize of originality.

During the early part of this year he was in much anxiety about the health of his son, Richard, *T trust however," he writes on one occasion, ''in the Benevolence of that Being, without whose express permission not a sparrow falls to the ground, that my son will live to let me prove to him how sensible I am of his value;" and throughout the year he constantly alludes to the same subject.

In May 1811, he says in a letter, " Lord Wellington writes, 'the Frenchmen say this is not a manoeuvring army; for my part I desire no better sport than to meet their column with our line. Shrapnel's spherical case shot did wonders at Barrosa, several of the French were found with 3, 4, or 5 shots which had cut through their sides.'... My labors are great and I am without strength to carry my chains. I can assure you that I am a slave, and not wearing golden chains."


In June speaking of the King being in danger, he says, Thank God we have a plan to succeed him, for it has been given us by Providence to know that it is not every Prince that can call himself a man. Buonaparte's Guards in Spain begin to discover the faculty of hanging their tails between their legs. General Beresford's letter is a capital one. Master Soult will be thanking him less for degrading his abilities, and speaking contemptibly of him, than for thrashing his troops ; may he have another licking soon."

He further writes the same year. I have more business on my hands than I have strength for, or if I had
strength, even time to perform, and this has always been the case." He says in the same letter that he has been before the Board of Commissioners, and that the total expense of the Survey in the 21 years, during which it had been carried on, was 3,000. He doubts, he says, his continuance in both offices, that is, as Head of the Survey and Lt. Governor of Woolwich, but hopes to have his salary for
life, and he adds, I shall have shortly to look back on the long dream of 20 years, and at the time I exclaim, in truth how has it flown, with the mortification to know that I have toiled to every purpose but that of growing rich."

By Lord Mulgrave's order he sent him 12 copies of the Map of the Isle of Wight, which produced the following letter from Colonel Gordon.

" Horse Guards, Tuesday.

Sir,

In thanking you for the 12 copies of the map of the Isle of Wight,' which accompanies your note of yesterday, I cannot with such beautiful specimens of Topography before me, refrain from expressing my sense of those exertions and talents, by which that art has in elegance and accuracy been brought in this country, to a degree of perfection surpassing that of any other country in Europe. I have the honor to be

Your most obedient Servant,

J. W. GORDON."

Immediately on receipt of this letter, an order came from the Master General to withhold every map from the public.

As a mark of want of confidence in him, he resented the restriction placed upon him against publishing maps, and the order that maps for correction were to be kept with the utmost privacy, and when corrected to be returned to the Tower.

Referring to the excellence of his maps, Colonel Mudge on one occasion mentions a conversation between Lord Mulgrave and Mr. Percival, in which the former said he was present when General Andreas told the Duke of York, that the Map of Kent was by much the finest piece of Topography in Europe.

Towards the end of 1811, Colonel Mudge was expecting the Report of the Military Enquiry into his work ; and in a letter he alludes to the way in which he had been treated. " I certainly can fear nothing by the effects of anonymous information, by a set of worthless people whom I have hunted out of the service." " I believe I have built my house upon a rock; if I have. Hall and Mr. Glennie cannot prevail against it."

About this time the surveys of Dorsetshire and Hampshire were published, and also the 3rd vol. of the Trigonometrical Survey of England, and conjointly with Colonel Mudge's name appeared on the title-page, that of Capt. Colby, shewing how highly his services were appreciated by his chief.

In 1813, it was determined to extend the meridian line into Scotland, a task which called out in a special manner the energies of Colby, as Colonel Mudge was not able personally to superintend the whole of the work. The persevering labour and activity required for a season of observation on the hills, would appear incredible to one unacquainted with the nature of the work. Besides the mental exercise of keeping all the subordinates to their duty, so as to produce harmony in the results, there was much personal fatigue to be endured, in long walks over the country, together with storms and wearisome delays on the mountain tops. Major Dawson in his account of 'A season on the hills,' gives a striking picture of the toils and hardships experienced.

It was not an uncommon occurrence," he remarks, " for the camp to be enveloped in clouds for several weeks together, without affording even a glimpse of the sun, or the clear sky during the whole period. And then in a moment the clouds would break away, or subside into the valleys, leaving the tops of the mountains clear and bright above an ocean of mist, and the atmosphere calm and steady, so as to admit of the observations for which the party had waited days and weeks, to be taken in a few hours. At times the tents would be blown down by the storms, or the camps be whitened by a fall of hail or snow, in July: or the Captain taking two or three junior officers, and a few men with him, would start on a station hunt, steering a course direct by compass for the peaks that seemed most suitable, regardless of the nature of the intervening country.

 In these explorations they walked from thirty to forty miles a day, wading streams, crossing bogs,
scaling cliffs, and sliding down into rocky valleys, (Captain Colby ever the foremost) and when they came to a summit, which his experience told him was suitable for a station, he would help with his own hand in building up the great pile of stones, by which it was to be distinguished and observed
from distant points."  Their resting places were often miserable hovels, and their only food the porridge of the country.


http://www.oldessexmaps.co.uk/gallerypubs/galleryOS/OSold.html

The following poem of Wordsworth, written in 1813 on Black Comb, gives a fine and graphic description of a scene, which no doubt more than once presented itself on the mountain tops to the explorers ; it has reference to Colonel Mudge.

Black Comb stands at the southern extremity of Cumberland; its base covers a much greater extent of ground than any other mountain in those parts ; and from its situation, the summit commands a more extensive view, than any other point in Britain.

Written with a slate pencil on a stone, on the side of the Mountain of Black Comb.

Stay, bold Adventurer ; rest awhile thy limbs
On this commodious Seat ! for much remains
Of hard ascent before thou reach the top
Of this huge Eminence, — from blackness named,
 And, to far travelled storms of sea and land,
A favourite spot of tournament and war !
But thee may no such boisterous visitants
Molest ; may gentle breezes fan thy brow ;
And neither cloud conceal, nor misty air
Bedim, the grand terraqueous spectacle,
From centre to circumference unveiled !
Know, if thou grudge not to prolong thy rest,


That on the summit whither thou art bound,
A geographic Labourer pitched his tent,
With books supplled and instruments of art,
To measure height and distance ; lonely task.
Week after week pursued ! — To him was given
Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed
On timid man) of Nature's processes
Upon the exalted hills. He made report
That once while there he plied his studious work
Within that canvas Dwelling, colours, lines.
And the whole surface of the outspread map.
Became invisible : for all around
Had darkness fallen — unthreatened, unproclaimed —
As if the golden day itself had been
Extinguished in a moment ; total gloom,
In which he sate alone, with unclosed eyes,
Upon the blinded mountain's silent top !"

In the early part of the century the French Arc of the Meridian had been extended into Spain, and to the Island of Formentera; Jean Baptiste Biot took part in this work. The completion of the triangulation in the peninsula led to a wish for its extension to the North. The English Arc had been carried to the extremity of Scotland by Colonel Mudge; and the Bureau des Longitudes wished to have observations made along its line by Biot. " To desire a thing useful to science," he says, was to anticipate the assent of the savants of England, and of the Government of that enlightened Country." It was decided that Biot should make his observations under the conduct of Colonel Mudge.

To prepare for the expedition gave Colonel Mudge much extra work.

In April 1817, he writes, ''I am overwhelmed with business, going again to turn myself to the stars ; 26 years ago I commenced my career with a strong constitution, and with a good supply of bodily health, but I am now perhaps going to close my campaigning service, with the performance of as arduous a task as can be given to the execution of any man.
 I mean to be present at the measurement of our Base at Aberdeen, and then go to the Orkney Islands, from which I shall return to Blackdown in Dorsetshire some time in August."

Early in May he- was preparing for his start for the north, and on the 6th he writes " what may be in the womb of time, who can tell ? but I think this will be the wind up of all my campaigns, as after it there will be nothing left to do but the matter of common surveying. It is a very great pleasure to me to think that the wind up will be respectable, and what could be wished. From Aberdeen we shall go to Sanda, one of the Orkney Islands, and from thence Southward passing through Edinburgh. I received a few days since notice from that place, that the University has granted me a Diploma of LL.D., so you see that if I choose to sink the Colonel, there will be another Doctor Mudge ; joking however on this point out of the question, this mark of respect from such an University; is a matter
extremely pleasing to my feelings.

On Biot's arrival in England he was received with abundant cordiality by Sir Joseph Banks, and other philosophers. His instruments were passed at Dover under seal of the customs without search or delay, and conveyed without charge to Banks' residence, and every facility was rendered to Biot towards the accomplishment of his task. Colonel Mudge accompanied him to Scotland ; on the 20th he writes, " I have been travelling in a chaise with M. Biot, who speaks English as imperfectly as I do French.'' The first station being chosen at the fort of Leith, the commandant, Col. Elphinstone, had a portable observatory built, and a base of heavy blocks of stones laid for the support of the instruments. "If my observations were bad," said Biot, grateful for the ready aid, " I had no excuse ; it was entirely my own fault." While these observations were in progress, the opportunity was thought to be favourable for an extension of the Arc to the Shetland Isles, 2 degrees more to the North, than it had yet been carried.

Biot was ready to assist ; and all the materials and instruments having been shipped on board the Investigator, brig of war, he sailed with Captain Richard Mudge, Col. Mudge's son, for Lerwick, on the 9th of July. Col. Mudge with much regret was obliged to return on account of illness, I shall however soon get well, and then my vexation will not, like the moon, always have the same face directed to its centre." The little island of Unst was ultimately chosen as the station. By the beginning of August the pendulum apparatus was set up within the solid projecting walls of a vacant sheepfold, and the observatory, with its repeating circle, in the garden of a resident proprietor, Mr. Edmonton,
whose warm hospitalities made up for a chilly climate.

What a change for the foreigner from the sunny islands of the Mediterranean ! no trees, little vegetation besides grass and mosses, seldom free from fogs, hoarse winds, and angry seas. Captain Mudge had to leave in consequence of the ill effects of the climate on his health, and Biot remained to carry on the work. A young native carpenter was trained into a competent assistant, and for two months such a series of observations was made, as fully satisfied all requirements.

On September l0th in the same year his son Richard was married.

In 1818, he found himself in bad health, and went abroad and travelled in France for two months for change of air, during his tour he was much pleased with the attention that was shewn him. On his return home he was appointed a commissioner of the new Board of Longitude, and in the end of the year he mentions that he had had his first reception by the Duke of Wellington, who had lately been appointed Master General of the Ordnance.

In 1819, the King of Denmark came to England and visited the Survey on Bagshot Heath. General Mudge had the honor of shewing his Majesty the great Theodolite made by Ramsden.


The King asked many questions about the several adjustments, and method of using that instrument, and so completely did his Majesty make himself master of the subject, that General Mudge was afterwards heard to say, that the instrument had been examined by many scientific men in various parts of the kingdom, but he never saw any person who learnt so much about it at a single view ;
and if he had been ignorant of who it was, and had been asked he would have replied, "one of Ramsden's own workmen," for he added "I should have thought no other person could have asked such questions or so well understood the instrument without a previous examination of it."

The King afterwards presented General Mudge with a gold Chronometer, as a mark of his esteem. And in the following year Professor Schumacher wrote to inform him, that the King of Denmark had made a second application to the British Ministry to permit the General to bear the title of Knight of Daneburg, which His Majesty was desirous of conferring on him. After the receipt of Schumachers letter, he remarks, Macbeth says, There had been a time for this," so say I with the same reason perhaps as weighed with the Thane. from this, but still more dear by the likeness and perfect resemblance in person, mind, and merit, to that woman who is gone forever."


His sister, Mrs. Richard Rosdew, died in the previous year, 1818; he refers to the fact in one of his letters, My daughter (Jane) is especially dear to me ; a more meritorious, sensible and affectionate woman does not live, dear to me

He had been anxious at his sister's death to have a copy of her portrait by Sir T. Lawrence, and he was much pleased in the autumn of 1819 to receive it from Mr. Rosdew.

In May of that year we find him busy in commencing the Survey of Scotland, which added greater responsibility to his work. He refers to the Comet that appeared that year, remarking, The fire engine in the clouds" and the steam engine at Liverpool from America, are interesting objects of consideration."

In July he pays a visit to Mr. Richard Rosdew at Beechwood; soon after his return to London he is gazetted Major General, and as he says, there is an end to the Colonel. His Map of Plymouth being completed, he sent special copies of it to the Duke of Wellington fitted for carrying in the pocket.

He was anxious to go to the first Levee of the winter, and made up his mind to have a wen removed from his face previously. He accordingly put himself into the hands of Astley Cooper. The painful operation he made light of, and said he had found much relief from it. His brother Zachary said it had made him look ten years younger. In November accordingly he attended the Levee and kissed the Regent's hand. " I am quite glad" he says afterwards " to have tesified my loyalty, and shall go often now."

In December he writes, that he intends leaving town for the house at Croydon, which he had taken through the liberality of the East India Company. "Taxes are" he says to Mr. Rosdew, " extremely high, so I am in doubt about the prudence of my settling there, but as I intend to shew the Company that I am the man they take me for, I mean to possess it if the thing is practicable.'' On this Mr. Rosdew remarks, This shews that he did not consider the ^200 additional given for the purpose, but that he burdened himself with the house to repay their liberality; that ceased in 6 months, though the house continued an expense to his family for 3 years afterwards.

The Christmas of 1819 General Mudge had intended spending at Beechwood, but was disappointed in doing so by being detained on business by the Duke. It was well perhaps that he did not set out on his journey westward, for early in January he was laid up, while at Addiscombe, with a violent attack arising from internal inflammation.

In February he became much worse, and Mrs. Baynes, his daughter, wrote an alarming account of him to Mr. Rosdew, telling him that he considered himself very ill, and was anxious to arrange all his accounts, and pressing Mr. Rosdew to come up to Town at once.


By the next month however he had rallied greatly, and his brother Zachary wrote that he was mending fast, and that he was anxious to write to several people informing them of his recovery. He felt so much better, that he hoped to assume his duties again, and even to take the examination at Addiscombe the following week.

This recovery however was but for a short time, on the 29th he had a relapse, he rapidly became worse, and succumbed at last to the weakness that ensued, on the 17th of April.

Thus closes the life of William Mudge, who may certainly be said to have inherited largely the abilities, which distinguished his father and grandfather.

He left behind him a widow, Margaret Jane, third daughter of Major General Williamson, R. A., (who survived her husband four years,) and a daughter, two sons in the Engineers, one in the Artillery, and a fourth a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

The character of General Mudge is especially marked by a perfect amiability of disposition and evenness of temper. He was devoted to his family, as we have seen in the affectionate way in which he so constantly refers to his children, especially to his eldest son Richard, and his daughter.
His subordinates in his office he always treated with uniform kindness and consideration. Integrity and straight forwardness marked the manner in which he carried out every matter connected with public business; and he was specially careful of all the public money, which passed through his hands.

In 1799 the year after he had been appointed head of the Ordnance, he received a letter from the Board expressing their thanks to him for the zeal he had shewn in reducing the expense of the survey.

Previous to the introduction of official franks in the Government Offices, it was customary annually to make out a return of the postage of those letters which had been received in the several departments. So scrupulous was General Mudge in this matter, that he retained the cover of every letter charged for by him ; and he could from them easily have proved, that from his entrance into office until the day of his decease, he had never placed the postage of a single private letter to the public account.

"The Annual Biography and Obituary" for the year 1820 contains a short memoir of Major General Mudge.

His Biography

William Mudge was born in Plymouth in 1762, the ninth child of Doctor John Mudge and his second wife.  He was already well connected: his father was a physician; his uncle Thomas was a horologist; his grandfather was the Reverend Zachariah Mudge; his godfather was the famous Doctor Johnson; and local artist Sir Joshua Reynolds was a friend of the family.

But like many a Plymothian, William left Plymouth to seek a career elsewhere.  On April 17th 1777 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he gained a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.  He was posted to South Caroline to take part in the American War of Independence.

He was very keen on mathematics and upon his return to England he continued to study under a professor from the Royal Military Academy, upon whose recommendation he was appointed in 1791 to the ordnance trigonometrical survey.  He became superintendent of the survey in 1798 and in that same year was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Shortly afterwards, he completed the first ever measurement of an arc of meridian stretching from Dunnose on the Isle of Wight to Clifton in Yorkshire.  This was regarded as a very considerable advance in the scientific work of what had by then become the Ordnance Survey and contributed significantly to the international debate about the precise figure of the earth.

And while engaged on that work, William was also responsible for the topographical survey of England, which started with the publication by William Faden of the first one inch to the mile map of Kent in 1801.    It was  William, though, who brought about the development of the Ordnance Survey as a map publisher by recruiting engravers to work directly to him.   In 1805 he published "A General Survey of England and Wales".

In 1808 he married Miss Margaret Jane Williamson, the daughter of a Major-General in the Royal Artillery.  They had one daughter and four sons.

On July 29th 1809 he was appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy and the following year he became the public examiner for the East India Company College at Addiscombe, Surrey.

When, in 1813, it was decided to extend the English arc of meridian into Scotland, it was William Mudge who not only supervised the work but help to make many of the measurements.  However, by this time he was suffering from ill health but that did not prevent him from commencing the survey of southern Scotland in May 1819.  In August 1819 he was promoted to Major-General.
William Mudge died in 1820.   He was a Plymothian whose work indirectly contributed to the life of his home town through the later publication of the first accurate one inch to the mile maps and the many town plans that have been issued ever since.

And from Wikipedia

William Mudge (1762–1820) was an English artillery officer and surveyor, born in Plymouth, an important figure in the work of the Ordnance Survey.

William Mudge was a son of Dr. John Mudge of Plymouth, by his second wife, and grandson of Zachariah Mudge, and was born at Plymouth on 1 December 1762. He entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich on 17 April 1777, and while he was there his godfather, Samuel Johnson, paid him a visit, and gave him a guinea and a book.

On 9 July 1779 he received a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, and was sent to South Carolina to join the army under Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis. He was promoted first lieutenant on 16 May 1781. On his return home he was stationed at the Tower of London, and studied the higher mathematics under Charles Hutton, amusing himself in his spare time with the construction of clocks. He was appointed in 1791 to the Ordnance Trigonometrical Survey, of which he was promoted to be director on the death of Colonel Edward Williams in 1798. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year.

Around 1800 Dunnose was taken as a base point for a triangulation of Great Britain, in which Mudge measured a section of the meridional arc running up into Yorkshire. The triangulation was conducted in 1801 and 1802.

The positions of twenty three points between Dunnose  and Beacon Hill, Clifton, near Doncaster, were determined, and the closest possible measurements were made of the distances between the points and the direction from one point to another. Doubts were cast on the accuracy of the measurements in 1812, when Joseph Rodriguez pointed out that, if they were accurate, the length of a degree of longitude did not vary with latitude as it should if the earth were flattened at the poles.
Mudge was promoted brevet major on 25 September 1801, regimental major 14 September 1803, and lieutenant-colonel 20 July 1804. While at the head of the survey he resided first, until 1808, at the Tower of London, and afterwards at 4 Holles Street, London, which he purchased; there he resided for the rest of his life. He was appointed in addition, on 29 July 1809, by John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham to be lieutenant-governor of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich; and when in 1810 it was decided to move the Indian cadets to Addiscombe Military Seminary, Mudge was appointed public examiner to the new college. He took pains to see that the Woolwich and the Addiscombe cadets were trained in surveying and topographical drawing, and placed them before leaving college under Robert Dawson of the Ordnance Survey for a course of practical study.

In 1813 it was determined to extend the Meridian arc into Scotland. Mudge superintended the general arrangement of the work, and in some cases took the actual measurement. On the extension of the English arc of the meridian into Scotland, the French Bureau des Longitudes applied for permission for Jean-Baptiste Biot to make observations for them on that line.

These observations were carried out by Biot, with the assistance of Mudge and of his son Richard Zachariah Mudge, at Leith Fort on the River Forth, and Biot assisted Mudge in extending the arc to Uist in the Shetland Islands.[ It is to Mudge that William Wordsworth alludes in his poem Written with a Slate Pencil on a Stone, on the Side of the Mountain of Black Comb, on Black Combe, written in 1811-1813; Wordsworth had heard in Bootle from the Rev. James Satterthwaite the story of the surveyor (identified with Mudge) on top of Black Combe, famous for its long-distance views inland and out to sea, who was not able to see even the map in front of him when fog or darkness closed in.
On 4 June 1813 Mudge was promoted brevet-colonel, and on 20 December 1814 regimental colonel. In 1817 he received from the University of Edinburgh the degree of LL.D. In 1818 he travelled in France for the benefit of his health, and on his return was appointed a commissioner of the new board of longitude.

 In 1819 Frederick VI of Denmark visited the survey operations at Bagshot Heath, and presented Mudge with a gold chronometer. In May of this year he began the survey of Scotland, and on 12 August he was promoted major-general. He died on 17 April 1820.

Mudge contributed to the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions:

• ‘Account of the Trigonometrical Survey made in 1797, 1798, and 1799.’
• ‘Account of the Measurement of an Arc of the Meridian from Dunnose, Isle of Wight, to Clifton in Yorkshire.’
• ‘On the Measurement of Three Degrees of the Meridian conducted in England by William Mudge.’
Besides the maps of the survey published under his direction, he published:
• ‘General Survey of England and Wales,’ pt. i. fol. 1805.
• ‘An Account of the Trigonometrical Survey carried on by Order of the Master-General of H.M. Ordnance in the years 1800–1809, by William Mudge and Thomas Colby.’

• ‘An Account of the Operations carried on for accomplishing a Trigonometrical Survey of England and Wales from the commencement in 1784 to the end of 1796. First published in, and now revised from, the “Philosophical Transactions,” by William Mudge and Isaac Dalby. The Second Volume, continued from 1797 to the end of 1799, by William Mudge. The Third Volume, an Account of the Trigonometrical Survey in 1800, 1801, 1803 to 1809, by William Mudge and Thomas Colby,’ 3 vols. London, 1799–1811.

• ‘Sailing Directions for the N.E., N., and N.W. Coasts of Ireland, partly drawn up by William Mudge, completed by G. A. Fraser,’ London, 1842.

Mudge married Margaret Jane, third daughter of Major-general John Williamson, R.A., who survived him four years. He left a daughter, two sons in the royal engineers, one in the Royal Artillery, and one in the Royal Navy.

1. Col Richard Zachariah Mudge  RE  1790 - 1854
2. Jane Mudge         1792 - 1861
3. John Mudge RE 1794 - 1825
4. Capt William Mudge RN  1796 - 1837
5. Zachariah Mudge RA 1800 - 1831

4.10  John Mudge b 1768  d  1793

No known facts, died young

 

4.11  Vice Admiral Zachariah Mudge  R.N.

4.11. ZACHARIAH MUDGE was the sixth Surviving son of Dr. John Mudge, and the second child by his third wife Elizabeth. He was born at Plymouth, January 22nd, 1770, and was baptized at St. Andrew's, when the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe stood as his God-father.

He entered the Royal Navy Nov. 1, 1780, as Captain's servant on board the Foudroyant, Captain John Jervis. The ratings of Captains' servants and Lieutenants' servants, &c., were often during the war nominally given to the sons of gentlemen on entering the* service, owing to there not being at the time vacancies for them among volunteers and midshipmen. On April 21st, 1782, he assisted at the capture, after a gallant action of nearly an hour, attended however with no casualty of the British, of the French ship Pegase, whole loss, besides being seriously damaged, amounted out of a crew of 700 men to 80 killed and wounded.

During the next seven years we find him serving on the Home and American Stations, chiefly in the capacity of a midshipman on board the Pegase. He was then promoted in 1789 to Lieutenant in the Centurion. As senior Lieutenant in 1790, he served on board the Discovery, and afterwards on the Providence, in which he was 6 years employed on voyages of discovery. When at Nootka Sound in the Discovery, Mr. Mudge was dispatched in an open vessel to India with a crew of 14 men.

In 1797, when still on board the Discovery, he considered that there was too great a delay in his promotion, which caused Mr. Richard Rosdew, his brother-in-law, to interest himself in his favour, and to write the following letter to Lady Camelford.

''Weymouth, July 30th, 1797.

Madam, It is with much diffidence I take the liberty of addressing myself to your ladyship on behalf of my brother-in-law, Lieutenant Zachary Mudge. About Christmas last, I was informed that my Lord Camelford had withdrawn his friendship from him; the reason was concealed, but our concern was in some measure lessened by being assured that nothing was lain unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman.

Mrs. Rosdew had meant to address your Ladyship on the subject, but her feelings would not permit her to doubt her brother acting as became the son of a man, whose virtues and talents gained him and for many years continued to him, the friendship and esteem of that great character, to whom her brother was indebted for his first promotion. She knew her brother went out from England impressed with the strongest sense of your Ladyship's kindness to him, and anxious to evince his gratitude by endeavouring to be the happy instrument of bringing Lord Camelford home to your Ladyship. Had he been conscious of having offended Lord Camelford, would he have been eager to have undertaken
this last voyage? or would he ever have desired me to write to your Ladyship, if he should miss the Chatham'  Thus considering the matter, Mrs. Rosdew was certain there must have been some misconception or misrepresentation made to his Lordship, and therefore thought it better to wait her brother's return, which was then expected to have been before this time, that he might himself explain it.

 I am sorry however now to add that I have a letter from him dated Tyfer Harbour, off Macao, Jan. 3, 1797, wherein he mentions Captain Broughton having just informed him, that it was not his intention to return for two years; he found that he had been passed over, and that Mr. Paget, his junior Lieutenant on the first voyage, was made Captain before him, and that he had missed the Chatham with all this, and being told the ship was not to return till 1799, your Ladyship will suppose his spirits were much depressed. He however again turns his thoughts to your Ladyship, and desires me to mention his situation.

Captain Broughton has been made to understand since they last sailed, that junior officers might not get rank of him; surely a Lieutenant, who has been now more than 2 years on a second voyage, and altogether has been five years employed as a first Lieutenant on voyages of discovery, has some claim on the Admiralty, that he should not have Captains over him, who were not even in the Navy when he was first Lieutenant of the Discovery^ and I doubt not, if your Ladyship will have the goodness to mention his case to Lord Spencer, that your influence will immediately get him put on the list of Naval Commanders.

I could enumerate a long list of difficulties and dangers he has lately met with, added to a long and painful illness at Nootka Sound, which would interest your Ladyship, but I have already trespassed too much on your patience and I will therefore only request the honour of being favoured with your Ladyship's determination, as I mean to write to him at China, and to subscribe myself, &c., &c.,

RICHARD ROSDEW.
I take the liberty of enclosing it under cover to Lord Grenville."

Lady Camelford wrote in reply :

" Holywell House, 9th Aug. '97.

Sir,

I should not have neglected answering your letter the day I received it, if I had not thought it would be more satisfactory, that I should be able to assure you the business, you and Mrs. Rosdew have so much at heart, is put in the best train possible. I have received a letter from Mr. Mudge to the same purport with the one from you. Foreseeing my friendship might be of use to him, I have refused many solicitations to apply for favours to Lord Spencer, reserving any interest, I may flatter myself I have with his Lordship, that I might exert it in Mr. Mudge's favor. As soon as I shall know — which cannot be immediately — the success of my application to Lord Spencer, I will not fail to inform you of it; in the meantime I can give you the satisfaction of knowing that Mr. Nepean is well disposed to Mr. Mudge, and I have engaged, if it should be necessary, his good offices with Lord Spencer.

Without dwelling on subjects which too deeply wound my mind, I will simply say that I have a perfect recollection of past friendship, and of the virtues and talents on which that friendship was founded; if anything should have arisen to estrange the sons of such friends from each other, it will be my wish, as far as may depend upon me, to remove any obstacle in the way of reconciliation, without knowing or desiring to know any particulars. I can easily suppose that the unexampled species of tyranny and cruel oppression, exercised during several years by my son's wretched commander, might drive a temper naturally ardent into a state of irritability and suspicion that does not belong to it; but a temper, as generous as his, is not likely to entertain lasting resentments where high sense of honor can admit of forgiveness. I beg you to assure Mrs. Rosdew of my sincere wishes to serve her brother, and that you will believe me,

Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

ANNE CAMELFORD."

A few months later Lady Camelford again writes, **Lady Camelford, with her compliments, has great pleasure in informing Mr. and Mrs. Rosdew that she has just received assurances from Lord Spencer, that he will immediately send out a Commission to Mr. Mudge ; she begs to congratulate them on this intelligence, which she knows will give them much pleasure."


Mr. Mudge accordingly was awarded a second promotal commission, and obtained command of the Fly in 1798; and, while on that sloop, he effected the capture of the French privateers Le Glaneur, and Le Trompmr, and was all but lost on an immense island of ice during his passage home from Halifax with despatches from H.R.. H. Duke of Kent. His subsequent appointments were April 1801 to La Constance, Sept. 1802 to La Blanche, Nov. 1805 to the Phoenix, and in 18 10 to the Valiant.

In La Constance Captain Mudge, in the spring of 1801, received the thanks of the British Merchants and Consuls at Lisbon and Oporto, for the service he had rendered them in safely conveying a fleet from Falmouth to Portugal, and also for the activity he had exerted for them in collecting some vessels at Viana laden with brandy, which could not otherwise have been got ready to go home under his protection. About the same period he captured the Spanish national cutter El Duides, and a privateer, Venture. In July 1801, with the assistance of the Stork and the boats of the two ships, we find him making prize. near Cape Ortegal, of two Spanish privateers. La Constance was subsequently engaged in conveying a number of disbanded foreign soldiers from Lymington to the Elbe. At the close of 1803 Captain Mudge, now in the Blanche, was employed in the blockade of St. Domingo, where in less than a month he captured and destroyed 24 of the enemy's vessels ! A very gallant incident is connected with the capture of one ship. In November, when the Blanche was cruising off San Domingo, Lieutenant Edward Nicolls volunteered with thirteen men to cut off the Albion^ armed cutter, which lay moored under the guns of Monte Christo, a town situated on a bay of that island, and having a good roadstead.

The attack was to be made in the night with only one boat. His offer was accepted; and in the evening of the 4th of November, the red cutter, with thirteen men and himself, pushed of from the Blanche. A doubt respecting the sufficiency of this force induced Captain Mudge to dispatch the barge with twenty-two men, under the orders of Lieutenant Lake, to follow the red cutter and supersede Nicolls in command of the little expedition. The second boat joined the first; and as soon as the two were abreast of the French Cutter, Lieut. Nicolls hailed Lieut. Lake, and pointed out to him the exact position of the AIbion. The latter professed to disbelieve that the vessel, they saw so close under the lee of the land, was that of which they were in search. He asserted that she lay on the opposite or
north east side of the bay, and with the barge he proceeded in that direction, leaving the cutter to watch the motions of that vessel which Nicolls still maintained was the Albion, the object of their joint search. When the boats separated, it was half-past two in the morning of the 5th, and the Monte Christo mountains, a lofty range which runs along the coast, were towering darkly into the sky. The wind was blowing freshly out of the bay, which they over-shadowed; and in an hour or two more day would be brightening their summits ; and then probably the breeze would slacken, if not wholly subside, and render it impossible to make sail on the cutter if she was taken.

The men in the boat were few, but their hearts were stout; cautiously and silently they stretched upon their oars towards the French vessel, whose crew expecting an attack were quite prepared for it. As soon as the boat came within pistol-range the cutter hailed. The hail was replied to by three hearty British cheers, and the little boat swept on, receiving in succession two volleys of musketry. The first whistled harmlessly over their heads, and fell into the water ; but the second severely wounded the coxswain, the man at the bow-oar, and a marine. Before the cutter could fire a third time, Lieut. Nicolls had sprung on board of her at the head of his little band. The French Captain was at his post, and flashed his pistol at Nicolls, just as the latter was within a yard of him. The ball passed round the
Lieutenant's body under the skin, and escaping through his side, lodged in the fleshy part of his sword arm.

Almost at the same moment a shot, either from the pistol of Nicolls, or from the musket of a marine near him, killed the French Captain. After this some cutting and slashing with cutlasses, and stabbing with the bayonet and boarding- spike ensued ; but the resistance was trifling, and the remaining officers and crew of the cutter, in the dark, being ignorant probably of the real strength of the attacking force, permitted themselves to be driven below, after five men were wounded, one mortally.


As yet not a shot had been fired from the battery on shore, though it was scarcely one hundred yards from the cutter, and the explosion of the musketry and pistols must have been distinctly seen and heard. Justly judging that the best way to keep the guns of the battery quiet, would be to make it appear that the Albion was still resisting, and in possession of the French, Nicolls ordered the marines of his slender party to keep blazing away their ammunition, while the seamen made sail on the cutter. A spring having been run out from her quarter to the cable, and the jib cleared, the cable was then cut, and the jib hoisted to cast her. At that moment just as she got underway, the barge came alongside, and Lieutenant Lake as superior officer took command of the prize. Scarcely had he done so, and the musketry had by his orders been discontinued, when the guns of Monte Christo opened fire with round and grape shot, and two seamen of the Blanche were killed. However, the breeze was fair for the offing, and moderately strong ; and the captured cutter, with the two boats towing ahead, soon ran out of range of gunshot, and joined the frigate.

Cutting out a vessel," says James in his Naval History, is usually a desperate service, and the prize seldom repays the loss which is sustained in capturing her. The spirit engendered by such acts is, however, of the noblest, and in a national point of view, of the most useful kind ; its emulative influence spreads from man to man, and from ship to ship, until the ardour for engaging in services of danger— services the repeated success of which has stamped a lasting character upon the British Navy — requires more frequently to be checked than to be incited. An attack by boats on an armed sailing vessel, as respects the first foothold on her deck especially, may be likened to the forlorn hope of a besieging army ; great is the peril, and great ought to be the reward."

In the course of 1804-5 Captain Mudge had the increased good fortune to take, independently of a large number of merchantmen, the Glacieuse and Amitid, French National vessels, the Dutch Schooner Nimrod and the French privateer La Hazard. On the 19th of July of the latter year however, the Blanche was herself, after an action of 45 minutes and a loss out of 215 men of 8 killed and 15 wounded, and when on the verge of sinking, captured by a powerful French Squadron, consisting of La Topaze, a frigate of 44 guns, a sloop of 22, a corvette of 18, and a brig of 16 guns. Under such circumstances Captain Mudge was honourably acquitted by Court-martial of all blame in
the loss of his ship, and not only acquitted, but eulogized for his very able and gallant conduct.

The following letter addressed to W. Marsden, Esq. gives Captain Mudge's account of this brilliant engagement.

"French National Ship, Topaze, 29 July, 1805.

Sir,

•I am sorry to inform you of the loss of His Majesty's Ship Blanche, which was captured by a French Squadron ; but thank God, she was not destined to bear French colours, or to assist the fleet of the enemy. On Friday morning July 19th, in lat. 20° 20° N., long. 66° 440 W., (weather hazy) at eight, four sail were seen off weather cat head, three Ships and a Brig on the opposite tack, under easy sail. I kept to the wind, until we were near enough to distinguish colours. I then made the necessary signals to ascertain whether they were enemies. At ten, when abreast about three miles distant, they all bore up, and hoisted English Ensigns; but, from the make of the Union, and colour of the bunting, with other circumstances, I concluded they were French, and therefore determined to sell the ship as dearly as possible (for sailing was out of the question, the Blanche having little or no copper on, these last nine months, and sailed very heavy.) Having brought to with the mainsail in the brails, at eleven the Commodore ranged up within two cables' length, shifted his colours, and gave us broadside.
When within pistol shot she received our's ; the action became warm and steady, the ships never without hail of each other, running large and under easy sail ; le Departement des Landes on the Starboard quarter, and the two Corvettes close astern.



At forty-five minutes past eleven the ship became ungovernable, and was reduced to a perfect wreck ; the sails totally destroyed, ten shot in the foremast (expecting it to fall every minute), the mainmast and rigging cut to pieces, seven guns dismounted, and the crew reduced to one hundred and ninety, and the rest falling fast with no probability of escape. I called a council of officers for their opinion, who deemed it only sacrificing the lives of the remainder of as brave a crew as ever fought to hold
out longer, as there was not the smallest prospect of success ; I therefore at twelve ordered the colours to be struck, and was immediately hurried on board to the Commodore.

At six the officers who had charge of the Blanche returned, and reported the ship to be sinking fast, on which she was fired, and in about an hour after she sank, for the magazine had been some time under water.

Thus, Sir, fell the Blanckey and I trust the defence made by her officers and gallant crew will meet with their Lordship's approbation.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

ZACHARY MUDGE.''

Captain Mudge also wrote an account of the loss of his ship to his brother-in-law, Major (afterwards Sir Richard) Fletcher, which appeared in the columns of the London Gazette, August 24th ,* and of which a contemporary remarks, "his letter breathes the true spirit of a British seaman, and the action he describes adds another bright star to the constellation of glory that emblazons the annals
of the British Navy."

French National Ship, La Topaze,

Aug. l0th, 1805.

On my way from Jamaica to Barbadoes, I fell in with Mons. Baudin s squadron, cruising for our homeward-bound convoy : I fought the ship till she was cut to pieces, and then sunk. I cannot say what our loss is, as there have been no returns, the crew being all divided between the two Frigates and two Corvettes which engaged us. Twenty-one fell nobly within my own knowledge — I am afraid many more. I thank God, the Blanche never wore French Colours, Lieutenant Thomas Peebles of the Marines was the only officer materially wounded; his legs were broken by a splinter. During the severe contest the squadron was never without hail. I have the consolation of knowing they were so much damaged as to spoil their cruise ; they all stood to the Northward as soon as repaired, leaving the passage open to the convoy under a 20 gun ship."

Captain Mudge was not detained prisoner by the French very long. In the month of September he was unconditionally released, and at the same time Napoleon handed back to him his sword, to mark his appreciation of the gallant defence of the British sailor against such over- powering odds.

The Court Martial consequent on the disaster took place at Plymouth, on board the Salvador del Mundo, and was concluded October 14th. Captain Sutton, President of the Court, on presenting his sword to Captain Mudge, addressed him in the following terms : I feel the greatest satisfaction and pleasure in the discharge of this part of my duty, having to convey to you the first sentiments, which the members of this Court entertain of your able and gallant conduct, in the defence made by you of His Majesty's late ship Blanche against a very superior force of the enemy's ships ; and likewise of the spirited support afforded you by the Officers of every description, as well as the Seamen and Royal Marines, under your command, in the discharge of their duty ; and which reflects upon you and them, on that occasion, the highest degree of merit and approbation.

JOHN SUTTON,
President of the Court Martial.''

The following lines appeared in the Royal Cornwall Gazette, Sep. 14, 1805.

' Impromptu

Upon the Blanche sinking soon after she was compelled to strike to numbers.

" When honor met her fullest, brightest due,
" And numbers triumphed o'er the Blanches crew,
" The gallant vessel could not bear her doom,
" But sunk indignant in the wat'ry tomb ;
" And there beneath the blood-discoloured wave,
" In trophied ruins sought her Faulkner's grave, ^
"When deep engulph'd her valiant Captain cries,
" The Hero's vessel with the Hero lies."

Captain Faulkner , here alluded to, was killed when the Blanche was taken from the French. Captain Mudge was in November of this same year appointed to the Didon, a French ship which had been captured by Captain Baker of the Phoenix in a brilliant encounter, and had been brought into Plymouth Sound September 3rd. Her name was to have been changed to the Blanche, but after a few commissions had been made, she was found not to be sea- worthy, and was condemned. Captain Mudge was then appointed to the Phoenix command he held till 18 10. During this command his seamanship and skill enabled him, on one occasion, to save his ship, which probably would otherwise have been lost; his officers, to commemorate the event, presented him with a cornelian slab on which is engraven a Phoenix rising out of the flames.

From 1810 to 1815 he was on board the Valiant, In 1830 he became Rear- Admiral, and Vice- Admiral in 1841. He was awarded also the Distinguished Service Pension.

Admiral Mudge died at Sydney, Plympton, in 1852, and was buried at Newton Ferrers.

In the South Aisle of St. Andrew's, Plymouth, is a remarkably fine and beautiful memorial window to Admiral Mudge, erected in 1855, bearing the following inscription —

*'This window, dedicated to the honor of God and to the memories of Zachary Mudge, Esquire, Admiral of the White, and Jane Granger, his wife. Their bodies he interred in the churchyard of Newton Ferrers." At the top are the arms of Mudge — "Argent, a chevron gules, between three
cockatrices vert, wattled gules. Motto, 'All's well.' "

In the two side lights at the top are the words, They that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters." ''These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." In the four principal lights are figures of the four Evangelists ; over the first are the arms of Mudge impaling Granger, " Az. a fess or, charged with two portcullis, side by side sable, between two pomegranates seeded or;" over the second Rosdew, '' Az. a chevron sable between three hound's heads couped," impaling Mudge; over the third Fletcher, " Or, a cross engrailed ermine between four plates, each charged with a pheon az., on a canton or, a wreath of laurel vert, impaling Mudge; and over the fourth Mallacey Gules, a chevron argent, between three fleurs-de-lis or, impaling Mudge."

Beneath the figures of the Evangelists are respectively the arms of Mudge impaling Dickson, Mudge impaling Yonge and Granger ; Seaton impaling Yonge ; and Burrel impaling Prowse. The arms of Dickson are, " Az. three mullets argent, a chief paly of seven, or and gules."



Yonge I. Quarterly: or., a fess of six roundels between three lions rampant, gules. 2. Sa., a cross moline ar. 3. Or, a cross engrailed sable. 4. Party per fess argent and az., three wreaths counterchanged.

Seaton. Az., on a chevron sable between three bugle- horns, stringed sa., as many mullets of the first.' Burrell. Barry of eleven, az., and argent, in chief gules, three leopards heads or."

Prowse. Sable ; three lions rampant argent."


MUDGE. (Vice-Admiral of the Red, 1841. f-p., 28; h-p., 39.)

ZACHARY MUDGE is son of the late John Mudge, Esq., of Plymouth, an eminent Physician.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Nov. 1780, as Captain’s Servant, on board the FOUDROYANT 84, Capt. John Jervis; and, on 21 April, 1782, assisted at the capture, after a gallant action of nearly an hour, attended, however, with no casualty to the British, of the French 74-gun ship Pégase, whose loss, besides being seriously damaged, amounted, out of a crew of 700 men, to 80 killed and wounded. During the next seven years we find him serving on the Home and American stations, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, on board the PÉGASE and another ship, both commanded by Capt. Hon. Geo, Cranfield Berkeley, SAMPSON 64, Capt. Chas. Hope, PERSEUS 22, Capt. Geo. Palmer, LEANDER 50, flagship of Rear-Admiral Herbert Sawyer, and BOMBAY CASTLE 74, Capt. Robt. Fanshawe. He was then, 24 May, 1789, promoted to a Lieutenancy in the CENTURION 50, bearing the flag at Jamaica of Rear-Admiral Peter Affleck; and he was next appointed – 26 Nov. in the same year, to the CARNATIC 74, Capt. Ford, lying at Plymouth – 20. Jan. 1790, again to the PERSEUS, Capt. John Gibson, employed on the Irish and Channel stations – and, 15 Dec. 1790 and 8 Feb. 1794, as Senior, to the DISCOVERY and PROVIDENCE, in which ships he was for six years employed on voyages of discovery under Capts. Vancouver and Broughton.

When at Nootka Sound in the DISCOVERY Mr. Mudge was despatched in an open vessel to India, with a crew of only 14 men. Being awarded a second promotal commission 24 Nov. 1797, he obtained command, 8 Nov. 1798, of the FLY 16; and while in that sloop, in which he continued until posted, 15 Nov. 1800, he effected the capture of the French privateers Le Glaneur, of 6 guns and 32 men, and Le Trompeur, and was all but lost on an immense island of ice during his passage home from Halifax with despatches from H.R.H. the Duke of Kent. His subsequent appointments were – 1 April, 1801, to LA CONSTANCE 24 – 23 Sept. 1802, to the BLANCHE of 44 guns – 18 Nov. 1805, to the PHOENIX 36 – and, 4 July, 1814 (having left the PHOENIX in May, 1810), to the VALIANT 74. In LA CONSTANCE Capt. Mudge, in the spring of 1801, received the thanks of the British merchants and consuls at Lisbon and Oporto for the service he had rendered them in safely convoying a fleet from Falmouth to Portugal, and also for the activity he had exhibited in collecting some vessels at Viana, laden with brandy, which could not have otherwise been got ready to go home under his protection.

About the same period he captured the Spanish national cutter El Duides, of 8 guns and 69 men, and lugger privateer Venture, of 2 guns and 27 men. In July, 1801, with the assistance of the STORK 18, and of the boats of the two ships, we find him making prize, near Cape Ortegal, of El Cantara, Spanish privateer of 22 guns and 110 men, and of her consort, a vessel mounting 10 guns. LA CONSTANCE was subsequently engaged in conveying a number of disbanded foreign soldiers from Lymington to the Elbe. At the close of 1803, Capt. Mudge, then in the BLANCHE, was employed at the blockade of St. Domingo; where, in less than a month, he captured and destroyed 24 of the enemy’s vessels. In the course of 1804-5 he had the increased good fortune to take, independently of a large number of merchantmen, the Gracieuse and Amitié, French national vessels of 14 guns each, the Dutch schooner Nimrod, of 4 gunss and the French privateer Le Hasard, of 3 guns and 58 men.

On 19 July in the latter year, however, the BLANCHE was herself captured (after an action of 45 minutes, and a loss, out of 215 men, of 8 killed and 15 wounded, and when on the verge of sinking) by a powerful French squadron, consisting of La Topaze frigate, of 44 guns and 410 men, one sloop of 22 guns and 236 men, a corvette of 18 guns and 213 men, a,nd a brig of 16 guns and 123 men.  Under such circumstances Capt. Mudge was of course honourably acquitted by court-martial of all blame in the loss of his ship; and not only acquitted but eulogised for his very able and gallant conduct. He afterwards served, as above, in the PHOENIX and VALIANT, on the Bay of Biscay, Lisbon, and Brazilian stations. The latter ship he left in Aug. 1815. He became a Rear-Admiral 22 July, 1830; and a Vice-Admiral 23 Nov. 1841.

First Lieutenant Zachary Mudge of HMS Discovery was apparently not well thought of by Vancouver, who dispatched him back to England at the first opportunity, August 1792. Any tension between them may have stemmed from Mudge’s close connection to the powerful Pitt family. The Honorable Thomas Pitt, later the second Baron Camelford, was aboard as a midshipman, and this spoiled and arrogant 16-year-old was a thorn in Vancouver’s side. Mudge’s later career saw him promoted to captain in 1800 through the influence of the Camelfords, followed by many successful commands and captures until 1815, when he went to the inactive list. Nonetheless, he rose thereafter to flag officer, was named an admiral in 1849, and died a distinguished naval officer in 1852. Had he been better regarded by Vancouver, we might be writing about “Mudge Sound.

A memorial window to Zachary Mudge (the "Mudge Window") was placed in St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, England