Name:

William Pryce Cumby, C.B., R.N.

Rank:

Captain

In Office

17th Feb. 1837 27th Sept. 1837

Notes

Captain William Pryce Cumby, C.B., R.N.

B. 20 Mar 1771, Heighington, near Durham [or alternatively in Dover].

D. 27 Sept 1837. aged 66, died in post. On board the “Royal Sovereign”. 1784. - Entered the Navy as a servant to the lieutenant commanding the cutter, “Kite”.

1792 - Promoted to lieutenant at 21 years,

Fought in French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.  

1804 - Appointed first lieutenant of the third rate “Bellerphon “.

Oct 1805 - Flag Lieutenant Collingwood's Division. Battle of Trafalgar, Cumby shared in the rewards after Trafalgar. He was promoted twice in rapid succession, to commander on 24 December 1805, and to post-Captain on 1 January 1806.

British.  Cumby advised his captain to remove his jacket because it made him a target for French snipers, but Cooke refused and sent Cumby below to direct the gunnery.  A few minutes later, hearing the rush of battle above, Cumby ran up the ladders to the deck where he met the mortally wounded Overton who informed Cumby of Cooke's death in hand-to-hand combat with a French boarding party.

“Bellerophon” rapidly found herself sandwiched between the Spanish “Monarca” and the French “L'Aigle”, both pouring fire into the ship.  

    Cooke's last words had been Tell Lieutenant Cumby never to strike! Realising that he was now in command of the ship, Cumby then withdrew his men from the poop deck and into the waist of the ship, where the threat from enemy grenades was not as high. He then ordered the guns trained on the French boarding parties, which they annihilated. This enabled Cumby to board the “L'Aigle”, at one point picking up a lit grenade to extinguish it, and capture the vessel.  Proclaimed a hero after the battle, Cumby was rewarded with promotion to Post Captain and given the “Polyphemus”, another Trafalgar veteran. With this he conducted numerous raids on the coast of Santo Domingo from 1807 to 1809.  

His service in the Caribbean culminated in his command of the squadron that blockaded the city of San Domingo.  The operation was so successful that the city surrendered in short order, and Cumby was highly praised by his opponents for his gentlemanly behaviour following the surrender.

17 Feb 1845 - Captain of “Royal Sovereign”, Pembroke.

1845. He died in the same year in his office in Pembroke Dock.

Aged 66, he was buried Park Street (South) graveyard, Pembroke Dock.  The graveyard, now a recreational area, however Cumby's grave remains in place.  A street near the royal dockyard was named Cumby Terrace in his honour.  A

commemorative plaque recounts his prominence, as does a similar, larger plaque at his local church St Michael's, where he was born.  The inscription on his tomb reads   

Here lie The Mortal Remains of Captain William Pryce Cumby, R.N., C.B. Of H.M. Yacht Royal

Sovereign And Captain Superintendent of Pembroke Dock Yard

An Officer Whose zeal and professional services At Trafalgar and St. Domingo

Deserved and received the approbation

Of his Country

His active kindness in promoting the welfare of others procured him the affectionate regard

Of all who knew him

The loss of one so kind and good

Has taught his relations and friends

How vain is every consolation

But that afforded By Religion

By Christian

submission

By Christian Hope

Born XXth March MDCCLXXI

Died XXVIIth September MDCCCXXXVII.