Joseph Dexter
"Joseph Dexter was my Great, Great Grandfather and was reputedly a Captain in the Royal Navy,as my ancestors proudly recalled.Joseph Dexter was a Captain in the Royal Navy ?
Joseph was born on 10th. October 1800. He retired in October 1849 with a pension of £54 p.a. A Captain in the Royal Navy's retirement pension would have been £191-12-6d.
Navy Lists were published quarterly and have been examined for the years 1831,1832,1839,1842 and 1849. In no list is Joseph Dexter shown as a Captain, Commander, Lieutenant or as an officer serving in the Coastguard. So it is clear that Joseph was not a Naval Officer who at some time had been seconded to the Coastguard Service in Ireland.
Researching "Coastguard - An Official History of H.M. Coastguard" by William Webb and published by HMSO 1976.
The Coastguards were created in 1822 to break up smuggling. Initially it consisted of 3,000 men commanded by R.N Officers. At the end of the 18th.. Century approximately 50% of the spirits drunk had been smuggled into the country without payment of duty. In 1831 the Admiralty decided that the coastguards could become a reserve for the Royal Navy. All appointments in the Coastguards of any rank should be held to be of equal rank in the R.N. There were 28 districts in Ireland, each district under an Inspecting Officer - Naval Rank of Commander.
In Ireland in 1839 there were:-
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Chief Officers - 153
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Chief Boatmen - 180
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Commissioned Boatmen - 349
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Mounted Guard - 796
At Five Mile Point where Joseph was Chief Officer in 1825 the Establishment was:-
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Chief Officer - 1
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Chief Boatman - 1
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Commissioned Boatman - 2
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Boatman - 4
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This then was the background of at the time Joseph joined the Coastguard Service as a young man.
The following were the places at which he was stationed as given by his daughter Wilhemina and can be confirmed by study of the Establishment books at the P.R.O. ADM 175/15 & 16.
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Nanny Water
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Lambay
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Clogher head - Port Drogheda 3rd. August 1822
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Five mile Point (25m.South of Dublin) 1st February 1825 Chief Officer
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Boumabon
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Milk Cove
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Skerline (Sherkin) (Island of the coast of Cork) 10th. October 1829
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Valentia 3rd. July 1830
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White Strand Inspecting Officer
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Beale 10th. October 1831
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White Horse (or Blue Hill) 10th. July 1849 Inspecting Chief Officer
Regarding Joseph being a Harbourmaster. On Page 316 of the Coastguard Establishment Book, a page which covers the Station of Howth in Co. Dublin, there is a pencilled note reading "The Inspecting Chief Officer is also Harbourmaster at a salary of £20 p.a." So it seems that it was possible for Joseph to have been both Coastguard and Harbourmaster or alternatively to have been Harbourmaster at Tralee when he retired.
In summary it seems likely that the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy was an equivalent rank in the Coastguards and which was used by his family and contemporaries and subsequently passed down through the generations.
Joseph Dexter's Grave
We visited Ireland in 1994 and found Joseph's grave at Ballylongford in the Protestant Cemetery. It was very much overgrown, but we were able to make out the inscription as being" :-
TO THE MEMORY OF
JOSEPH DEXTER ESQr
of Ahanngran
Who Departed this life July the 26
1858 Aged 57 years
Formerly of HM Royal Navy
And Inspecting Chief Officer of
Coast Guard
THIS STONE IS ERECTED BY HIS
Affectionate Widow.
__________
http://www.coastguardsofyesteryear.org/