William John at the Battle of Trafalgar

[pnewbery]

I was given some family history research for my better half's family which goes back as far as William John of Llanybri, Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire. 1785 to 1850. In that research it stated that he was "coxswain on HMS Victory at Trafalgar".

Now, I have found the Victory's Trafalgar crew list on the web, and his name does not figure in it. So I suspect that if he was at Trafalgar it was on a different ship. He may even have served on the Victory at some point.

Does anyone have any idea how I can find out which ships he served on?

Paul N.

[Welsh Jen]

Here is a good link for you, however there is no William John, but there is a Welsh Thomas John listed on the Victory.

http://www.hms-victory.com/home.htm

[Amy K]

I have often seen the surname John transcribed as Jones. I guess everyone just assumes that all welshmen are called Jones, eh?

Anyway, there were 2 William Jones, from Wales on HMS Victory. One was aged 29, the other, 25. May eb you could researche these two men to find out if one of them is yours?

[pnewbery]

Thanks Welsh Jen & Amy K,

My William John was said to have been born in 1785, which puts him at only 20 years old at the time of Trafalgar. So the Thomas John at 28 and the two Jones at 29 & 25 are too old by quite a bit.

I think I'm going to need some different records to find his ship.

Paul N.