another William Batty

 Looking for William Batty , father of Dudley Davison Batty .We find all sorts of William Batty´s who provide us with lot of stories.

We have a circus director , one with a bible and today we found this William Batty.

Who had a letter from Horatio Nelson,

"served as his Servant on His Majesty's Ship Boreas"Horatio Nelson

Document signed ("Horatio Nelson"), with his right hand, certifying that William Batty "served as his Servant on His Majesty's Ship Boreas under my Command from the 24 March 1784 to the 1 January 1786, and as AB from that time to the 1st of May following, and from which time to the date hereof he served as Midshipman of the said Ship, during which time he behaved himself with diligence and Sobriety and was always Obedient to Command"; with a detached docket recording Batty's length of service as Servant and Midshipman, one page, folio, trimmed at the edges, laid on a backing sheet, but overall in good and fresh condition, "Given under my hand on board His Majestys Ship the Boreas in Nevis Road the 8 May 1787"

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Footnotes

William Batty served with Nelson as gentleman volunteer on the Boreas for over six years (four years six months and six days as Servant, and one year nine months and twenty-four days as Midshipman). In June 1786 Nelson put him in command of the American schooner Brilliant, impounded for trading in contravention of the Navigation Act (see Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters, I, pp.181 and 184). With the lot is a note by Agnes Batty, Batty's daughter-in-law, dated 1880, recording that he had been forced to leave the Navy through ill-health when still a Midshipman. It has remained in possession of the Batty family to this day.