In 2016 I began investigating the origins of a family of American homesteaders and stumbled upon the Haddocks from the village of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England. After nine years of exhaustive research and writing, I had found 38 men in the extended Haddock family who went to sea in the 15th to 20th centuries. The result is The Haddock Family of English Seafarers: Merchant Mariners and Naval Officers 1327–1941.
These seafarers initially sailed on trading voyages around Britain and the Mediterranean. Later 24 of them served their country in the navy, beginning with the English Civil Wars and extending across three centuries to World War II. Their logbooks and letters tell absorbing tales of storms, navigation problems, accidents at sea, encounters in foreign lands, and enemy fire.
The exciting adventures of these traders and sailors deserved wider recognition. (Earlier biographies had focused narrowly on the family’s most prominent naval officers.) Further, several Haddock officers confusingly shared the same forename and were sometimes misidentified, even in naval records. Using an unusual combination of historical and genealogical sources, I disentangled all the Haddock seafarers and traced their Holworthy and Thruston descendants, several of whom also served in naval roles.
The chapters are arranged chronologically according to each seafarer’s birth or baptismal date. Each biography details the individual’s early years, the ships on which he sailed, and the entire course of his career and family life. For those who served in the navy, I have included the political issues that affected their careers and their exact roles during enemy actions. Noteworthy descendants are also identified with brief descriptions of their lives.
To aid 21st-century readers, there is plenty of historical context, a glossary of key figures and archaic maritime terms, and a timeline of English history. The appendix lists (in chronological order) all the wars and naval actions in which members of the extended Haddock family served.
Author Judy S. Purcell
After a career as a strategic communications consultant for complex regulated businesses, I became fascinated by maritime history. Earlier I directed global, award-winning teams of news and investigative reporters for business publications serving the wireless market and was elected a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, a society of wireless industry pioneers. I’m a graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia and initially worked as a newspaper reporter.