Susan Prowse-Tako's June Prowse Highlights

1 Jun 1794:  The Glorious First of June, in which naval battle our intrepid ancestor, (Rear-Admiral) William Prowse (1753-1826) was severely wounded.  He was serving as a lieutenant on the HMS Barfleur under Rear-Admiral Bowyer, but was back one month later serving on HMS Theseus, and by 1797, was the captain of his own ship, HMS Sirius, in which he served with distinction in several battles under Nelson, including the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

1 Jun 1857: Battle of Fatshan Creek – James Ferris Prowse (1833-1903), (great-grandfather of Martin Prowse of Castle Douglas, Scotland and of his brothers, Roger Wm. Prowse and Richard Alan Prowse and of the New Zealand branch of this family) was a lieutenant on HMS Acorn in the China Station and was awarded the China Medal with clasps for the battles of Fatshan and Canton under Commodore Sir Henry Keppel. (See pp.150-155 in my Prowse Family History Book, 3rd edition)

2 Jun 1840:  Thomas Hardy, poet and novelist, was born in Stinsford, Dorset. He wrote a poem to the memory of Capt. Cecil Irby Prowse (1866-1916) entitled 'The Sea Fight' - as Cecil's sister, Ethel Florence Prowse (1871-1961) was the wife of the vicar of Stinsford, the Rev. Henry Guise Beatson Cowley (1863-1938) (see page 231, in my book,'Those in Peril')

4 Jun 1815:  Rear Admiral William Prowse (1753-1826) was named a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

4 Jun 1967:, A British Midland Airways flight crashed at Stockport, Cheshire, while on approach to Ringway Airport in Manchester, England. 72 of the 84 passengers and crew aboard were killed and the remaining 12 survivors were seriously injured. I was flying as an Air Stewardess with the British National Airline at that time and our BOAC VC10 flight to New York left Manchester shortly afterwards. As we passed over the crash site, our pilot dipped wings. There was not a dry eye aboard our flight and everyone remained silent. A very moving moment for all of us.

6 Jun 1944:  The D-Day Landings in Normandy -  Many Prowses/Prouses served in both World Wars. The final tally for our family's war dead on the Western front in WWI was 49 Prowses and 8 Prouses killed, 4 of them dying on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, and 3 dying at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, 1916. And the final tally of our family's war dead on the Western front in WWII was 26 Prowses & 8 Prouses killed. (see pp. 333-345, Those in Peril)

7-18 Jun 1099: Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade in which Guillaume(William) de Preaux, brother of both Osbert and Michael Probus, lost his life. The brothers gained a gift of  land upon William's death, in his memory, from their overlord, Richard de Espeke, in their new homeland in Devon at “Daccombe and Wille”. (Note: Wille is the present-day Coffinswell) (see pp.51,54 in my book, “Those in Peril”)

8 Jun 1929:  Birth of Sir John Millais (1829-1896), the English artist who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and was the most popular with the British public. Millais married Euphemia 'Effie' Chalmers Gray and their granddaughter, Esme Edith Millais married into the Kingston Manor branch of the Prowse family. (See the May Family History Highlights page for May 7, 1828).

9 Jun 1846:  The Great Fire in St. John's, Newfoundland, started when a glue pot boiled over. The fire destroyed about 2000 buildings in total, including the largest private home belonging to Robert Prowse (1798-1873) and a total of 12,000 people (57% of the city's population) were left homeless. (Source: “A History of Newfoundland from the English, colonial, & foreign records”, by Daniel Woodley Prowse (1895).

12 Jun 1819: Birth of Charles Kingsley, British author of 'Westward Ho!', who wrote in that book:.....”eight fireships, guided by 2 valiant men of Devon, Young and Prowse, stealed straight for the Spanish fleet. May their names live long in the land.” (see p. 117 in my book “Those in Peril”)   (3 Cheers! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!)

12 Jun 1801: Birth of Isaiah Prowse, an early surgeon in the family. (see pp. 34 & 37 in 'First Do No Harm'). Isaiah was born in Devonport and was the son of James & Elizabeth Prowse. He died on July 7, 1862. On June 20, 1838, he married Ann McDougall Peche, whose father was a purser in the Royal Navy. He practiced in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and in Devonport and finally in Anthony, Cornwall, where he died in 1862.

14 Jun 1904:  Miss Kate Sendrey of Douglas, Arizona, shot and killed her brother-in-law, John Nelson Prowse (born 21 April, 1876 in Texas) of Austin, Texas,  because he threatened his wife (her sister) and children. John's parents were George Washington Prowse (1840-1909), born in Devon, and Serala Elizabeth Dalton (1852-1919) and he married Alma Sendry (1880-1972).

14 Jun 1925: Death of William Byass Prowse, M.D., (1853-1925) of the Long Wittenham branch of the family descended from John Prowse and Jone Orchard's oldest son, Lawrence Prowse (1480-1548).  He did his medical training in Oxford, England. One of William's first cousins was Richard Hopkins Prowse (1833-1933), Rector of Framingham, who was described as the “oldest clergyman in England, having been in Holy Orders for 72 years when he died in 1933”. Another first cousin, John Henry Prowse (1853-1901) emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa in 1876. Gerald Prowse (1893-1917), who was killed in action in 1917, at the age of 24, while serving in the Royal Sussex Regiment, was a patient of Dr. William Byass Prowse at the Sommerville Southern General Hospital in Oxford in the year before his death. (See p. 378 in my book, “First Do No Harm”)

16 Jun 1880:  The Salvation Army ladies wear their bonnets for the first time as they march through Hackney, London! The Rev. George Henry Prowse (1906-1969), Vicar of St. John the Evangelist, in Colchester, Essex, was originally a captain in the Salvation Army, together with his wife, Ivy Ethel Willis, whose father, also a member of the Salvation Army, was imprisoned along with William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, for preaching on street corners and 'disturbing the peace' (see p.199 in my Prowse Family History Book, 3rd edition)

18 Jun 1870:  Birth of William Barrington Prowse, MRCS, LRCP, FFR, (1870-1958), Pioneer Radiologist at the London Hospital, and younger brother of Arthur Bancks Prowse (ABP), and grandfather to the twins, Noel B-P (b. 1936) and Nicholas Prowse (1936-1919), Virginia Shankland (1940-2018) and Duncan Prowse, (b.1948) -  all children of Cedric Barrington Prowse (1903-1988) & Jean Ogilvie Grant (1914-1997) - and of Anthony Barrington Prowse and his sister, Christine Durant, children of Irwin Barrington Prowse (1902-1992) & Yvonne Mary Uphill Robson (1917-2011).

21 Jun 1200:  The Grant giving Pierre de Preaux the Channel Islands was signed.  Pierre (Peter) died in 1212 but because of his heroic service during the 3rd Crusade, he had been married to Mary, the daughter and heiress of William de Redvers de Vernon, Earl of Devon, and granted lands in Devon and the Isle of Wight as well. (see the 2nd '23 June' entry on this page!)

21 Jun 1944:  The “USS Prowse”, an American patrol gunboat, was transferred to the UK and renamed the “HMS Zanzibar”. She served in the Royal Navy on convoy escort duty in the Western Atlantic and as a weather ship before being returned to the US Navy in 1946. We are not sure who this gunboat was initially named after, but Ran Prouse thinks it was named in honor of “all illustrious Prowses of history”. (See p. 394 in my book, 'Those in Peril')

23 Jun 1869:  Birth of Charles Bertie Prowse, D.S.O., Brigadier-General, 1st Somerset Light Infantry, who died on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1,1916), just one month after his brother, Captain Cecil Irby Prowse had died at the Battle of Jutland (May 31, 1916).

23 Jun 1892:  The DNC (Democratic National Committee) nominated Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) for President. Cleveland's ancestor, Mary de Vernon, daughter of the 6th Earl of Devon,  married Peter de Preaux (cousin of our direct line) in the late 12th century. He (Cleveland) then shares 6 generations of Prouz ancestors. Peter was one of the three 3rd Crusaders who accompanied Richard the Lionheart, King of England, and had Peter not died 4 years before his father-in-law, he would have become the 7th Earl of Devon.  Instead that honor went to Mary's 2nd husband, Robert Courtenay.

24 Jun 1908:  Death of President Grover Cleveland in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 71.

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AND ALSO REMEMBERING - THE PROWSE/PROUSE WAR DEAD:

Prowse, Alfred Charles: 4th Special Service Bn. Devonshire Regiment – Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya. Lance Corporal #5620784. Died June 12, 1941, age 20. Son of Arthur & Mable Ellen Prowse, Sidmouth, Devon.

Prowse, Robert Cyril: S.S. Ramsay (London) – Tower Hill Memorial, London, England.  Second Engineer Officer, Merchant Navy. British. Died June 9, 1942, age 38. Son of Robert & Jane Prowse; husband of Mamie Prowse, of South Shields, Co. Durham.  (Panel 86).

Prowse, Thomas Edward Upton:  S.S. “Lusitania” - (Liverpool) Mercantile Marine – Tower Hill Memorial, London, England.  Waiter, Merchant Navy.  British.  Died 7 May 1915, age 26.  Drowned as a result of an attack by enemy submarine. Son of Mr. & Mrs. Prowse; husband of Madeline Prowse (nee Cawthron) of 29 Greenbank Rd., Sefton Park, Liverpool.  Born at Liverpool.

Prouse, Leonard:  King's Own Scottish Borderers – Kirkee War Cemetery, India.  Private #14353308. Army. British. Died June 28, 1944, age 20.  Son of Ernest Edward & Mary Elizabeth Prouse of Peverell,  Plymouth.  (I. C. 3)

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MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY - BIRTHDAYS IN JUNE

2 Jun:  Simon C., husband of Alice and son-in-law of Barbara & Jonathan;

6 & 8 Jun:  Isolde Poppy and on the 8th: Beatrix Iris, both daughters of Nancy & Nick and grandkids of B&J (above)

9 Jun:  Carla P., wife of Michael and daughter-in-law of Laurie & Jo;

12 Jun: Andrew C., husband of Claudine and son of my sister, Anne, and who was the youngest guest at my wedding at  one month old!

12 Jun:  Bill S., husband of Vee and son-in-law of Roger & Mary;

14 Jun:  Jonathan P., husband of Barbara and son-in-law of Roger & Mary;

15 Jun: Freya Isobel B., daughter of Miranda & 'Spike';

16 Jun: Alexander James H., son of Nicola & Martin and grandson of Vee & Bill;

17 Jun:  Ryan Alexander N., son of Andrew & Alex (my daughter!);

21 Jun: Nicholas Alexander T., son of Sue & Sandor (my son!);

23 Jun: Freddie B., son of Miranda & 'Spike';

27 Jun:  Holly P., wife of John Paul and daughter-in-law of Laurie & Jo;

28 Jun:  John Paul P., husband of Holly and son of Laurie & Jo.

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