3-070-765 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Admiral W. W. Percival Johnson, R.N., one of the officers engaged at Trafalgar, 1881. 'A veteran naval officer, who fought on board Lord Nelson's ship, the Victory, at the battle of Trafalgar, but who retired from active service thirty-seven years ago, and never saw a modern ironclad ship, died the day after Christmas Day. This was Admiral William Ward Percival Johnson, who entered the Royal Navy in July, 1803, being then thirteen years of age. He was, like Pollard, Carslake, Bingham, and others we have known, a midshipman of the flag-ship at Trafalgar. His subsequent commissions were dated, as Lieutenant, Jan. 22, 1814; Commander, Jan. 10, 1837; Captain, Dec. 5, 1842; Rear-Admiral, May 20, 1862; Vice-Admiral, Oct. 18, 1867; and Admiral, July 30, 1875. When a Lieutenant he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution, on Nov. 11, 1829, "for very gallantly putting off, with twelve men, in a life-boat from Kingstown, Ireland, and saving eleven persons from the brig Duke, wrecked at Dalkey." He died, at the age of ninety, at his residence, Little Baddow, near Chelmsford'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.