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A VICTORIA SURVIVOR
Curran's naval career as a humble Stoker 2nd Class lasted only a year - from 10 August 1892 to 12 August 1893. According to his service papers, now held at The National Archives (ADM188/275), he was born in Dundee on 28 February 1873 and was a merchant seaman when he joined the Navy. At the foot of his papers is a note which reads: "War Office do not desire to claim this man as a deserter from the Army, To be discharged or retained in Service as the C-in-C sees fit." It seems that in the end the Navy did not want to keep him either. A further note adds that his clothing and bedding gratuity was not to be claimed back because his kit had been lost in the Victoria, providing confirmation that he was on board at the time. As the accompanying photograph shows, he made what he could of his experiences on board the Victoria, relating his story in Joseph Poole's famous Myriorama. In the days before television and cinema, public entertainments were provided using panoramas of landscapes or recreating moments in history. One such event to whet the appetite of an avid audience was the loss of the Victoria, perhaps the biggest British news story of the late 19th century. Joseph Poole and his brothers sometimes had up to five shows touring at any one time. The subjects of these were very current so keeping the performances up to date required a substantial production team. In the case of the Victoria story, James Curran would have appeared as a narrator. What happened to Curran is not known, but Joseph Poole became one of the leading citizens of Malmesbury. He was an alderman for two terms, as well as mayor, and sat on the council's technical education committee. He owned a 100-acre farm within the borough boundaries and exhibited at the local fatstock show, winning several first and second prizes.
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JAMES
CURRAN, whose life seems to have been one of mixed fortunes, may
nevertheless have been a man who made the most of his opportunities, not
least as a survivor of the 1893 disaster in which the battleship Victoria
was rammed and sunk by the Camperdown. The catastrophic accident led to
the deaths of twenty-two Royal Naval officers and 334 of her crew, as
related in The Review (20.2)
This
postcard shows a group of men, possibly survivors, with women and boys,
gathered at the HMS Victoria memorial in Portsmouth in 1913, marking the
twentieth anniversary of the collision in which the 10,470-ton battleship
sank with the loss of 356 officers and men. A scan of the card has now
been uploaded by Tim Backhouse to his award-winning website