Captain Walter Murray Pengelley - (1824 - 1897)

Evensong was said by Rev. E. S. Roberts. In the course of an eloquent address based upon words taken from Hebrews xii., 21, 'Spirits of just men made perfect.' The Rector ( the Rev. W. A. Bickmore) referred to reverence and admiration of nobility, greatness, and goodness of character. It was a good thing to have these called out. Some such words as these had lately been used on a political platform. He would borrow them and speak them from the pulpit. The tablet about to be unveiled was an indication that they had had in their midst at the Penarth Dock for 24 and the Bute Docks for 10 years previous thereto a noble character and a good Christian man.

The numbers present on this occasion and the scene at that church on the occasion of the interment proved him to be a man of most sterling worth and nobility of character. he mural brass and tablet they were about to unveil did not speak eloquently to all from its place on the south wall, and when they looked up at the church standing as a beacon as they followed their vocation at the dock or the deck they would remember that they had placed in that temple of God the tablet, and they would remember the noble character that they had assembled to commemorate and his good example.

Biographical Details. It mat perhaps not be uninteresting upon the present occasion to say a word or so concerning the late Captain Pengelley. He was born near Plymouth, and served his country with distinction in many parts of the world. At the age of 16, in 1840, he was midshipman on board the steam frigate Lesostris, and subsequently joined the Auckland, in which he served in the Persian Gulf. He took part in the China expedition under Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker. K.C.B., and present at the storming and taking of the city of Ching Keang Foo, and at the final demonstration before Nankin.

In 1845 as a lieutenant he served on the sloop of war Elphinstone during the native rebellion of New Zealand. After service in the Crimea before Sebastopol he was detached from the Navy, being specially selected by Major General Sir James Ontram to serve in the Persian field force, and in this service he won high tributes of praise from his superiors. One of his greatest feats was his march with the natives from Baghdad to Kurrachee in the height of the summer, when, accompanied by natives, he covered the distance intercepted by deep rivers and morasses in 18 days. For his services in Turkish Arabia he won his forth medal. Subsequently he was made commander or H.M. troop-ship Dalhousie, and in 1863 he accepted his retiring pension.

From 1863 to 1874 he was deputy dockmaster under Lord Bute and in 1874 became harbour master of Penarth. For 20 years he was hon. secretary to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at Penarth. He took a great interest in church work, and when at length in December 1897, he died, his loss was mourned by many relatives and friends.

| << previous page << | >> next page >> |