Conwy grave Griffith Owen
Griffith Owen (d.1860)
As his gravestone records, Griffith Owen served on the warship HMS Conqueror during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when the Royal Navy defeated its French counterpart to end Napoleon Bonaparte’s hopes of invading Britain. HMS Conqueror had 74 guns. During the battle its crew brought down the masts of the French flagship, called Bucentaure, whose crew eventually surrendered to HMS Conqueror.
Griffith was born in Amlwch, Anglesey, and was a 24-year-old ordinary seaman in 1805. He remained on HMS Conqueror until 1812, when he was discharged as sick and transferred to HMS Namur, built in 1756 and by then confined to a harbour patrol in Kent.
After retiring from the Navy, he sold produce from a stall near Conwy railway station. A notice at his stall informed the public of his Trafalgar connection. He was known as Griff y Saith Bol (“Seven-Bellies Griff”), which suggests that he was of ample girth!
He died, aged 78, on 29 June 1860.