Jane Townsend, also known as Jane Townshend, was a 19th-century British sailor. She is notable for her service on HMS ''Defiance'' during the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

Biography

Townsend's origin is not known, with first accounts of her life placing her aboard HMS ''Defiance'' during the

. Townsend's service during the battle is not specified by sources, but was remembered as notable with the captain of the ''Defiance'' (Philip Durham) later vouching for her. Townsend is first mentioned in the historical record when in 1847

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

declared that the newly established Naval General Service Medal would be awarded for service regardless of sex. This caused Townsend to file a claim for the medal; her claim was originally admitted, but on reconsideration refused on the grounds that granting the award would cause complications given the number of other women who served on Royal Navy ships. According to one source, she was the first woman to be awarded the General Service Medal. Suzanne J. Stark writing in '' The American Neptune'' argued that the grounds given for refusing the medal were clearly nonsense since over 20,000 were awarded to men and a more likely reason for the reversal was political pressure from Queen Victoria who felt that being involved in a naval battle went against a woman's natural position in life.

Citations

References

External links

Jane Townshend
in the National Archives Trafalgar database. 19th-century Royal Navy personnel Female sailors Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{UK-bio-stub