"The story of Lieutenant Fitton first caught my eye a few years ago, whilst reading William James' Naval History of Great Britain, printed originally in 1827. To me it epitomises what must have happened to the vast majority of the thousands of Naval Officers who served before, during and after the Napoleonic Wars. We read of the few, who through their gallant acts, and often good connections, were promoted to greater things, and the stories of their exploits were trumpeted loud and clear in the London Gazette, which were picked up by the rags of the day, but we are rarely allowed the pleasure of being able to follow the career of an officer, equally brave and energetic, by all accounts, but who for some reason, be it through lack of patronage etc. was never able to make the break beyond a humble Lieutenant.
With the help of O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary and William James epic, I've attempted to stitch together a little of Michael's life, in the main, using the words of the writers of the day, with perhaps the odd addition here and there, either to clarify a point or to make it a little more readable.
Since collecting this information I've subsequently discovered that a fictional and perhaps more romantic story of his life, using some of the characters and incidents that took place in Lieutenant Fitton's service career, was written by Showell Styles in his book "A Sword For Mr Fitton…"
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Amicalement
Armand
