George Tryon - Early Life

Early Life

Tryon was born at Bulwick Park, Northamptonshire, England, the third son of Thomas Tryon and his wife Anne Trollope. He had three brothers: the eldest, Thomas, joined the 7th Royal Fusiliers, fought at Alma and Inkerman and served through the Indian Mutiny. The second, Henry, passed through Sandhurst before joining the Rifle Brigade, fighting at Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava before being killed in an attack on Russian positions in 1854. George was the third son: the fourth, Richard, also served in the Rifle Brigade. George attended a preparatory school and then Eton College before becoming a naval cadet in 1848, two years older than usual, aged sixteen. The choice of a naval career was made by George himself, rather than his family. Other students reported him to be a quick learner with a wide breadth of knowledge, whether because of his natural ability or his longer period of education before joining the Navy George was described as 'a tall lanky lad nearly six feet high, full of spirits and fond of a lark'

Naval training at this time took place on board ship, and having obtained a nomination and passed the modest exams, he was posted to HMS Wellesley in spring 1848. Wellesley (Captain George Goldsmith under Amiral the Earl of Dundonald) was then at Plymouth preparing to leave as flagship of the North American Station. She was a two-decker sailing ship, since steam power was only then being introduced into the navy. At that time, the principal important art to be taught to new recruits was how to handle a sailing ship, though within ten years almost all first class naval ships would be steam powered. He was required to pay his own schoolmaster at the rate of £5 per year. In particular, his mathematics at the start of his training was considered very poor, but at examinations eighteen months later, he came top of the class. Wellesley sailed on 24 March, arriving at Bermuda on 3 May. In correspondence home, he observed that he was seasick, and that the gales caused considerable broken crockery aboard ship. Yet while the gunroom (where the midshipman lived) suffered badly from its broken cups of a different pattern to those used elsewhere on the ship, their hens, much alike with others on board, never became ill or died.

As a midshipman, Tryon was not an official member of the crew, but a supernumerary, available as spare crew for posting to other ships. He narrowly avoided a posting to Imaum, a hulk lying in Port Royal harbour which needed crew, which would have been a very unpromising start to his career. Although officially posted to that ship, he prevailed upon Lieutenant Cochran (son of Lord Dundonald) to arrange that he would remain on loan to Wellesley. Tryon started to make sketches of the places he visited, which while not very good at the start, improved steadily. In November the ship reached Halifax, where George noted, 'the other day another of our men was murdered here'. Although Wellesly was a sailing ship, it was accompanied by a paddle-wheel steamer: when the wind failed the steamer would tow the sail ship, when the wind blew well the steamer would be towed to save coal.

In the summer of 1849, Tryon had the chance of joining a tour of the United States, but declined in favour of study, and that he been allowed command of a cutter, which was unusual for a junior cadet. In the summer of 1850, he took the tour, visiting Boston, New York, Washington, where they visited the House of Representatives, were introduced to senior politicians and witnessed a debate over California's requested admission to the Union as a free rather than slave state. He commented on the great welcome given to them once it became known that they were English. He also commented on the absence of beggars in the streets.