This life-sized marble bust of Lieutenant William Rivers depicts him as a younger man- perhaps 40. His appearance seems somewhat somber as he looks into the distance. He wears a robe that reveals no other clothing underneath. It is located in the Discover Greenwich Center in Greenwich which is open daily 10-5 and is free of charge. See their website at (
visit link)
The placard at the site reads:
"Lieutenant William Rivers
Thomas Milnes, 1857
Rivers lost his left leg at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a year
before he became a lieutenant, but
continued to serve at sea until 1818.
In 1826, with a wife and seven
children to support, he became a
Lieutenant of the Hospital and later
the Governor's Adjutant."
Wikisource (
visit link) adds:
"RIVERS, WILLIAM (1788–1856), lieutenant in the navy and adjutant of Greenwich Hospital, was entered on board the Victory in May 1795. In her he went out to the Mediterranean, was slightly wounded in the action of 13 July 1795, was present in the battle of Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797, and on the return of the Victory to England continued in her while she was employed as a depot for prisoners, till paid off in 1799. He again joined the Victory in 1803, when she went out to the Mediterranean as flagship of Lord Nelson, and, continuing in her, was present in the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, when he was severely wounded by a splinter in the mouth, and had his left leg shot off in the very beginning of the action. On 8 Jan. 1806 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Princess of Orange. He received a gratuity from the patriotic fund, and in 1816 was awarded a pension of five shillings a day for the loss of his leg. From April 1806 to January 1807 he served in the Otter sloop in the Channel, from April 1807 to October 1809 he was in the Cossack frigate, in which he was present at the reduction of Copenhagen in September 1807 [see Gambier, James, Lord Gambier], and in the end of 1809 was in the Cretan off Flushing. For the following years, and till the peace, he served in successive guardships at the Nore. After many fruitless applications for employment, he was in November 1824 appointed warden at Woolwich dockyard, and in April 1826 to Greenwich Hospital. Here he remained for upwards of thirty years, during which time he took an active part in the administration and organi- sation of the hospital and many of the minor charities connected with it. He died in his rooms in the hospital on 5 Dec. 1856. He married, in 1809, a niece of Joseph Gibson of Long Bennington, Lincolnshire, and had issue."