Henry Teonge

Henry Teonge (born 18 March 1621 at Wolverton, Warwickshire, died 21 March 1690 at Spernall, Warwickshire) was an English cleric and Royal Navy chaplain who kept informative diaries of voyages he made in 1675–76 and 1678–79.

Teonge was the son of George Teonge, rector of Wolverton in 1619–62, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Henry Nicholls of Southam, Warwickshire. He was educated at Warwick School and at Christ's College, Cambridge, receiving his B. A. in 1643. He became rector of Alcester, Warwickshire, some time between 1648 and 1654, adding to it the adjacent living of Spernall in 1670, but not resigning Alcester until 1675. By this time he had a wife, Jane, three sons and a daughter to support, and his youngest son, Henry, was at Christ's College, Cambridge. It was almost certainly debts that made him take the surprising decision at the age of 55 to look for a chaplaincy posting in the Royal Navy.

The account of the first voyage begins with him in London and describes his difficulty in finding enough money to buy bedding to take on board the Assistance. Teonge relates that he "gott a good summ of monys" from that voyage (a total of about £75), but he was back at sea again after an interval of two years. In 1679 he returned to Spernall for the last eleven years of his life. Duty in Spernall was done in his absences by his son Henry – ordained in 1673 and rector of nearby Coughton from 1675 until his death in 1682. Teonge lost his wife in the same year, married again to Penelope Hunt in 1686, and died at Spernall on 21 March 1690. His will, made a few months before, valued his possessions at £66.

The diary provides lively reports of two voyages to the Mediterranean and the Levant, including a raid on a fleet of Barbary corsairs at Tripoli in 1675, under the command of Sir John Narborough. The risk posed to shipping by the "Tripolines" is a recurrent theme in the account of the first voyage.

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