Willoughby
Character Profile[edit]
| Name: | Willoughby |
| Date of Birth: | |
| Service: | Aerial Corps |
| Rank: | harness-man |
| Nationality: | British |
| Billets: | Loch Laggan covert, ground crew for Temeraire |
Biography[edit]
Willoughby, one of Temeraire's harness-men, was one of the ten crew members chosen to accompany Temeraire and Laurence to Peking, along with Granby, Keynes, Riggs, Dunne, Hackley, Blythe, Martin, Therrows and Digby. (Emily Roland and Peter Dyer also went, on George Staunton's advice. As they were children, they were not counted against the limit of ten set by Prince Yongxing.)
The choice was an unfortunate one for Willoughby, who was killed during the attack by a hunhun gang on the Peking residence where the British were staying. His neck was broken, possibly by a gang member who had studied Shaolin Quan.
Willoughby was buried in China. Sun Kai arranged for an artist to prepare a drawing of his tomb for his mother, and Prince Mianning selected a young man of good family to carry out what the Chinese considered to be the proper sacrifices and rites. As Willoughby's mother was a strict Methodist, Laurence decided not tell her more than that the tomb was elegant and would be well-maintained.
