Clutching at straws...

Daft Bat

Daft Bat

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I know that this is a shot in the dark, but can anyone make out the surname of Robert Charles?

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It is written on the back of a silhouette (courtesy of my friend Tim) and refers to a chap who died on 28th May 1794 in the West Indies of Yellow Fever, aged 50 - so born about 1744.

Tim is wondering where the chap came from - there are no other clues written on the back. :headbang:
 
MollyMay said:
Not entirely sure what this record set is about
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Just had a rummage and apparently, a Tontine is an investment scheme in which the so-called shareholders create a common investment pool and derive some form of profit or benefit (usually financial) while they are alive.

I love it when information comes from obscure sources! :D
 
Again not sure but the following page, on the original appears to name a Sarah on the same line as Robert. Can you access it?
Also in 1796 in Ireland there is a marriage of Miss Dering to Mr Dealtry - the only details given sadly - Farrar's index to Irish Marriages 1771-1812
 
Well, how about this from the Kentish Weekly Post 29th August 1794 :)
I don't know why the age is so different, but otherwise it must be the same chap - he sounds a bit too good to be true :rolleyes:

Lately died in the West Indies, a lieutenant on board his Majesty’s ship the Iphigenia, Robert Charles Dering Esq., the third son of Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden, in this county, bart. He fell a victim of the ravages of the yellow fever, in the climate. By his death, the service has lost an able and experienced officer, who, though he died at the premature age of barely twenty three, might yet not improperly be called, a veteran in the discharge of his duty, as he embarked in it at the age of eleven. The seamen have severely to lament the loss of a virtuous superior, whose humanity and tender treatment, in the various relations in which he stood connected to them, procated him their general respect and veneration. And among his numerous and private friends, it would be an injustice to his memory, to attempt to portray the very many amiable qualities, that were so strikingly characteristic in every action of his life.
Though the above melancholy intelligence has been circulating thro’ the county for a long time past, yet from the miscarriage of an official account, or from some other unknown cause, the information did not reach his afflicted parents till Saturday last.
 
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MollyMay said:
Again not sure but the following page, on the original appears to name a Sarah on the same line as Robert. Can you access it?
Also in 1796 in Ireland there is a marriage of Miss Dering to Mr Dealtry - the only details given sadly - Farrar's index to Irish Marriages 1771-1812
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Yes, I see what you mean, I have no idea who Sarah Bristow might have been - more digging needed :reading:
 
The "Three Decks Forum" ask Mr Google has his naval record

His first record is for 1790, so was he really aged 50, or was the newspaper report nearer the mark, especially seeing his brother was born in the 1770's?
 
MollyMay said:
The "Three Decks Forum" ask Mr Google has his naval record

His first record is for 1790, so was he really aged 50, or was the newspaper report nearer the mark, especially seeing his brother was born in the 1770's?
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I've just been reading through that - got a bit carried away following the links :rolleyes:
 
MollyMay said:
His first record is for 1790, so was he really aged 50, or was the newspaper report nearer the mark, especially seeing his brother was born in the 1770's?
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At first looking, it seemed to say "fifty" (end of first line shown) but I have found evidence of him being born in 1771 - see post #13).

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Any suggestions of what that says if not "fifty" anyone? o_O
 
Could it be 15 - do you have the picture? Does it look a mature face (not that you can tell that much from a silhouette).
 
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