Robert Curling (churchwarden 1792) and family - additional information
Merchant Seamen's Office, Feb. 20, 1800. At a General Meeting of the Subscribers, held here this day, Sir Richard Neave, Bart., in the chair, the following statement of the accounts was laid before the meeting : — Sums subscribed ... Expended in acknowledgments of plate to several officers of His Majesty's Navy, for their very meritorious services in the protection of the trade of this country: — £2,432.14.11 Gratuities in money to wounded and other seamen, who have exerted themselves in defending and protecting their vessels against the enemy: — £1,007.7.10 Advertisements: — £333.16. 3 Stationery and other incidental charges: — £235 The corporation, for the relief of Seamen in the Merchant's Service: — £17.1.9 Total: — £4026.18.0 It is with the greatest satisfaction the Committee can acquaint the subscribers, that in the numerous instances wherein they have been able to pay a tribute of distinction to those meritorious officers in His Majesty's Navy, who have more particularly signalized themselves in protecting the commerce of the country, the notice of the committee had been universally received with expressions of the utmost sensibility; and that the sums of money presented to the officers and crews of other vessels, had been acknowledged with the sincerest gratitude, perfectly according with the original intention of the institution, and confirming its objects. That they have only to regret that the meritorious services of many brave men must already unavoidably have escaped their notice; and that the abilities of the fund did not afford the means of testifying their sense of the distinguished actions which were daily claiming their regards. Richard Neave, Beeston Long, Wm. Manning, Thomas Beddington, Alex. Champion, Robert Curling |
At
a meeting of the committee of ship-owners for the port of London, held
the 1st November, 1803, Robert Curling, Esq. in the Chair: Resolved, That the secretary be requested to apply to Mr. Marsham for copies of all the orders made and published by the directors of the West-India dock company, in order that the ship-owners in the West-India trade may be apprised of them, and give the necessary instructions ta their respective masters. (Signed) Robert Curling, Chairman At a general meeting of the society of ship-owners of Great Britain, held at the London Tavern, on Thursday, the 22d day of March, 1804, Robert Curling, Esq. in the Chair: The secretary read the report of the committee, stating that the committee deemed it necessary to request the attention of the meeting to the several objects which had been noticed by them since their appointment. The society, it was to be observed, was instituted in 1802, in consequence of the depreciated state of the shipping interest, and the various inconveniences to which shipowners were then liable Their first and most important object had been to endeavour to convince the king's ministers of the impolicy of imposing any direct tax on shipping: and they are satisfied, that in case an investigation into the actual state of the navigation of the country had taken place, and which was so earnestly desired by them, much of the distress which is continued to be felt by the shipping interest would have been avoided; their statements would have been found correct, and not fallacious or exaggerated, as they were so industriously represented to be; and the country would not at the present time have had to regret the injurious operation of the application of so new a principle of taxation in a maritime country, the continued suspension of the Navigation Act, and the emigration of many brave native seamen, who are either now in the employment of America, or in the service of the enemy. This object the committee had not been able completely to attain: they, however, hope, that the frequent recurrence to these points, and the repeated intimations which have been given to many of the members of the legislature on the subject, will occasion, at no distant day, a parliamentary inquiry into the actual state of the navigation of Great Britain. The committee forbear at present commenting further on these most important objects to the country, or to expatiate more fully on the present depressed state of the shipping interest and the causes which have occasioned it; they are too obvious to need enumeration, and the ultimate ruinous consequences to be expected from them can only be averted by a strict adherence to the provisions of the Navigation Act, which our ancestors considered so essentially requisite to the glory and welfare of the empire, and by affording to British ship-owners such facilities as will at least enable them to navigate their ships upon an equal footing with foreigners. The other subjects which had come before the committee were the following, viz. 1st. The serious inconvenience many ship-owners have felt, and still continue to feel, from being obliged to take out licences and give bonds to the commissioners of his majesty's customs, from the particular construction and build of their ships. The subject was considered of so much consequence, that it had been referred to a sub-committee to take the same into their consideration, and point out not only the several inconveniences resulting from the regulation, but the means by which they might be remedied, without any injury whatever to the revenue; and to report the same to the committee: accordingly a memorial had been presented to {he lords committee of trade on the subject; but the committee are sorry to observe, that their lordships have refused to make any alteration in the regulations of the commissioners of the customs. 2dly. The next subject which had been submitted to the consideration of the committee, was the claim recently set up by the trustees of Ramsgate harbour for payment of the harbour dues on colliers returning in ballast coastwise, and from Guernsey or Jersey: and the committee had, at the request of the ship-owners at Sunderland and Scarborough, taken the opinion of a very eminent lawyer on the subject; and it appeared by that opinion, that the trustees were not warranted by the act in demanding the harbour dues on colliers returning in ballast coastwise, or from Guernsey or Jersey, as before stated. In consequence of that opinion, a case had been by consent submitted to the consideration of two of the judges, and which remained for a second argument. |
Gentleman's Magazine 1810 p307 Mr. URBAN, Blackheath, March 23. A REFLECTION having been cast on the character of my late respected father, in your Obituary, vol. LXX1X. p. l086, by insinuating that he had, by force and operation of Law, possessed himself of the Offley Holes Estate in Hertfordshire, and had thereby obtained properly worth £12,000, on a mortgage of £4000, I must beg of you to insert the accompanying statement, which I have called upon Messrs. Dennetts and Greaves, the Solicitors in this case, to make; with a view that the publick may see the transaction in its true light, and that the memory of departed worth may no longer be assailed by the pen of anonymous calumny. It is far from my wish to become the public eulogist of a parent, whose integrity, through a course of 69 years, had secured him the respect and confidence of the Mercantile world, in which he lived and died a distinguished member, or to be the promulgator of this fact, that the handsome property which he left behind him was the produce of praiseworthy exertions and honest industry; nor is it my desire to dwell on that uniform kindness and uudeviating rectitude, which claimed the admiration and love of his numerous family; they knew his virtues, and they mourn his loss. But it is my anxiety as his son and as his executor, an anxiety which arises not only from the knowledge of the uprightness of the conduct of my deceased parent on this occasion, but on every other, that urges me to rescue his character from the insidious attack that has been made on it; not by declaiming on his many and valuable qualities; not by arguing on the policy of the advance on the estate, either with a view to present or future advantage, but by simply stating the truth, and deducing those inferences which every impartial mind must draw from the statement of Messrs. Dennetts and Greaves, which accompanies this. I anticipate with confidence and satisfaction the conclusion which every honest and unprejudiced mind will form, in comparing these authentic documents, attested by such respectability, with the bare assertions of an anonymous author of the paragraph alluded to, to whom both time and opportunity has been afforded, to preserve himself from that odium which must henceforth attach lo him. I look with gratification to the impressions which the manly and generous conduct of my lamented father towards the daughter of Mr. Rose Beckford will create on the public mind. On him she had no claim; from him she had no right to look for such support; nor, in her situation of life, was it ever likely that she could have known the particulars of her own history: yet did he cherish and protect her; yet did he expand her mind, by affording her the advantages of education; yet did he place her beyond the reach of want by making her independent, and lived to see himself rewarded by the gratitude and good conduct of a promising and amiable female, who is now received into the bosom and affection of that family, which lives to revere his virtues, to venerate his memory, and to deplore his loss. This transaction, honourable as it was, would never have met the public eye, had it not been called forth as a debt due to departed integrity; nor could the delicacy which I feel as a son, in disclosing these admirable traits in the disposition of a respected and lamented parent, have been superseded, but by the imperious necessity of doing justice to his memory, which rises paramount to every other consideration. I shall conclude these observations with the language of an eminent Divine, which is too applicable lo be omitted: "Reputation, next to a good conscience, is the most valuable, from which indeed it naturally springs, and to which it of right belongs; the root lies out of the reach of injury; but the fruit so fair, so fragrant, and so beauteous, that, alas! hangs exposed to the assault of every psssenger. The meanest, as he passes along, may throw a stone upwards, and laugh to see the prize fall, though lie cannot gather it." Edward Spencer Curling. Blackheath, March 21, 1810. Gentlemen, The author of the paragraph inserted in the Obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for November last, respecting the mode by which the possession of the Offley Holes Estate in Hertfordshire came to my late father, having declined to afford any explanation whatever, although he has been repeatedly applied to for that purpose; and, as the perusal of the article, in the manner in which it is worded, must necessarily induce impressions unfavourable to the memory of my lamented parent, and distressing to the feelings of his family; I feel it my duly to call upon you to state most fully all the particulars regarding the possesion of the Estate alluded to, and of the subsequent conduct of my father, in the disposal of the residue of its value. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient and very humble servant, Edward Spencer Curling. To Messrs. Dennetts and Greaves, King's Arm's Yard, Coleman Street. King's Arms Yard, March 22, 1810. Dear Sir, In compliance with your request, we beg to state lo you the particulars you require, respecting the Offley Holes Estate; the manner in which your late worthy father became possessed of it, his conduct after the death of Mr. Rose Beckford; and to pledge ourselves for the authenticity of the statement. The late Mr. Rose Beckford, one of the illegitimate children of Alderman Beckford, borrowed, about the year 1795, of your father Mr. Robert Curling, the sum of £4000. on a mortgage of the Offley Holes Estate, which was then considered to he worth about £7000. About six years after this transaction, Mr. Rose Beckford died intestate. A question then arose, upon which the opinions of Ihe Solicitor of the Treasury and some of the most eminent legal advisers of that time were taken, whether, by Mr. Beckford's death, he being illegitimate, a bachelor, and dying intestate, the Estate did not escheat to the Crown? After considerable trouble and expence, it was at length decided, that the Estate was not escheated to the Crown, but became legally, though not "by force of law", the property of Mr. Curling. These are the particulars as to the mode by which your late father became possessed of the Offley Holes Eslale; and we proceed to add such information, on the disposal of the residue of it, after the death of Mr. Beckford, as came within our knowledge. Mr. Curling having heard that Mr. Rose Beckford had left an illegilimate daughter, of about seven Years of age, immediately took the necessary measures to ascertain the fact: and, after diligent search, discovered her in a remote village in Bedfordshire, unprotected and totally unprovided for: whereupon Mr. Curling committed her to the care of a respectable person; and also had the Offley Holes Estate valued, in order to make some arrangement for her future advantage. The value being fixed, Mr. Curling, after deducting the principal and interest due to him, and the expences [sic] that had been incurred in the improvement of the Estate, invested the surplus in the Public Funds in the names of Trustees, for the benefit of the said child, who has ever since that period been at a respectable boarding-school, deriving the advantages of a liberal education, and receiving the countenance and protection of the various branches of Mr. Curling's family. To these facls we, can speak with accuracy; and have a sincere gratification in communicating them to you. We remain, Dear Sir, very respectfully, your obedient humble servants, Dennetts And Greaves. To Edw. Curling, Esq. Blackheath. |
The toast of
Bohemian London, whom artists such as Lord
Leighton and Sir L. Alma-Tadema had been proud to paint, she had been wooed and courted by men in high places
and of fabulous wealth. Her choice fell upon Jesse Curling, himself a
strikingly handsome young man, who was a sleeping partner in a big West
End tailoring firm.They met and, after a short courtship, became
engaged. Then, with dramatic suddenness, the engagement was broken off,
and she brought an action for breach against her wealthy
lover. For the model, there appeared in the King's Bench Court the late
Lord Carson (then Sir Edward Carson, Q.C., for the trial was in
Victoria's time). I can well imagine the resonant voice of this great
advocate as he drew a picture of his client's rise from obscurity to
fame as a leading London beauty, and then went on to impress the jury
as he denounced the suggestions made against her ... But they
will be refuted by evidence which will convince you that Katherine
Fitzpatrick is a grossly wronged woman to whom signal reparation is
due. Katie went into the witness box and told her story. Jesse Curling
did likewise. Counsel made their closing speeches, and the Lord Chief
Justice, who was presiding, summed up. The jury returned a verdict for
the plaintiff and awarded her £150 damages. Not a very large sum for a
broken heart, perhaps, and that is the reason I have quoted this case;
for it was only sixteen years later, in 1913, that the highest amount
ever known in connection with a breach of promise case [£50,000] was received by
Daisy Markham, the the actress, against the Marquis of Northampton,
then aged 28 and a Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards ... |
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