Wm Doust and the lost East India Co pension

[Martinfd]

The brickwall that has obstructed us for some years is the year of birth of William Doust who died in Greenwich, Kent in December 1809. His gravestone did contain his age at death but transcibers over 100 years ago could not read it and since then it has vanished along with many others when the burial ground at St Alfege was turned into a public park. His burial detail also failed to mention his age.

The first child he had that we know of was born in 1790 and he was described as a 'shipwright' on the baptism details. No apprenticeship detail can be found. His wife was born c1760 (though one record shows her born as early as 1757). In 1793 he joined the East India Co as a carpenter and set sail on his first voyage in June of that year.

In December 1809 he died and was described as a victualler which he appears to have taken up on leaving the East India Co and in 1810 his wife submitted a pension application to the East India Co which was, eventually, granted. This one line detail was shown on FMP and seemed to be the key that would unlock the mystery of his age and perhaps birthplace as the index pointed to the full application set held at the British library in a series l/mar/c/789 numbers 1-150. Mary Doust's application was number 108.

Sadly, it transpires that Mary's application papers are not filed between 107 or 109 - or even nearby to these numbers - they are missing. Typical!

Whilst we have a notion as to when William was born and where, it remains no more than a theory. Getting hold of Mary's pension application - or any other official documentation - would surely provide the info to crack this frustrating problem. Does anyone have any suggestions with regard to the missing pension application or any other avenues that may help resolve this mystery? Please!

[markmccormack]

My first instinct is to go back to basic assumptions and recheck records. In this case you have an old french Surname that may have numerous spellings:

D'Aoust, Daoust, Dast, Doust etc. etc.

IF this gentleman was Belgian or French heritage, then you may also have First Name issues:

Guilleaume, Guille, Gilles etc.

And IF that is true, you may also need to look for alternative spellings of Mary:

Marie etc.

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[markmccormack]

FMP record says 1818, am I reading that right?

If so, there are 11 "Mary" entries for "Carpenter's Widow" in the year 1818. If we assume that your Mary applied several times by 1818, perhaps she applied as Mary Doust, and then again under another name (maiden name or remarried name).

If that happened, perhaps they put your 108 file in with that one once the pension was granted.

Just a thought... you seem to have exhausted many other paths of inquiry.

Mark

[Martinfd]

thanks for this. I think you make a very relevant point but suspect that it applies to what we believe to be William's parents who just seem to 'appear' in Kent circa 1760 at around the time of 'our' Williams birth. This is useful though, thanks.

[Martinfd]

Mary Doust was widowed in late 1809 and applied for the pension in 1810 and her application was numbered 108 and included on the index (l/mar/c/765 I think). Her granted pension is included on the consolidated listing of East India Co pensions that was produced for the government in c1833 where it shows her claim as being granted in 1817. She also appears on a listing for 1818 (l/mar/c/788) pension payments which is what you may have seen. It must be a possibility that file 108 was put with records relating to year 1817 so this may be an area for us to look at. Mary did not change her surname again in her life and her access to the pension fund was via her Doust husband so I think that this case/file is number driven i.e. 108 rather than name driven. Thanks for your help.