See also
Husband:
Patrick Burt (c. 1770-bef1836)
Wife:
Jane Sheen (1771-1850)
Children:
Marriage:
1794
Bombay, India
Name:
Patrick Burt
Sex:
Male
Father:
-
Mother:
-
Note (shared):
In Dear Jane (Chapter 4, page 35) mention is made of John Wordsworth’s ship, The Duke of Montrose, being on the South Devon coast, "by a series of delays .. had to put into Torbay ... in July (1797) and was kept there by adverse winds till September, eight weeks of enforced idleness." Research has revealed that the ship began the journey from the Downs in May, round to Portsmouth, on its way to India.
The crew of the ship, however, were anxious about the sea-worthiness of the vessel, and ugly rumours were spreading among the crew, and when it was time to leave Portsmouth on June 5th, they refused to comply with the order to weigh anchor until the leak they complained of was dealt with. Captain Patrick Burt, in command of the vessel, attempted to argue with the men that all was well, and when that failed, he tried to sail with the help of the passengers (an idea which the crew thought of with contempt). They became increasingly mutinous - and one of the passengers, Charles William Johnson (a young man who was on his way to take up an appointment in Calcutta), may have tried to help the Captain - and was threatened by the mutineers. But (as we are told by his son, years later in his account of his father’s experience) his life was saved by the action of the 2nd Mate, John Wordsworth, who quelled the mutiny and saved Charles Johnson’s life thereby. About twenty "disaffected" and "refractory" seamen were sent ashore by the Company’s Surveyor, who came on board and announced that the leak was not important! - a mere inch an hour. It was later to become thirteen inches.
Source: Constance Pilgrim, "The Unknown Lover"
http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number9/pilgrim.htm (accessed 26.12.2009)
Note: The John Wordsworth referred to here, the younger brother of the poet William Wordsworth, is supposed to be the "unknown lover" of Jane Austen. It is supposed that they met at Torbay in the summer of 1797. The Charles William Johnson whose life was saved was related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great eighteenth-century portrait painter, by the marriage of his uncle, William Johnson, of Great Torrington, North Devon, to Sir Joshua’s sister, Elizabeth Reynolds. Sir Joshua had helped the young man to his appointment in Calcutta by introducing him to Warren Hastings.
H. C. S. Duke of Montrose, Captain Patrick Burt. In 1797, after the mutiny in the navy, on her passage from England to Madras and Bengal, a very determined mutiny broke out on board this ship, which was owing to a previous slate of lax discipline and ill-timed forbearance. Captain Burt was exceedingly averse to flogging, and several serious offences passed without due severity; at length, for the preservation of any thing like discipline, it became absolutely necessary to punish a seaman at the gangway. On the following day, the whole ship's company refused to do their duty, and would not go upon deck : they unshipped the ladders, and took possession of the gun-deck. Captain Burt sent his officers down, armed, to force the crew to obedience. Messrs. Mac Taggart, Wordsworth, and Buchannan, the first, second, and third officers, followed by others, rushed forward, and found the mutineers training one of the guns, with the intention to point it aft, against captain and officers; the poker in the galley-fire, to serve as a match ; (the galley in the Montrose was below). When Mr. Mac Taggart reached the fore-hatchway, he heard one of the ringleaders declare, "Now's the time! bear a hand ! and let's have a slap at them b_____y b_____rs !" He instantly drew his sword, and cut the fellow down. The ship's company immediately surrendered. The prompt and determined spirit evinced by Mr. MacTaggart and his brother-officers averted more alarming consequences ; and this circumstance strongly proves that a decisive blow and a resolute show of firmness never fail to subdue open and declared mutiny.
Christopher Biden, Naval Discipline: Subordination contrasted with insubordination, London, 1830, p.328
Birth:
c. 1770
Occupation (1):
22 Apr 1797 (age 26-27)
Captain in the East India service
Occupation (2):
1800 (age 29-30)
Captain, "Duke of Montrose", 762 tons (Register of East India Ships, 1800-1)
Death:
bef 1836 (age 65-66)
Name:
Jane Sheen
Sex:
Female
Father:
Mother:
Birth:
12 Jan 1771
London
Baptism:
11 Feb 1771 (age 0)
Saint Benet Pauls Wharf, London (mother named as Isabella)
Residence (1):
1836 (age 64-65)
6 East India Company’s Buildings, Poplar, Middlesex
Census:
1841 (age 69-70)
Pensioner, No.6 Poplar Hospital
Residence (2):
1850 (age 78-79)
EICC, Poplar
Death fact:
1850 (age 78-79)
1850 Sep Q, Poplar, 2/222
Death:
1850 (age 78-79)
Poplar, Middlesex
Burial:
1 Aug 1850
All Saints, Poplar, Middlesex (aged 79)
Name:
Robert Forbes Burt
Sex:
Male
Spouse:
Children:
Birth:
10 Nov 1795
London
Baptism:
22 Apr 1797 (age 1)
St Alphege, Greenwich, Kent
Census (1):
1841 (age 45-46)
Living with mother, no occupation indicated
Census (2):
1861 (age 65-66)
Fund holder, 5 Wordslock Villa, Stratford, West Ham
Occupation:
"Gentleman" on daughter Eliza's marriage cert., 12.7.1898
Census (3):
1871 (age 75-76)
Clerk, inmate, Essex District Lunatic Asylum, South Weald, Essex (married)
Death fact:
1875 (age 79-80)
1875 Dec Q, Billericay, 4a/126 (aged 80)
Death:
1875 (age 79-80)
Billericay, Essex
Name:
Patrick Henry Burt
Sex:
Male
Note (shared):
Will of Patrick Henry Burt, commander of the East India free trader Coldstream & a Captain of the HEICS at sea, bach. [d 22 Mar 1836, to Jane Burt of 6 East India Company’s Buildings, Poplar, Middlesex, wid. the mother, Estate Duty Registers], £12000, Pts., 15 Nov 1836
The National Archives, PROB 6/212, IR 26/244
Families in British India Society, http://www.fibis.org/
Birth:
30 Nov 1797
Greenwich, Kent
Baptism:
13 Jan 1798 (age 0)
St Alphege, Greenwich, Kent
Occupation:
22 Jul 1830 (age 32)
Appointed Lieutenant, Royal Navy (The Navy List)
Death:
22 Mar 1836 (age 38)
Name:
Henry Ogilvy Burt
Sex:
Male
Birth:
28 Sep 1800
Greenwich, Kent
Baptism:
15 Nov 1800 (age 0)
St Alphege, Greenwich, Kent
In Dear Jane (Chapter 4, page 35) mention is made of John Wordsworth’s ship, The Duke of Montrose, being on the South Devon coast, "by a series of delays .. had to put into Torbay ... in July (1797) and was kept there by adverse winds till September, eight weeks of enforced idleness." Research has revealed that the ship began the journey from the Downs in May, round to Portsmouth, on its way to India.
The crew of the ship, however, were anxious about the sea-worthiness of the vessel, and ugly rumours were spreading among the crew, and when it was time to leave Portsmouth on June 5th, they refused to comply with the order to weigh anchor until the leak they complained of was dealt with. Captain Patrick Burt, in command of the vessel, attempted to argue with the men that all was well, and when that failed, he tried to sail with the help of the passengers (an idea which the crew thought of with contempt). They became increasingly mutinous - and one of the passengers, Charles William Johnson (a young man who was on his way to take up an appointment in Calcutta), may have tried to help the Captain - and was threatened by the mutineers. But (as we are told by his son, years later in his account of his father’s experience) his life was saved by the action of the 2nd Mate, John Wordsworth, who quelled the mutiny and saved Charles Johnson’s life thereby. About twenty "disaffected" and "refractory" seamen were sent ashore by the Company’s Surveyor, who came on board and announced that the leak was not important! - a mere inch an hour. It was later to become thirteen inches.
Source: Constance Pilgrim, "The Unknown Lover"
http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number9/pilgrim.htm (accessed 26.12.2009)
Note: The John Wordsworth referred to here, the younger brother of the poet William Wordsworth, is supposed to be the "unknown lover" of Jane Austen. It is supposed that they met at Torbay in the summer of 1797. The Charles William Johnson whose life was saved was related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great eighteenth-century portrait painter, by the marriage of his uncle, William Johnson, of Great Torrington, North Devon, to Sir Joshua’s sister, Elizabeth Reynolds. Sir Joshua had helped the young man to his appointment in Calcutta by introducing him to Warren Hastings.
H. C. S. Duke of Montrose, Captain Patrick Burt. In 1797, after the mutiny in the navy, on her passage from England to Madras and Bengal, a very determined mutiny broke out on board this ship, which was owing to a previous slate of lax discipline and ill-timed forbearance. Captain Burt was exceedingly averse to flogging, and several serious offences passed without due severity; at length, for the preservation of any thing like discipline, it became absolutely necessary to punish a seaman at the gangway. On the following day, the whole ship's company refused to do their duty, and would not go upon deck : they unshipped the ladders, and took possession of the gun-deck. Captain Burt sent his officers down, armed, to force the crew to obedience. Messrs. Mac Taggart, Wordsworth, and Buchannan, the first, second, and third officers, followed by others, rushed forward, and found the mutineers training one of the guns, with the intention to point it aft, against captain and officers; the poker in the galley-fire, to serve as a match ; (the galley in the Montrose was below). When Mr. Mac Taggart reached the fore-hatchway, he heard one of the ringleaders declare, "Now's the time! bear a hand ! and let's have a slap at them b_____y b_____rs !" He instantly drew his sword, and cut the fellow down. The ship's company immediately surrendered. The prompt and determined spirit evinced by Mr. MacTaggart and his brother-officers averted more alarming consequences ; and this circumstance strongly proves that a decisive blow and a resolute show of firmness never fail to subdue open and declared mutiny.
Christopher Biden, Naval Discipline: Subordination contrasted with insubordination, London, 1830, p.328
Will of Patrick Henry Burt, commander of the East India free trader Coldstream & a Captain of the HEICS at sea, bach. [d 22 Mar 1836, to Jane Burt of 6 East India Company’s Buildings, Poplar, Middlesex, wid. the mother, Estate Duty Registers], £12000, Pts., 15 Nov 1836
The National Archives, PROB 6/212, IR 26/244
Families in British India Society, http://www.fibis.org/