Description:

Petition for Financial Help from the Seamens’ Hospital Fund. The Fund was the result of an Act of Parliament in 1747.

Barker’ pension of 3/6d a week was stopped after he published a pamphlet accusing his captain of cruelty. He wrote several times to the Trustees asking for his pension to be restored. Each request was rejected.

The Society of Merchant Venturers managed the National Insurance Scheme for Bristol, so petitions for help were addressed to them.

The Society of Merchant Venturers is a Bristol-based organisation, which was formed in 1552 as an elite body of merchants involved in overseas trade. The Society still exists today.

Date: 18th October 1763

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers

Object ID:50g