Description:

Petition for financial help from the Seamens’ Hospital Fund, administered in Bristol by the Society of Merchant Venturers. The Fund was the result of an act of Parliament in 1747.

From Abraham Anderson, carpenter on the ship, the Prince, on a voyage to Africa. Anderson lost the use of his limbs, was unable to work and had a wife to support: requesting help until he could work again.

As The Society of Merchant Venturers managed the National Insurance Scheme for Bristol, 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: 4th Jan 1789

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers