Incase you can't see this bit when not a member of Soc of Genealogists
here is what it says about those records.
The original documents
In nearly every case the Petitions follow a stereotypical formula, as the forms contain a printed set of questions which were to be answered by the applicant. The following Petition of Ann Bell in January, 1848, may be taken as a representative example:
To the Honorable the Master, Wardens and Assistants, of the Corporation of Trinity-House of Deptford-Strond. The humble Petition of Ann Bell, aged forty six years, residing at Queen Street, Whitehaven, Widow of John Bell,
Sheweth,
That your Petitioner's Husband went to Sea at the Age of 15 in the Year 1820 and was employed in the Merchant Sea Service for 27 Years, in the following Ships, and others, and in the annexed Stations:
Year Ship or
Vessel's Name Register Tonnage Station on board From what Place,
to what Place
1820 William of 158 tons Apprentice From Whitehaven
to Dublin
1825 do. do. Mate do.
1832 do. do. Master do.
1848
up to death Ceres 150 tons Mate do.
That your Petitioner's Husband on the 16th day of January, 1848, went on board the last named vessel early in the morning to get her into a proper Berth in the Whitehaven Harbour and the Hatches having been left off he fell into [the] Hold and was killed on the place, and she has 5 Children, viz. 2 Boys under 12 Years of Age, and 3 Girls under 14 Years of Age, viz.
CHILDREN'S NAMES DATE OF CHILDREN'S BIRTH
Dorothy born 25th February 1835
William born 12 Novr 1837
Ann born 10 May 1840
Lancelot born 3 August 1842
Mary Ann born 2 July 1846
That your Petitioner has no Annual Income from Real or Personal Property. That your Petitioner's Means of Support are from her Friends, she being in a delicate state of health which not being sufficient to support herself and Family, she most humbly prays that she or her Children may be admitted to the Pension of this Corporation.
Your Petitioner will ever pray, &c.,
Ann Bell X her mark
Dated 25th January 1848.
On the other side of this Petition are certificates, one signed by the owner of the ship in which John Bell last served, another by a Medical Practitioner saying that Ann Bell is "incapable of gaining her livelihood", and the third by "two respectable Persons" (in this case six Whitehaven shipowners sign) vouching for the truth of the Petition. Then follow five certificates of baptism of the children signed by the Curate of St James, Whitehaven, a certificate of the marriage of John Bell and Ann (formerly Dobson), at the same church, and five birth certificates of the children, on one of which the informant is "John Bell of Whitehaven, Master of the House of Correction, in attendance and grandfather of the infant". The Petition is endorsed "4s.6d." and dated 14th February, 1848. This means that the Petitioner was granted that amount monthly from the date stated.
Naturally every Petition varies in the amount of information given, and also the number of documents enclosed in support of the Petitioner's claims, but as the period covered by them includes the whole of the Napoleonic Wars, there is a tremendous amount of valuable genealogical information about many seamen who either fought or were taken prisoner during those times.
Unfortunately the records of Trinity House suffered severely as a result of fires in 1666 and 1714 and the balance was almost totally destroyed by bombing in 1940. Providentially in 1934 the Corporation of Trinity House had presented to the Society of Genealogists all the Petitions for assistance then surviving and covering the period 1787 to 1854.
At some time in the eighteenth century the first Petitions had been given a serial letter A, and were numbered from 1 to 10,000. They were entered into Pension Pay Books where all details as to the rates of pay, etc, were recorded. All the Petitions in Series A have perished, and although the Pay Books survived from 1775 and contained details of Petitioners from A2547 onwards, these too were destroyed in 1940.
All the Petitions until B4001 dated 1 February, 1787, have also disappeared but from that date the Society has an apparently complete run to 1854. The Petitions were originally filed in bundles in numerical order in their respective years, but they were opened out by the Society, placed in rough alphabetical order, and then bound into 102 volumes. For some unknown reason an additional group of Petitions, covering a similar period was put to one side at the Society and not traced until 1970 when it also was bound into eleven volumes. All these documents, after having been microfilmed, were deposited by the Society at the Guildhall Library, London.
Further information on Trinity House and its records, now stored at the Guildhall Library, London, is available at
www.history.ac.uk/gh/thouse.htm and
www.history.ac.uk/gh/thouse2.htm , and in an article by E.P. Stapleton, that appeared in "The Genealogists' Magazine", vi, 490-492 (1934).
