Description:

Letter from Robert Barker to the Society of Merchant Venturers asking for his pension back (the Society administered the Seamean’s Hospital Fund). Barker was carpenter on the Thetis. He went blind on a slaving voyage to Africa. His pension from the Fund was stopped after he published a pamphlet accusing Captain Wapshutt of the Thetis of murder and cruelty. The Trustees of the Fund supported Wapshutt. Barker made several efforts to get his pension back but was always rejected.

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:50a