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CORT FAMILY
PENSIONS
Henry Cort's
pension
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Upon the representation of Mr. HDundas (Lord Melville), the
Treasury by warrant granted him a similar pension of £200 which he enjoyed
until his death in 1800. From Weale
collection, Vol 3 leaf 205 |
In 1794 the lords of the treasury, on the representation of Mr
Pitt, granted Cort an annual pension of £200, which by deduction was reduced
to about £160. From original
(19th century) DNB entry on Cort. |
There is probably truth in
both these accounts.
We can take it the pension
was the Government's response to the 1791 petition,
which requested a Government appointment for Cort.
Pitt seems to have passed on
the request to Dundas, who decided a pension was the
best solution.
The deduction, considered
stingy by some, was probably intended to pay some of Cort's outstanding
debt to the Crown.
1800 collection
for widow
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£300 collected by the Iron Masters shortly after my husband's
death, in the hands of Sir Robert Wigram. Item in will of Henry Cort's widow
Elizabeth, 16 August 1813 |
This is the only record I have
found of this collection.
Sir Robert Wigram was one the
signatories of the 1791
petition.
The ODNB lists several
investments he made in the affairs of the East India Company and its associates,
but I haven't yet found a reason for a special concern for Henry Cort's
dependants.
Widow's pension
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The indigence of the widow and her family is well known and my
opinion is that they are real objects for national relief. Opinion of Navy Comptroller
Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, in response to petition by Henry Cort's widow, 1801. |
Cash paid to Mrs Elizth Cort, out of Money arisen by
the sale of Old Stores being for her Pension between the 23 May 1800 & 25
March 1802 At the rate of £125 per ann Agreeable to His Majesty's Sign Manual
dated the 4 May 1802. £230.2.9 Entry in Navy
Treasurer's Account Book, 31 May 1802 |
I discovered the payment
record by accident: the only one I have found for any pension paid to Henry
Cort's family.
1812 collection
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£400 collected by the Iron Masters in
the years 1811 & 1812 paid by Mr. Thompson of Chepstow, 1812. Item in will of Henry Cort's widow Elizabeth, 16 August 1813 |
The inception of this
collection is well chronicled, but this is the only
record I have seen of what happened to it.
"Mr
Thompson of Chepstow" is well documented as a former clerk at
Cyfarthfa.
Richard Cort and
his sisters
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RICHARD CORT, the only surviving son of the late Henry Cort, of
Gosport, in the county of Southampton, iron manufacturer, on behalf of
himself and three sisters, aged from 68 to 73 years (Mr. Roebuck). Summary of
petition to House of Commons, presented
4 July 1856. |
On 20th June 1855, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister
Lord Palmerston, Richard Cort was granted a pension of £50 in the Civil List
and his two unmarried sisters had their pensions increased to £19 p.a. and
eventually to £30 and, in 1859, to £50 p.a. From Mott/Singer,
Henry Cort: The Great Finer, p79. |
So much for the Government's
response to the furore of the 1850s.
The year quoted by
Mott/Singer must be wrong. The Old DNB
says the pension was granted in 1856.
But their entry also says the
unmarried sisters' original pensions had been granted on their mother's death in
1816. This is hardly credible,
since her will was not proved until 1826.
Pensions were evidently
requested on behalf of three sisters, but granted to only two. It is likely that one had died in the
interval between the request and the grant: though it could be that Palmerston
ignored the claims of a widowed or married sister.
There is also a query about the age, identity and marital status of the
three sisters.
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Related pages Cort’s
promotion efforts1783-86 Cort's children and descendants Significance of the Melville trial Refutation of
allegations of conspiracies against Cort |
henrycort.net
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