CUMPSTEY, William Number Letter  474 14 Nov 1819

 

Honorable Sir:

 

            The humble Petition of  Will'm  CUMPSTEY, Schoolmaster of Lower Darwen in the Parish of Blackburn and County of Lancashire, humbly sheweth that your Petitioner has been employed in the capacity of instructing youth for fourteen years together. Your humble Petitioner being of the Religion of the established Church of England and a Pupil of the Reverend William BOARDMAN, late head Master of the Grammar School of Blackburn but now under orders for the Cape of Good Hope as Minister for the Emigrants about to be located in those colonies.

 

Your humble Petitioner most humbly solicits his Majesty's Ministers will be graciously pleased to allow your Petitioner to accompany his old Preceptor in the Capacity of teacher upon the Principles of the British system of Education (or the Madras system) also to assist him as his reading Clerk or otherwise make himself useful to his Majesty's Government by assisting the King's Service in laying out and Measuring such land or lands as may from time to time be required to be measured [or] laid out. Should his Majesty's most honorable Ministers be graciously pleased to grant your [hum]ble Petitioner any small Salary or Emolu[ment] so as to enable your Petitioner to carry his request into Practice Your humble Petitioner shall ever pray and acknowledge your obliging fa[vor] and as in Duty bound always exert his ability [in] order to meet your worth approbation.  [Await]ing your kind reply I remain Hon'ble [Sir]

 

Your Honorable, humble Petitioner

 

Wm. CUMPSTEY, School Master

 

 

 

Please to favor me with your honour's most gracious letter as soon as is convenient. Direct Mr. William CUMPSTEY,  Schoolmaster, at Mr. Richard CLARK's, Darwen Street, Blackburn, Lancashire.

 

 

 

Letter 475

 

We the undersigned humbly beg leave to certify that William CUMPSTEY is a married man; has a wife and two children; that he is twenty nine years of age; has been employed under us for nine years in the capacity of a Schoolmaster; is of regular and sober Habits, good morals, well affected to his Majesty's Government; and in our opinion well qualified as an English and Mathematical Teacher. We there[fore] hereby recommend him to his Majesty's Ministers as a suitable person to accompany the Emigrants to the Colonies of the Cape.

 

 Christ'r HINDLE, high Constable

 

Joseph COMSTEAD, Churchwarden            

These two letters form part of the file CO48/42 National Archives, Kew, London  ~  1820 Settler Correspondence C-D

 

 

Transcribed by volunteers from the ZA-IB and ZA-EC Rootsweb mailing lists from digital photographs taken by Rowena Wattrus at the National Archives. The original correspondence is filed in order of receipt. Here it has been placed in alphabetical order according to the surname of the writer, with letters by the same writer in chronological order, for ease of reading. Original spelling has been maintained.

 

 

 

Letters were either addressed to Lord BATHURST, Secretary of State for the Colonies, (starting My Lord), or to his deputy Henry GOULBURN (starting Sir). Reference numbers, where given, refer to printed page numbers stamped on the letters and will enable visitors to the National Archives to locate the letter more easily. If a page number is not given then the date of the letter will give a good idea of its whereabouts in the file.

 

William did not actually become one of the 1820 settlers to South Africa, as listed in ‘The Settler Handbook’ by M.D. Nash.

http://www.genealogyworld.net/settlers/correspondence/Settler%20Correspondence%20C.htm