The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.2 | September 2022

Member’s article

Cape in 1802 and he himself granted a Cape lawyer power of attorney to undertake every cause in law in which Wilson might in any way be interested or connected. The 1802 Treaty of Amiens had brought to an end to Wilson’s time on the Cape but not to the consequences of the business commitments he had assumed there. In June 1803 he was declared bankrupt as a result of the dealings of his partnership with Thomas Haines. At that time, subject to various statutes providing for their relief, insolvent debtors generally could be imprisoned and remained liable for their debts. However, a trader, such as Wilson, was a special case. Where he did certain acts, tending to defeat his creditors, he could be adjudged bankrupt which resulted (1) in the immediate seizure of his property; (2) a distribution of it among the creditors in general, instead of merely applying a portion of it to the payment of the individual complainant; and (3) the discharge of the debtor from future liability for the debts then existing. Once Commissioners of Bankruptcy appointed by the Lord Chancellor had established that a debtor was bankrupt, a notice was published in the London Gazette, the property of the bankrupt was assembled and vested in an Assignee (ie a Trustee). When the bankrupt had satisfied the legal requirements, a Certificate of Conformity was issued effectively discharging him from his debts. So it was in Wilson’s case. It was accepted that his business activities qualified him as a trader and, after disclosure of his estate and the proof of debts, his Certificate of Conformity was granted on 20 September 1803. One creditor, a Mr Macklay, did not seek

to prove his debt until 8 November 1803, but dividends were distributed to creditors on 1 November 1803, 20 April 1805 and finally on 11 August 1810. Wilson joins the Navy’s medical elite The Royal Navy seems to have been unfazed by Wilson’s financial embarrassments. Between December 1803 and August 1805 he served as Surgeon at Great Yarmouth Naval Hospital which had been commissioned by the Admiralty to care for the sick and wounded of the Royal Navy's North Sea Fleet in its battles with the Napoleonic French Navy. And Wilson’s spirit was certainly not cowed by his bankruptcy. In 1804 he was expressing an interest in returning to the Cape Colony. This, however, was not yet an option. Britain did not reassume control there until 1806. And his career certainly hadn’t stalled. In August 1805 he was promoted to Physician and took up these duties in charge of Plymouth Naval Hospital in December 1805. Meanwhile the French were defeated at the crucial battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Promotion to Physician was a significant leg up. Within the Royal Navy, Physicians were an elite, appointed to “Stations” (eg Jamaica and the Mediterranean) or Fleets, rather than to specific ships, and were far better paid than the large body of Surgeons from which they were selected. Wilson had manifestly arrived professionally and he continued his efforts to establish himself in the top tier of British society. The future Queen Victoria’s birth and her father’s death Although serving as Physician at Plymouth Hospital from 1805 until 1821 must have been

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