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| back_to_england_c.1803-38 [2022/06/13 15:07] – [Thomas Murray Prior/Thomas Prior, 1 August 1790-July 1864] judith | back_to_england_c.1803-38 [2022/06/13 15:10] – [Eliza Portraits?] judith |
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| Despite such differing attitudes to money, and Thomas's continuing purchases of the finer things in life regardless of income, the marriage appears a loving one. One token is this lock of Thomas' hair with a note, ‘My dear Husband’s hair cut Jan'y 23rd 1832 - the day before he left for Ireland. E. Prior.’((Pic Acc. No 5314, TLM-P papers, ML.)){{:hair_copy.jpg?200|}}\\ | Despite such differing attitudes to money, and Thomas's continuing purchases of the finer things in life regardless of income, the marriage appears a loving one. One token is this lock of Thomas' hair with a note, ‘My dear Husband’s hair cut Jan'y 23rd 1832 - the day before he left for Ireland. E. Prior.’((Pic Acc. No 5314, TLM-P papers, ML.)){{:hair_copy.jpg?200|}}\\ |
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| ==== Army Career ==== | ==== Army Career ==== |
| Young men had one great career opportunity in the early 1800s: joining the British army or navy. Career prospects were high due to the inflated numbers of military personnel needed for the prolonged war against [[wp>Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]. Prospects particularly opened up for the sons of the gentry to become officers because, as the war increased the risk of death or disability, the number of aristocrats joining up dropped by 20 per cent. The key problem was that, in cavalry and infantry regiments, traditionally rank up to that of Colonel was by [[wp>Purchase_of_commissions_in_the_British_Army|purchase]]. With the need for more officers, that system began to break down and the majority of commissions granted during the Peninsula War were obtained without purchase. The practice was uneven with purchases occurring most in the more elite regiments of the Cavalry and Foot Guards.((Christine Wright, //Wellington's Men in Australia: Peninsula war and the making of empire c.1820-40//, Houndsmills, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.32-36,176-77.))\\ | Young men had one great career opportunity in the early 1800s: joining the British army or navy. Career prospects were high due to the inflated numbers of military personnel needed for the prolonged war against [[wp>Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]. Prospects particularly opened up for the sons of the gentry to become officers because, as the war increased the risk of death or disability, the number of aristocrats joining up dropped by 20 per cent. The key problem was that, in cavalry and infantry regiments, traditionally rank up to that of Colonel was by [[wp>Purchase_of_commissions_in_the_British_Army|purchase]]. With the need for more officers, that system began to break down and the majority of commissions granted during the Peninsula War were obtained without purchase. The practice was uneven with purchases occurring most in the more elite regiments of the Cavalry and Foot Guards.((Christine Wright, //Wellington's Men in Australia: Peninsula war and the making of empire c.1820-40//, Houndsmills, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.32-36,176-77.))\\ |
| Thomas and his second wife Eliza were buried at Southsea cemetery.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) Their son visited their lately refurbished grave in 1882 and described it as 'a plain but very neat stone sarcophagus of good grained sandstone'((TLM-P, Diary, 7 August 1882, ML.)) The family's claim to gentry status rested on their Irish estates, so he was described on the grave as of Rathdowney. Thomas died on 16 July 1864. His death notice, presumably sent by his family, was published in several newspapers, most of which give the 16th as his date of death, e.g. //Sheffield Daily Telegraph//, 20 July 1864, p.3 and the //London Evening Standard//, 20 July 1864, p.7. On the other hand, The //Hampshire Telegraph//, 23 July 1864 gives his date of death as the 12th; other sources give 17th. To add to the confusion, his grandson Thomas Bertram M-P recorded that he died on 19 July.((//Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d. p.5.)) The inscription on the grave confirms that it was the 16th. Thomas Prior's death was registered in the Portsea district in September 1864.((online Death Register; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A// Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z//, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846)) TLM-P, the focus of this history, was his elder son. His step-sister wrote to him informing him of his father's death but it took (as was usual) two months to reach him.((TLM-P diary, 13 September 1864)).\\ | Thomas and his second wife Eliza were buried at Southsea cemetery.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) Their son visited their lately refurbished grave in 1882 and described it as 'a plain but very neat stone sarcophagus of good grained sandstone'((TLM-P, Diary, 7 August 1882, ML.)) The family's claim to gentry status rested on their Irish estates, so he was described on the grave as of Rathdowney. Thomas died on 16 July 1864. His death notice, presumably sent by his family, was published in several newspapers, most of which give the 16th as his date of death, e.g. //Sheffield Daily Telegraph//, 20 July 1864, p.3 and the //London Evening Standard//, 20 July 1864, p.7. On the other hand, The //Hampshire Telegraph//, 23 July 1864 gives his date of death as the 12th; other sources give 17th. To add to the confusion, his grandson Thomas Bertram M-P recorded that he died on 19 July.((//Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d. p.5.)) The inscription on the grave confirms that it was the 16th. Thomas Prior's death was registered in the Portsea district in September 1864.((online Death Register; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A// Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z//, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846)) TLM-P, the focus of this history, was his elder son. His step-sister wrote to him informing him of his father's death but it took (as was usual) two months to reach him.((TLM-P diary, 13 September 1864)).\\ |
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| {{:t_prior_grave_resize_again.jpg?250|}} A contemporary sketch of Thomas Prior's grave((M-P papers NLA Ms 7801, Box 20/1.)) Click twice to realign. Inscription reads: Sacred to the Memory of Colonel Thomas Murray Prior of Rathdowney Queens County Dublin who died July 16th 1864 aged 73 years. On the reverse side: Sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth Catherine second wife of Colonel Thomas Murray Prior who died Nov 18th Aged 60 years. On one small side is engraved Waterloo; on the other side Peninsula. | {{:t_prior_grave_resize_again.jpg?200|}} A contemporary sketch of Thomas Prior's grave((M-P papers NLA Ms 7801, Box 20/1.)) Click twice to realign. Inscription reads: Sacred to the Memory of Colonel Thomas Murray Prior of Rathdowney Queens County Dublin who died July 16th 1864 aged 73 years. On the reverse side: Sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth Catherine second wife of Colonel Thomas Murray Prior who died Nov 18th Aged 60 years. On one small side is engraved Waterloo; on the other side Peninsula. |
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| ===== Two Wives, Two Daughters and Two (surviving) Sons ===== | ===== Two Wives, Two Daughters and Two (surviving) Sons ===== |
| {{:img_1170_enhanced.jpg?300|}}This faded painting((Provenance:T.A. & M.T. M-P)) shows - who? Perhaps Eliza and her two sons? | {{:img_1170_enhanced.jpg?300|}}This faded painting((Provenance:T.A. & M.T. M-P)) shows - who? Perhaps Eliza and her two sons? |
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| Is this too a painting of Eliza? {{:jemima_mp_ttmp_enhanced.jpg?300|}}((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P))\\ | Is this too a painting of Eliza? {{:jemima_mp_ttmp_enhanced.jpg?200|}}((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P))\\ |
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| The last portrait is a larger (920 x 640cm) version of the one above.((Provenance: Geoffrey M-P to T.A. M-P.)) This one was damaged by removalists in c.1960s, and has since incurred further damage. {{:jemima_try.jpg?300|}} | The last portrait is a larger (920 x 640cm) version of the one above.((Provenance: Geoffrey M-P to T.A. M-P.)) This one was damaged by removalists in c.1960s, and has since incurred further damage. {{:jemima_try.jpg?200|}} |
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