Taken from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, RS24, 1837-38, Journal of the House of Assembly, #272, File 9
To His Excellency Major General Sir John Harvey, K. C. H. and
C. B. Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief, etc, etc.,
To the Honorable the Legislative Council and to the Honourable the House of
Assembly in General assembly convened of the Province of New Brunswick.
The Petition of Ralph London Senior an old soldier of the Revolutionary
War.
Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioner is aged Seventy Seven Years and resides in the Parish of
Westfield Kings County. That he has faithfully served his Majesty King George
the Third for the space of One Year during the American Revolutionary War as a
Private soldier in the West Jersey Volunteers the company he served in was
commanded by Captain Hatton and the Corps by Colonel Vandyke and was discharged
in the Year of 78 at Graves end on Long Island in the State of New York in
consequence of the corps being disbanded.
That your Petitioner is very infirm from age and other causes and is in very
indigent circumstances as regards pecuniary matters; and that he has never
received any land or other compensation for his services since being so
discharged.
Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that Your Excellency, and your honors,
will take his case into consideration and be pleased to grant him the sum of Ten
Pounds to relieve him in his presend indigent curcumstances and as in duty bound
will ever pray.
his
Ralph X London Senior
mark
Westfield Kings County
25th November 1837
On the twenty-fifth day of November 1837, personally appeared before me John Smith Esquire one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for Kings County the above named Petitioner Ralph London Senior, and he made oath that the several matters and things as stated in the above Petition are true (and further, I hereby certify that I verily believe the same to be correct).
John Smith J. P.
(NB: The last phrase of the above, in parenthesis, has been scratched out.)
The Index for 1837-1838 shows, under Petitions, that this petition was referred to the "Select Committee", p. 82, which complied with the request, p. 144. However, this decision was not concurred in by Council, p. 168. A little more than one year later (31 January 1839) the Act was amended so that grants were to be "confined to those persons who are destitute" (Journal, 1839, p. 297.
A look at the Journals of the House of Assembly show that many petitions were rejected. It may be that more petitions were registered than planned and that, in an attempt to reduce pressure, the Act was amended. Why was Ralph London's petition rejected? Here are some hypotheses: 1) The Council was suspicious as to the veracity of some of Ralph London's assertions, due, in part at least, to the fact that John Smith had scratched our the last sentence. As we know, Ralph London had in fact received land upon his arrival in 1783 (Kingston Lot #21). Furthermore, Todd notes that Ralph's Army Corps had not been disbanded as he claims but that he had, rather, deserted. We know that in 1778 he would have been a young man of 18 years, having joined at the age of 17. 2) Ralph's pecuniary circumstances may not have been as indigent as he claims. We do know that he had received, sold and carried out various transactions for several parcels of land in Kings County.
One last point. Ralph did not sign his petition, but rather "made his mark". We have several examples of a distinct signature for Ralph London made on earlier petitions so we believe that as a younger man he had been able to write. Part of his infirmity was likely partial blindness or some other condition which meant that in old age he was no longer able to sign his name.
Dr. Dalton London
Professor Emeritus - University of New Brunswick
140 Surrey Crescent
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 4L3
Telephone: 506-457-4459
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