DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0463
SIR WILLIAM STAINES. 415
the origin of Sir William before he arrived at his present
dignity.
The birth place of this worthy man, we find to have been
in the parish of St. George, in the Borough of Southwark,
in the year 1731, where his father was a stone-mason in so
small a way of business, that it is probable the object of
Mr. Staines, when very young, was to better his fortune, as
after leaving his parents*, some time, he made a voyage
to Portugal, as a common sailor. On his return from
that trip, the vessel he sailed in was unfortunately cap-
tured; and our hero, with the rest of the crew, carried
into France, and made the tenants of a French prise'a.
Young Staines, after remaining in this situation six
months, was exchanged, and came home in a cartel: but
so changed, so emaciated, and so disguised in tatters,
that his own mother could only be persuaded of his iden-
tity by some particular mark upon his person, which she
insisted upon seeing before she could be convinced.
After this, it is understood that Mr. Staines served
his time as an apprentice to a stone-mason, in Cannon
Street.—When he was out of his time, he worked as
a journeyman with Mr. Pinder, the city mason, who
married Mr. Staines’s sister. When he left off living in
lodgings, he took a chandler’s shop and coal shed in Phi-
lip Lane, London Wall, where, at the conclusion of his
dav’s labour abroad, he used on his return home to carry
out coals to his customers, who never once dreamed that
* It was probably about this time that Mr. Staines, being at Staines or
Egham as a poor lad, was induced to go into a chandler’s shop kept by an.
old woman, and, from the cravings of his appetite, to call for father more
in bread, small beer, &C. than his pocket would bear him out in; the native
simplicity of his apology and appearance was such, that his creditor soon
forgot her first emotions, and dismissed him with a hearty welcome. This
act of forbearance was not forgotten by Sir William when he arrived at pro-
sperity ; he sought out the authoress of this trifling benefaction in the decline
®f her days, and rewarded her with an annuity as long as she lived.
ii h h 2 the
the origin of Sir William before he arrived at his present
dignity.
The birth place of this worthy man, we find to have been
in the parish of St. George, in the Borough of Southwark,
in the year 1731, where his father was a stone-mason in so
small a way of business, that it is probable the object of
Mr. Staines, when very young, was to better his fortune, as
after leaving his parents*, some time, he made a voyage
to Portugal, as a common sailor. On his return from
that trip, the vessel he sailed in was unfortunately cap-
tured; and our hero, with the rest of the crew, carried
into France, and made the tenants of a French prise'a.
Young Staines, after remaining in this situation six
months, was exchanged, and came home in a cartel: but
so changed, so emaciated, and so disguised in tatters,
that his own mother could only be persuaded of his iden-
tity by some particular mark upon his person, which she
insisted upon seeing before she could be convinced.
After this, it is understood that Mr. Staines served
his time as an apprentice to a stone-mason, in Cannon
Street.—When he was out of his time, he worked as
a journeyman with Mr. Pinder, the city mason, who
married Mr. Staines’s sister. When he left off living in
lodgings, he took a chandler’s shop and coal shed in Phi-
lip Lane, London Wall, where, at the conclusion of his
dav’s labour abroad, he used on his return home to carry
out coals to his customers, who never once dreamed that
* It was probably about this time that Mr. Staines, being at Staines or
Egham as a poor lad, was induced to go into a chandler’s shop kept by an.
old woman, and, from the cravings of his appetite, to call for father more
in bread, small beer, &C. than his pocket would bear him out in; the native
simplicity of his apology and appearance was such, that his creditor soon
forgot her first emotions, and dismissed him with a hearty welcome. This
act of forbearance was not forgotten by Sir William when he arrived at pro-
sperity ; he sought out the authoress of this trifling benefaction in the decline
®f her days, and rewarded her with an annuity as long as she lived.
ii h h 2 the