He was born in 1773 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, fourth son of Thomas Weston, an attorney, and Dorothea Weston nee Orfeur. I know very little about his early life.
In 1791, at the age of eighteen, Weston attended Trinity College, Dublin, and presumably this means he showed some talent for learning, but he had defrauded his father and uncle of several sums of money and he found it prudent to remove himself to London. There he obtained a position as a clerk with a friend of his father’s, Thomas Cowan, a military agent, of Ely Place.
Thomas Weston alerted Cowan to the theft, telling him that Thomas was not to be trusted, but Cowan undertook to give him a second chance.
Cowan had considerable money dealings, and Henry Weston, who quickly became a valued employee, was given more and more responsibility for them.
In 1794 Thomas Cowan went abroad for some months, leaving Weston in sole charge of his agency. The young man, only just twenty-one, began to frequent a gaming-house in Pall Mall. Commencing with trifling bets at the faro and hazard tables, he increased his stakes to large amounts. He was soon losing heavily, and the money that he lost was not his own.
Because of the position of his firm he was able to obtain unlimited credit. “The different brokers, jobbers, and lottery-office keepers to whom he resorted, knowing the respectability of his principal, Mr. Cowan, used to take his word currently, and he had only to mention the names of stock, scrip, tickets, or loan to be immediately supplied.” In addition to playing at the tables he speculated in the “Alley” (the stock exchange), but he met with no success, and was tempted to embezzle still more in the hope that his ill-luck would change. He sold stocks and shares belonging to clients under a forged power of attorney. Even after his employer had returned to England he continued his speculations. He squandered at least £50,000, and it was said that his thefts possibly amounted to twice the sum, tens of millions of present-day pounds. One of his victims was his cousin, Hugh Palliser Walters, who lost £7000 to him.
Weston’s crimes came to light in April 1796 when a major fraud against General Patrick Tonyn was uncovered. Tonyn was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of East Florida from 1774 to 1784 during the American Revolutionary War; East Florida being a Loyalist stronghold during the conflict.
General Tonyn held £16,000 worth of Government 3 per cents (bonds). Weston had appropriated the whole of this stock under two forged powers of attorney in General Tonyn’s name, one in July 1795 for £11,000 and the other in January 1796 for £5000. He robbed the general’s sister in a similar manner. As in all these transactions, he had paid the interest when it became due and was prepared to reinvest the capital by robbing someone else, but on this occasion he was unable to arrange the readjustment in time. General Tonyn sent a broker to the bank unexpectedly to make inquiries about his investments, and, although Weston attempted a plausible subterfuge when asked to explain, he was told that the matter must be thoroughly investigated
Realising that all was lost, Henry absconded. He got as far as Liverpool but was arrested by two Bow Street runners while waiting to board a ship bound for America. He attempted suicide on the journey back to London.
In May 1796 Weston was tried at the Old Bailey, the case attracting a great amount of public interest. Found guilty of forgery, he delivered a remorseful speech, acknowledging his guilt and warning others against gambling and entrusting youth with too much responsibility.
Despite efforts to secure a reprieve, on 6 July 1796 Weston, twenty-three years old, was hanged outside Newgate Prison. John Roberts, also known as Colin Reculist, aged thirty-five, who had been convicted of forging a £5 note, was hanged with him.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal 30 April 1796: Weston examined privately at Bow street, he was found to have forged two powers of attorney both purporting to be the powers of Patrick Tonyn. He was committed but remained at Carpmeal’s house (Thomas Carpmeal, or Carpmael, was a Bow Street Runner).
Hugh Palliser was born in 1723 at Kirk Deighton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now in North Yorkshire). His father, also called Hugh, was an army officer. When in 1727 their parents died, Hugh and his four sisters were sent to be raised by relatives of their mother, Mary (Robinson) Palliser (1695-1727).
In 1735, at the age of twelve, Hugh entered the navy as a midshipman on HMS Aldborough, a twenty-gun sixth-rater, commanded by his uncle Nicholas Robinson. He was appointed a lieutenant in 1741 and a captain in 1746.
By 1755 Hugh Palliser had command of his own vessel, the 58-gun HMS Eagle. This is the ship in which James Cook began his career in the Royal Navy. In it Cook served from 1755 to 1757 as able seaman, master’s mate and bosun.
A view of the taking of Quebec, 13th September 1759 1797 engraving is based on a sketch made by Hervey Smyth, General Wolfe’s aide-de-camp during the siege of Quebec. In the collection of the Library of the Canadian Department of National Defence
From 1764 to 1769 he was Governor of Newfoundland. In 1770 Palliser, now Commodore, was appointed Comptroller of the Navy, and elected an elder brother of the Trinity House. (Trinity House oversees British lighthouses and provides general expertise to the government on naval matters.) As comptroller of the navy Palliser was instrumental in promoting scientific and exploratory schemes, actively sponsoring his own protégé, James Cook.
The Engagement off Ushant 27th of July 1778 between the British fleet Commanded by Adml Keppel and the French Fleet under Count D’Orvilliers: Drawn by an Officer on board the Victory In the collection of Royal Museums Greenwich HMS Formidable, 90 guns, is shown on the left. It was the Squadron flagship commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser and Captain John Bazely.
Palliser asked Keppel for a public vindication of his actions. This Keppel refused to provide. In December 1778 Keppel accused Palliser in the House of Commons of disobeying commands. In response Palliser demanded that Keppel be court-martialed. In February 1779 Keppel was honourably acquitted. Palliser was portrayed as the guilty party and his house in Pall Mall was gutted by a mob and his effigy burned.
Palliser resigned his appointments, including his Admiralty seat, and withdrew from parliament. In February 1779 in an attempt to regain some of his lost prestige he applied for a court martial on himself. He was acquitted, in controversial circumstances. It was said that the ministry had ordered all the officers opposed to him to sea, recalling those who might support at the court martial. (One of those who gave evidence was his nephew and heir, George Robinson Walters.)
Palliser’s active naval career was now effectively at an end, though in September 1787 he rose automatically to become an admiral. His only new appointment was in 1780 as a governor of Greenwich Hospital, home of Royal Navy pensioners.
It is suggested that Palliser had been manipulated by the first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, a Tory and member of the administration of Lord North. Sandwich, it is said, used Palliser as a tool to attack Keppel, a Whig.
Palliser was a long-standing patron of James Cook, and after Cook’s death in 1779 he erected a monument honouring Cook in the grounds of his estate.
In 1791 Palliser made his will, a long document, which mentions many relatives. Though he never married he had an affair with a woman named Anne Thomas. In his will Palliser recognised their illegitimate son George and left him the La Vache estate. The baronetcy passed to the son of his nephew George Robinson Walters. He also left a bequest to the son of Dorothea Weston nee Orfeur and mentioned another son in a codicil. He was not however consistent in recognising his relatives and none of the children of Catherine Cavenagh nee Orfeur, sister of Mary Walters and Dorothy Weston, benefitted.
A partial family tree showing the connection of Sir Hugh Palliser, 1st Baronet, to the Orfeur and Cavenagh families
Related posts and further reading
P is for Portobello concerning my sixth great grandfather Thomas Palliser (abt 1661 – 1756), uncle of Sir Hugh Palliser
Betham, Rev. William; The baronetage of England vol 3; Ipswich, Burrell and Bransby, 1801-1805 page 41
Cokayne, George E. Complete Baronetage, volume 5, page 167
Cavenagh, W. O. “Castletown Carne and Its Owners (Continued).” The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 2, no. 1, 1912, pp. 34–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25514203.: about the Palliser family
Palliser built himself a mansion named Portobello near Campile, County Wexford. Campile is just under six kilometers from Greatisland and fourteen kilometres from the town of New Ross.
Portobello house has since burnt down, probably in the late 1700s, and no trace survives.
The cover of the 1814 edition of Freney’s autobiography retrieved through Google Books
Freney and his gang made off with:
A purse of 90 guineas and a 4 pound piece
Two moidores, a gold coin which was the principal coin current in Ireland at the beginning of the 18th century; two moidores was worth 30 shillings
Some small gold
A large glove containing 28 guineas in silver
A quantity of plate worth 300 pounds
A gold watch
Freney was proclaimed an outlaw in January 1749 and surrendered three months later. Lord Carrick, a lawyer, helped Freney work out a deal with the chief justices in which Freney would be allowed to emigrate. Presumably it was feared that his execution would give him the status of a folk hero and lead to further disturbances.
It is not known where or how long Freney spent abroad, but by 1776 he was once more in Ireland, where he found employment as a customs official at the port of New Ross, County Wexford, a post he held until his death in 1788. Freney was buried in Inistioge , County Kilkenny.
From page 30 of The life and adventures of James Freney, commonly called Captain Freney. From the time of his first entering the highway, in Ireland, to the time of his surrender, being a Series of Five Years remarkable Adventures. Written by himself. First published 1754 :
In some time after Bulger came to pay me a visit, and we concluded to take to the high road, and were three days on the Ross road, but met with no prey worth mentioning. And in a short time after, we met with one Thomas Houlahan and one Patrick Hacket, otherwise called Bristeen, who were experienced sheep-stealers, and particular acquaintances of Bulger’s, who saluted Bulger kindly, and asked him how he was: To which he replied, that he would do well enough if he had a little more money; and asked them how they fared, for that he had not seen them a long time. They answered, they removed to the county of Wexford, but that they were uneasy to know how their correspondents in that country were (meaning the country of Kilkenny ) and further said; that there was plenty of money in the country they came from. They also informed him, that there was a gentleman, one colonel Palliser, who had a great deal of money, and plate, which they heard he kept in his house. I was during the time of their discourse some distance from them; upon which Bulger came up to me, and told me, that the persons I saw him talking to, were friends of his, for whose honesty and integrity he would engage, and then related the whole information they gave him of colonel Palliser’s plate, &c. Upon which, I agreed we should rob the colonel, and came up to Hacket and Houlahan, and saluted them kindly, and soon concluded upon a night to put our design of robbing the colonel in execution, I then asked them if they knew the inside of the house, or how many servants were in it ? But they said not, but that they knew the way to it, and no more. I soon said, that as we did not know how many were in the house, that we should take the more men with us. Upon which I immediately sent Bulger to Kinehan’s, to Burnt-Church, to inquire of him, where John Motley was. He soon returned with Motley, and one Commons. I had also one Matthew Grace another Cotter under Mr. Robbins, whom I had corrupted, and prepared for the purpose. And then Bulger, Motley, Grace, Commons, Houlahan and Hacket, (who were our spies) and I sent to Balley-cough-soust, in the county of Kilkenny, which was the place at which we intended to settle and advise which way to effect our design, and expedite our journey. Upon which I concluded, that two only should go in at a time, for fear, if we went in a body, we might be suspected. But we had a long debate, each man refusing to carry the arms, for fear of being suspected going over the ferry. But at length I contrived it so, that I got a bag and put the arms into it, which were three cases of pistols, and rolled hay about them, and then Grace agreed to carry them in the bag, as if he was going to Ross market, which he accordingly did, and got to the house in which I appointed to meet him undiscovered. When I came over the Ferry, I went to the house appointed, where my companions were stationed two in a company, the better to avoid suspicion, and they they did not seem to know each other. I then asked the landlady had she a stable for my mare ? she said the had : upon which I went to the stable to see whether there was hay and litter for my mare, but found it was very dirty, of which I told the landlady, and that I would send my mare down to Mr.Brahan’s, as I was known there, and could get her out at any hour, without any room for suspicion. t then took care to go into the next room to my companions, and called in the landlord to drink with me, and finding the proper time for our departure at hand, I walked out into the kitchen where Grace was, and spoke to Grace, as follows: ” But is not this Grace ? how long are you here ? how are all the neighbours ?,When do you intend going home ? What business had you here ?” To which he answered, they were all well, and that he came with some things to market.
In a little time I found an opportunity, and gave Grace the whisper to desire the rest to go on, two by two, a part of the road, and that one of the spies should go down to Brahan’s, under pretence of taking care of my mare, and that the other spy should go with my companions to direct them. When it was duskish, I went down to Mr. Brahan’s, called for a bottle of wine, and soon after desired the hostler to draw out my mare, for that I intended to go a little further. I soon mounted with my spy behind me, and had not rode far before I overtook the rest of my companions; we then joined company till we got near Mr. Palliser’s House, where I fixed the men in a safe place, and took one of the spies down towards the house, and came to near the house as to see the light of the candles. I then took a survey of the front of the house and rooms, that by the quenching of the candles, I might the better judge where the colonel and his men lay. I waited for some time near the house fronting the rooms, and in a short time saw one of the colonel’s servants lighting him to bed, and therefore judged what part of the house the colonel lay in. Some time afterwards I observed a light above stairs, by which I judged the servants were going to bed; and soon after observed that the candles were all quenched, by which I assured myself, they were all gone to bed. I then came back to where the men were, and appointed Bulger, Motley and Commons to go in along with me, but Common answered, that he never had been in any house before, where there were arms; upon which I asked the son of a whore, what business he had there, and swore I would as soon shoot him as look at him, and at the same time cocked a pistol to his breast, but the rest of the men prevailed upon me to leave him at the back of the house, where he might run away when he thought proper.
I then asked Grace, where did he choose to be posted, he answered ‘that he would go where I pleased to order him,’ for which I thanked him ; we then immediately came up to the house, lighted our candles and blackened our faces, I then placed Commons and Houlahan at the back of the house, to prevent any person from coming out that way; and placed Hacket on my mare, well armed, at the front; and I then broke one of the windows with a sledge, whereupon Bulger, Motley, Grace, and I got in, upon which I ordered Motley and Grace to go up stairs, and Bulger and I would stay below, where we thought the greatest danger would be, but I immediately upon second consideration, for fear Motley or Grace should be daunted, desired Bulger to go up with them, and when he had fixed matters above, to come down, as I judged the colonel lay below. I then went to the room where the colonel was, and burst open the door, upon which he said, odds-wounds, who is there ? to which I answered, a friend, Sir, upon which he said, you lie by G– d, you are no friend of mine, I then said that I was, and his relation also, and that if he viewed me close he would know me, and begged of him not to be angry; upon which, I immediately seized a bullet gun and case of pistols, which I observed hanging up in his room. I then quitted his room, and walked round the lower part of the house, thinking to meet some of the servants, whom I thought would strive to make their escape from the men who were above, and meeting none of them, I immediately returned to the colonel’s room, where I no sooner entered, than he desired me to get out for a villain, and asked me why I bred such disturbance in his house that time of night ; at the same time I snatched his britches from under his head, wherein I got a small purse of gold, and said that abuse was not fit treatment for me, who was his relation, and that it would hinder me of calling to see him again; I then demanded the key of his desk, which stood in his room; he answered, he had no key, upon which I said, I had a very good key, at the same time giving the desk a stroke with the sledge which burst it open, wherein I got a purse of ninety guineas, a four pound piece, two moidores, some small gold, and a large glove, with twenty eight guineas in silver.
By this Time Bulger and Motley came down stairs to me, after rifling the house above, we then observed a closet inside his room, which we soon entered, and got therein a basket, wherein there was plate to the value of three hundred pounds.
There happened to be a wedding near the colonel’s house that night, from whence there was a man and a woman coming at the same time we were in the house, whom Hackett spied, and pursued, but to no purpose ; upon which, Hackett informed me thereof, at which I told him, I admired that as there was three of them abroad, that they would let them escape, and said I would pay them according to their behaviour; I then considering that they might raise the country, took my leave of Mr. Palliser, telling him that I forgave him the abuse he gave me, and was his humble servant.
We quitted the house, and came back again to Ross, where we arrived a little before day, and concluded we could not get over the Ferry there with safety, so we took the road towards Grauge, and never stopped till we came to Poulmounty Wood,,within within two Miles of Grauge, and it was then clear day. I then sat down and paid each man according to his deserts, I then gave them directions to divide themselves, that they should not go any way through the country; upon which Motley said, that he and Common would go through the country, as if with a view of buying pigs. I hid the arms in the wood, after I sent all the men away except Grace, whom I shewed where I hid them, that he might know where to find them when I should have occasion; then I left the wood alone, and rid to Grauge, where I breakfasted heartily, and rested for some time.
…
From page 148
He then sent me to Kilkenny Goal, and at the summer assizes following James Bulger , Patrick Hackett, otherwise Bristeen, Martin Millea, John Stack, Felix Donnelly, Edmond Kenny, and James Larrassey were tried, convicted and executed; and at Spring assizes following, George Roberts was tried for receiving colonel Palliser’s gold watch, knowing it to be stolen, but was acquitted, on account of exceptions taken to my pardon, which prevented my giving evidence. At the following assizes, when I had got a new pardon, Roberts was again tried for receiving the tankard, ladle and silver spoons from me, knowing them to be stolen, and was convicted and executed. At the same assizes, John Reddy, my instructor, and Michael Millea, were also tried, convicted and executed.
Then Lord Carrick and counsellor Robbins, in order to enable me, with my family to quit this kingdom, proposed a subscription to be set a-foot, in order to raise a sum of money for that purpose; and it accordingly was, but the gentlemen of the country refused to contribute, and therefore that scheme came to nothing. Therefore to enable me to quit a kingdom which is tired of me, and which I do not chuse to live in, if I can avoid it, I have been advised to try whether the publication of my past life, will enable me to take myself and my family to some foreign country, and try to earn our bread in some industrious way, and hope the services done my native country by Lord Carrick’s spirit and resolution, roused up by my means, will make some amends for my former transgressions.
Sources
The life and adventures of James Freney, commonly called Captain Freney. From the time of his first entering the highway, in Ireland, to the time of his surrender, being a Series of Five Years remarkable Adventures. Written by himself. Printed and sold by S. Powell, for the author, MDCCLIV. [1754]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CW0100325593/ECCO?u=nla&sid=ECCO&xid=666312d9 also the 1814 edition viewed through Google Books The Life and Adventures of James Freney, commonly called Captain Freney
Cavenagh, W. O. “Castletown Carne and Its Owners (Continued).” The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 2, no. 1, 1912, pp. 34–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25514203.
Anne's Family History 