Sir Richard Corbett, East India Company warehouse labourer
In July 1801, Richard Corbett joined the East India Company as a labourer in the London warehouses at the age of 31. He gave his previous occupation as servant. In May 1808 he became a baronet on the death of his father Charles, but he did not inherit any lands or wealth and continued working in the warehouses as Sir Richard.
One of the East India Company London warehouses at Jewry Street – British Library IOR/H/763
Corbett was related to the branch of the family based at Longnor in Shropshire. His father Charles, a London bookseller, was set to inherit the baronetcy and estates under the terms of a will written in November 1764 by his kinsman Sir Richard Corbett of Longnor. However Charles fell into debt and on 9 June 1771 Sir Richard added a codicil to his will, stating Charles ‘has absented himself from his Business and is become Insolvent and is much distressed in his situation and Circumstances and his Creditors might have great benefit of the Devise to him and his Heirs Male in and by my said Will’. Sir Richard decided to pass the land to another kinsman, Robert Flint, leaving Charles and his heirs with just an annuity of £100 per annum and the right to use the title ‘Sir’. When Sir Richard died in September 1774, Robert Flint inherited, having obeyed instructions to change his name to Corbett.
The Daily Advertiser, Oracle and True Briton 14 June 1809 British Newspaper Archive
After his father’s death, Sir Richard Corbett took steps to try to reclaim the estates granted to the Flint branch of the family. It was claimed that Sir Richard of Longnor had been unfairly influenced to change his will. On 14 June 1809 an advertisement appeared in The Daily Advertiser, Oracle and True Briton asking for subscriptions ‘for the daughter of an English Baronet’ in a ‘singularly unfortunate situation’. This was Sir Richard’s sister Elizabeth who received £20 per annum from the Shropshire estate.
Stamford Mercury 29 October 1813 British Newspaper Archive
Elizabeth married Reverend Charles Rogers Bond in May 1809, and he became Sir Richard’s agent in the legal action taken against the current holders of the Shropshire lands. Bond placed more advertisements in newspapers to raise money, and in 1810 and 1813 he wrote to the East India Company asking for financial assistance, but nothing appears to have been forthcoming.
Minutes of East India Company Court of Directors 17 February 1813 - British Library IOR/B/156 p.1336
There was a Chancery case, but the matter was finally resolved at the Shrewsbury Spring Assizes in 1813. The Court ruled that Sir Richard Corbett of Longnor had been perfectly competent when he wrote the codicil, and a verdict was given against the current Sir Richard.
The will of Sir Richard Corbett of St Ann Limehouse was written on 19 February 1814 when he was ‘very sick and weak in body’. He left one shilling to his wife Elizabeth as a proof of his ‘disapprobation of her improper conduct’. All his household goods and clothing were bequeathed to Elizabeth Harris otherwise Corbett. She lived with him and they had two children: Ann Thomas Harris or Corbett (born January 1810), and Richard Charles Harris or Corbett (born April 1813). The residue of Sir Richard’s estate was left to his sister Elizabeth and her husband.
Sir Richard Corbett’s death on 4 November 1814 was reported in The Gentleman’s Magazine. He was described as ‘many years reduced to an inferior station in the employ of the Hon. East India Company’. The baronetcy expired as there was no surviving legitimate male heir.
Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records
Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive.
Minutes of the East India Company Court of Directors - British Library, IOR/B.
Register of East India Company warehouse labourers appointed 1801-1832 - British Library, IOR/L/AG/30/5.
PCC wills at The National Archives – Sir Richard Corbett of Longnor, probate 1774, PROB 11/1002/280: Sir Richard Corbett of St Anne Limehouse, probate 1815, PROB 11/1565/40.
The Gentleman’s Magazine July-December 1814 p.509.