Robert Sproule had returned after 17 years in India and had married Jane, his cousin, in Strabane in 1785. He was far from being a ‘Nabob’ at this time according to his cousin, John Gamble, for he tells us:
“They lived for some time on
their meagre income, but fate stepped in again.” p557 Society and Manners
Gamble has the couple
living somwhere in the Strabane area on ‘their
meagre income’ until at least 1791, when Robert received the first of two large, and very unexpected,
sums of money. This first one came from
the East India Company;
“He received with compound
interest a large sum which he had lent the India Company several years before,
and which, from the confusion of their affairs, he had in a measure despaired
of ever getting.” John Gamble P.557
Society and Manners
This large sum of money had arrived from the East India company sometime around 1791, according to Gamble. But it is here that we must digress for a short time only from John Gamble’s account of the life of Robert Sproule.
We have very definite
evidence that Robert Sproule was not living in Tyrone until 1791, nor was he living
in a manner that was in any way 'meagre’.
By at least 1787, Robert Sproule Esquire was well established in his large household
in Dundalk, a household with at least 11 hearths and, in this Hearth Tax, servants
quarters were not counted;
“Received the 20th Day of May 1789 from Robert Sproule Esquire of Dundalk the sum of £1 s.2 for 11 Hearths due to his Majesty the 21st of November 1788 and payable the 21st of January 1789.” Hearth Money receipt No. 325 Parish Dundalk. William Bryden Hearth Collr. Hearth Collector (National Library of Ireland)
Gamble does not mention Dundalk in his account, so how do we know that this
gentleman, Robert Sproule of Dundalk, is the man in our story? Well, there are
many pieces of evidence such as his name appearing on several deeds, but the simplest is that Robert actually tells us at the beginning of his Will;
“In the name of God Amen I Robert Sproule formerly of
Dundalk in Ireland but now residing at Parker’s Well in the parish of St.
Leonards County of Devon in England Esq.”
So Robert Sproule of Dundalk was indeed the Robert Sproule of our story, newly arrived from India. He has good deal of money earlier than Gamble thought, and he is also lending money out to relatives. It is a mystery why they chose Dundalk, County Louth to live in. Perhaps Robert had a friend who lived there, for we know that Robert’s friends are important to him.
The next sum of money came from none other than his great friend from India, Joseph Alserson. Robert’s old friend Joseph, who he had saved in that outward journey to India, had died in June 1789 in Bombay. His will was proved in Bombay in 1789 and in London in 1791.
In his will, the
Captain left;
“To my worthy and dear friend, Robert Sproull, Esq., late surgeon of
Bombay and now residing in Ireland the sum of two thousand pounds sterling.”
Two thousand pounds for Robert, but that wasn’t all. Joseph Alderson had left the bulk of his estate to his ‘adopted son’ also named Joseph Alderson. Joseph says that his son had been born in his house, and that the son's ‘real mother’ was named as Mrs Elizabeth Worth. He also tells us that that Robert Sproull had been his son’s sponsor at his christening.
Robert Sproule the Nabob remained in Dundalk for some time, I don't know how long exactly. The last deed I have with his name as 'Robert Sproule of Dundalk', is dated 1793.
Their last move was to Devon, to a house called Parker's Well, in the Topsham Rd, Exeter. I had always imagined that they went there because of Joseph Alderson. I thought that the house might have been owned by Joseph and that this was part of the legacy. But the house was not in Joseph's Will, and I have found absolutely no connection between Joseph and Devon at all. Joseph Alderson was from London, he died in Bombay, and there is no indication that he ever returned to England.
The family moved to Parker's Well for some other reason, one that I am still chasing down. It may have something to do with the local 'gentry', a family called Bowring or Baring (as in Barings Bank!).
The house was described in a guide written in 1806 as;
" a neat and gentle villa, built on a gentle eminence…it is called Parker’s Well from a noted spring that issues under the bank" (The History and Description of the City of Exeter, 1806, Alexander Jenkins)
And there is a footnote to this page;
 |
| From Exeter Memories |
“Conversing cheerfully with his family, he suddenly fell down, and almost immediately expired. He had long dreaded this event, and was frequently heard to say that he was convinced his liver was almost entirely consumed within him.”
"To those who knew him any panergyric would be useless; he died lamented, for he lived beloved." Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post 5 February 1807
Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland, by John Gamble — edited and introduced by Breandán Mac Suibhne, published by Field Day 2011
Will of Joseph Alderson, Captain in the Honorable Company's Marine of Bombay in the East Indies and Commander of the Drake Cruizer of Bombay, PROB 11/1205/281, The National Archives, Kew
The Will of Robert Sproule, St Leonard's Devon, The National Archives, PROB 11/1456/235
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