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Mathew BOWEY |
Benjamin DANBY |
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Mary GRABHAM |
Ann COOPER |
m.
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bd. May
14, 1843, Houghton Le Spring |
bd. Bapt.
d |
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A
chequered career in Customs: In 1865 Matthew began his
somewhat colourful career with the During Matthew’s
first years in his new job all went well and he steadily ascended the
ranks. In May 1868 he was
promoted from Outdoor Officer 5th class to 4th
class In Sept 1870 he received a £16 per annum
increment on the basis that he had completed 5 years service and that
“his character has been good”. In January of 1872 Matthew was
promoted to Outdoor Officer 3rd class, his salary by this time
having risen to £66 (£2967).
In April 1872 he was further promoted to Outdoor Officer 2nd
class. Despite the surprisingly
meagre pay, even when translated into modern terms, in the days when suffrage
was dependant on income and property, Matthew did have a right to vote and in
1873 he appears on the electoral roll It was in 1877 that the proverbial
wheel of Matthew’s career began to come off. On the afternoon of Sunday 22nd
April when he was supposed to be on ‘rummaging’ duty on the SS
Stengest he was found to be “so much under the influence of drink as to
be unfit for duty” and was charged with and suspended for the
same. The Board found him guilty
and instructed that he was he was to be “severely reprimanded and
cautioned as to his future conduct” and whilst he was to lose any salary
due during his period of suspension, he was restored to duty. The Collector of the In 1881/2 Matthew was
performing the role of Boatman on the North Dock and had made very little
advancement in his salary since his misdemeanours. This rose from £66 to merely
£67 in January 1882.
Customs Officers however did have the opportunity to supplement their
income by applying for a proportion of fines imposed on those they
apprehended. In June 1886 Matthew
seized a quantity of illegal tobacco from a certain John Fraser, a
‘Steward’ or ‘Donkey man’ on the SS Ardmillie . Fraser paid a fine of £1 18s 3d
and Matthew duly requested to ‘participate’ in this. Finally, in August 1890 Matthew had
behaved himself long enough to be promoted at long last to Outdoor Officer 1st
class and his salary consequently rose to £100 per annum. Ultimately Matthew’s
good behaviour didn’t last.
On the 2nd December1892 he is again found “drunk,
incapable and unfit for duty in the Custom House”. This time he was fined £1
(£62 today) which also had a consequent impact upon his superannuation. One wonders whether there may have
been some mitigating circumstances to this final offence however, occurring
as it does immediately after Matthew has had to ‘apply for’ a
period of extended sick leave lasting at least throughout the month of
September 1892 and for which medical certificates were furnished and
immediately followed as it is by his early retirement on medical grounds (as
of 30th Jan 1893), The
annual income provided by his pension was £36 11s 8d (about £2278
to us). Matthew lived to see 9
years of retirement during which time he served as verger of St
Gabriel’s Church – perhaps we might surmise he was atoning for
passed sins. Matthew Wardle Bowey
died on |
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Anne Mary BOWEY B ~ 1864,
B~Mar 1866
Richard Wardle BOWEY |