Catalogue description Report of H Dampier on 2 individual petitions (the prisoner) and 5 collective petitions...

Report of H Dampier on 2 individual petitions (the prisoner) and 5 collective petitions (21 officers of the Regiment of 'Chasseurs Britanniques' [the Independent Companies of Foreigners]; 18 people of the parish of Lymington; 35 officers resident at the foreign military depot at Lymington; 15 inhabitants of the parish of Lymington; 36 officers resident at the foreign military depot at Lymington, Hampshire) on behalf of Henry William Souper, paymaster at the foreign military depot at Lymington, convicted at the Winchester Summer Assizes on 22 July 1814 for the wilful murder [in a duel] on 13 April 1814 of John Dietrick/John Deiterich, adjutant of the foreign military depot at Lymington. The deceased was the challenger in the duel. Evidences supplied by John Parish, post boy [carriage driver of a post-chaise]; James Ashford, constable at Lymington; John Nike, surgeon; Joseph Henry Cook, physician; Lieutenant Colonel Gomer, 2nd in command at the depot; Charles St Barke, Dr Barham, physician and --- Hockin, barrack master. There are letters from Lieutenant General John Ramsay; Lieutenant Colonel du Hautoy, Regiment of Chasseurs Britanniques [in French]; an extract of a letter from the prisoner to his sister, Mrs Alshed[?]; H Whent[? illegible], secretary to the Duke of York, commander in chief and Amelia Ann Souper, the prisoner's wife. Grounds for clemency: the deceased was of a quarrelsome disposition, the prisoner has a wife and 6 sons, has served nearly 20 years in the army, the prisoner had provocation from the deceased and the deceased had fired first. Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: mercy. Folios 287-312.