Queens Regulations & Admiralty Instructions 1861
Queens Regulations & Admiralty Instructions 1861


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The Queens Regulations and the Admiralty Instructions - 1861


CHAPTER XXXIV.

PENSIONS TO WIDOWS, AND COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES TO CHILDREN.

1.

Widows of Commission and Warrant Officers of the Royal Navy, and of Commission Officers of Royal Marines, may be allowed Pensions, and their Children, Compassionate Allowances, at the rates specified in the table in the Appendix, and subject to the following regulations:-

2.

The Pensions authorized by these Regulations cannot be claimed as a right;- they are granted as rewards for good and faithful service rendered by deceased Officers; - they will only be conferred on persons deserving the Public Bounty; - the ordinary Pension will not be granted to Widows left in wealthy circumstances, - and the Pensions are liable to be discontinued altogether, in case of any misconduct rendering the individuals receiving them unworthy of the Public Bounty.

3.

The Pensions of all Widows shall commence from the day following that in which their Husbands died, provided application be made by, the Widow within Twelve Months from the same, otherwise from the time only of such application.

4.

All applications for Pensions, and for Compassionate Allowances, must be addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, for the decision of the Board.

5.

If the claim of a Widow to Pension shall not be established before her death, the amount of Pension to which she would have been entitled if living, shall not be allowed to her representatives.

6.

A Widow shall not be eligible to be placed on the Pension List under any of the following circumstances:-

i.If her husband, being a Commissioned Officer, married after the age of Sixty Years, - or, being a Warrant Officer, after the age of Fifty Years.
ii.If her husband, being capable of service, had, at his own solicitation, been excused from serving, when called upon: provided he was officially warned that his Widow would thereby forfeit the Pension.
iii.If her husband had been guilty of any fraudulent misapplication of the public money, discovered and proved in the final settlement of his accounts.
iv.If her husband had been guilty of Bigamy; or if she had been living at the time of her husband's death in a disreputable state of separation.
v.If her husband died in the service of a Foreign State, unless serving with the permission of the Admiralty.
vi.If she had not been married Twelve Months to the Officer by whose right she claims the Pension, unless the said Officer was killed or drowned in Sea Service; but the Admiralty may grant the Pension in cases of Officers dying before the expiration of Twelve Months from the time of their marriage, in such cases as they think proper.
vii.If she shall receive any other Pension, Provision, or Allowance from the Government, on account of her husband's services in a Naval or Military capacity.
viii.If she shall be left in wealthy circumstances.

7.

The Widows of Commissioned Officers (except Chaplains) who shall have married after the 31st of December, 1830, are only entitled to the Pensions of their respective Classes, in the event of their Husbands having been on the List of Commissioned Officers, or on the List of Naval Instructors, ten complete years, except the husband be killed in action, or lose his life in the execution of the Service. If, however, the Officer died from the effects of foreign service, then, provided he had been five years on the List, - was in good health when he married, - and it be clearly shown, that the disease which occasioned his death resulted from such service alone, did not arise from constitutional predisposition, and was not brought on by any misconduct, or by any circumstances over which the Officer himself had control.

The Widows of Warrant Officers (Gunners, Boatswains, and Carpenters), are only entitled to Pensions in the event of their Husbands having been Warranted for a period of one year (acting time included), and provided they shall have been confirmed in the rank of Warrant Officer.

8.

No Widow shall receive a Pension as a Chaplain's Widow, unless her Husband shall have been in Priest's Orders, nor unless his name was on the List at the time of his death, nor unless she shall have been married during, or prior to, her Husband's Service in the Navy, and unless her Husband shall have served One Year on Full-Pay subsequent to their marriage, and shall have served the length of time to entitle him to Half-Pay.

9.

The Pensions of Widows who shall have re-married prior to the 31st of December, 1830, shall be paid to themselves, and their receipts shall, notwithstanding their coverture, be deemed a sufficient discharge for the payment of their Pensions.

10.

In all eases of a Widow re-marrying, on or after the date of these Instructions, her Pension shall be suspended from the date of her re-marriage; but in the event of her again becoming a Widow, her Pension may be restored, upon proof being adduced to the Admiralty that she is not in wealthy circumstances, and is otherwise deserving the Public Bounty, but it will be again liable to suspension during future re-marriage. Widows who are re-married before the date of these Instructions, and thereby forfeited their Pensions, will not have the same restored to them in the event of their again becoming Widows.

11.

Every Officer, whether on Full or Half-Pay, shall - in order to facilitate the decision upon the claim of his Family, after his decease, to the benefit of these Regulations - notify his marriage within six months of its taking place, to the Admiralty, according to the Form in the Appendix.

12.

With respect to marriages contracted in Scotland, none will be admitted, for the purposes of these Regulations, which cannot be proved cither by an extract of the Register of the Kirk Session, or other legal record of the place in which the marriage shall have been celebrated, -or by an acknowledgment of a Marriage to be transmitted to the Admiralty, made and subscribed by the parties themselves in Scotland, in presence of a Magistrate, according to the Form in the Appendix.

13.

MOTHERS.

When an Officer is killed in action, and leaves no Widow nor legitimate child, but leaves a Mother who is a Widow in distressed circumstances, and who was dependent upon him, the Mother shall receive a Pension equal to the ordinary rate of Widow's Pension attached to the rank which her Son held at the time of his death; but if such Mother shall herself be in the receipt of a Pension as an Officer's Widow, or shall have any other provision of any kind from the public, in that case no Allowance will be made to her on account of her Son, unless she gives up the other Pension or Allowance, and the Pension given to a Mother on account of her Son will be forfeited on re-marriage, and will not be restored in the event of her again becoming a Widow.

14.

SISTERS.

Sisters of Officers are not eligible to any Allowance, unless under very special and extraordinary circumstances, to be judged of by the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury. The Allowance will not exceed that which would be given to a Mother, and will not be given in any case unless the Officer shall have fallen in action, or shall die of wounds received in action, within six months after being wounded, and shall have left no Widow, legitimate Child, nor Mother, nor unless the Sister shall be an Orphan, having no surviving Brother, and shall have been dependent for support upon the Officer killed. Every Pension so granted will cease when the person receiving it shall marry, or be in any other manner sufficiently provided for.

15.

CHILDREN or OFFICERS.

Allowances on the Compassionate List to the legitimate Children of deceased Officers, may be given in those cases in which the Widow of the Officer would be entitled to be placed on the Pension List; provided it be shown that the Children have no other Allowance, Pension, or Provision from the Government; and that their pecuniary circumstances, and those of their family, are so limited, that they actually require assistance from the Compassionate Fund.

16.

The claims of the Children will be considered according to the length nature, and merit of the services performed by the Father; and as far as the decision upon claims can be governed by Regulation, in the following order, viz.:-

1st. Children of Officers killed in action, or drowned.
2nd. Children of Officers dying from illness contracted in the service.
3rd. Orphans, having neither Father nor Mother.
4th. Children of Officers dying on Foreign Service.
5th. Children of Officers dying on Full-Pay at Home.
6th. Children of Officers dying on Half-Pay.

17.

The Allowances granted to the Sons of Officers may be continued until they attain the Age of Eighteen, or are otherwise previously provided for; - and those to the Daughters may be continued until they marry, or attain the Age of Twenty-one, whichever shall first happen, and no longer; - except in very special cases, in which it shall be shown, that such Sons or Daughters are afflicted with any mental or bodily infirmity, rendering them incapable of making any exertion for their own support; and that they are still in distressed circumstances.



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