him in August, 1811. On the receipt of this notification, he addressed a memorial to the Prince Regent, praying H.R.H. to grant him the arrears of that pension, from the period when he received his numerous severe wounds; and on the 23d of the same month, we find him thus addressing the Admiralty:
“To the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners, &c. &c. the humble Memorial of Captain W. Cunningham C. DalyelL R.N.,
“Sheweth, – That your Lordships’ memorialist saw with sorrow and surprise the negative given on the 21st instant, to his prayer for the arrears of pension up to the period when he received his wounds.
“That when he applied for a pension, in 1805, he forwarded from Verdun the best possible proofs of his wounds, and the deteriorated state of his general health; that the reply intimated that nothing could be done till your memorialist should first have arrived in England.
“That in Nov. 1810, the negociation for an exchange of prisoners having been broken off, and seeing no prospect of a termination to his captivity, your memorialist applied to H.R.H. the Prince Regent for a pension, which was immediately granted, liable to being confirmed or revoked upon a re-survey at home; that this re-survey having recently taken place, and his pension being confirmed, your Lordships’ memorialist conceived that his claims extended back to the actual period of his being wounded, and which he must have enjoyed, us a matter of right, had he not fallen into the hands of the enemy.
“Should a want of precedent be urged in support of the negative put upon his prayer, your memorialist would, with all deference, presume to suggest, that no precedent can be found of a wounded officer having remained nine years a prisoner in an enemy’s country; and he humbly entreats your Lordships to consider how severely he must feel the denial of a claim, which, a matter of right, has been conceded to army officers; in proof of which statement being correct, your memorialist, with all deference, refers your Lordships to the case of those British officers who were wounded at the battle of Talavera, and to whom pensions were granted during their sojourn as prisoners in France; but, upon their return, and their pensions being confirmed, those officers received the full amount of their respective pensions, from the day upon which their respective wounds had been inflicted.
“Your memorialist therefore earnestly supplicates your lordships to reconsider his extremely hard case; and, if requisite, advise H.R.H. the Prince Regent, to grant the whole arrears – and not permit that captivity which stands without a parallel, to extend its calamitous effects beyond the personal sufferings – the mental anguish – the professional misfortunes which it has already caused him to endure.
