Author: Hall, Thomas
Biography:
HALL, Thomas (1776-1856: findmypast.com)
He was "Captain in the Bengal Army" at the time of the publication of his one collection of poems; he was put on the invalid list in 1821 with the rank of Major and retired officially in England in 1834. But he was born and died in London. Born at North End, Fulham, on 20 Nov. 1776 and baptised at St. George’s, Hanover Square, on 23 Apr. 1777, he was the son of a lawyer, Thomas Hall, and his wife Ann Elliott. He joined the Bengal Army as a cadet in 1797 (Lt. 1798, Capt. 1809, Major 1819). In Mar. 1803 he married Eleanor Du Bois or Dubois (known as Ellen), the daughter of a senior officer, at Futehgahr (or Futtyghur), Bengal; they had at least six children born and baptised in India. Hall suffered increasingly from ill health. Invalided in May 1821, he stayed on in India on light duties as commander of a provincial regiment. In 1831 he spent eight months at a sanatorium; in 1832 he returned to England, officially retired in 1834, and settled in London, first in Fulham and finally at Phillimore Terrace, Kensington, where he died on 23 Dec. 1856, having first made provision in his will for his widow and four children. The burial register and newspaper death notice give his age at death as "about 85" but the 1851 Census date of 1778 is closer to the truth; the newspaper gives his rank as Lt.-Col., which was also incorrect. He was buried at All Souls, Kensal Green. (findmypast.com 4 Jan. 2022, 30 June 2025; Beth Baxter, "Thomas Hall" wikitree.com/wiki/hall-15503; Edward Dodwell, Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Bengal Army [1838], 132-3; Globe [London] 24 Dec. 1856; Calcutta Gazette 24 Feb. 1803; GRO death cert; information from AA) HJ
Other Names:
- Thomas Hall, Captain in the Bengal Army