Author: Wake, William Rowland
Biography:
WAKE, William Rowland (1778-1806: findmypast.co.uk)
He was baptised on 4 May 1799 at Worksop, the son of William Wake of Worksop manor and his wife Jane Dempsey. Although his parents had married in the established church in 1777, they were Roman Catholics. His baptism was therefore certified on his entry as a cadet in the East India Company in February 1801. His father was Steward to the Duke of Norfolk. At his death in 1795 he left his wife rents of £40 per annum. William Rowland served with the 7th Regiment of Foot in Bombay. In India, he contributed poetry and prose under the signatures "Juvenis," "Vigilax," "Antibargainist," "Rowland Ramble" and "W.R.W." to The Gleaner, a Bombay periodical, copies of which appear not to have survived. Prior to his departure for India he had probably served in Gibraltar and included two poems on his experiences at the siege in 1799 in his Poems (1800)--the profits of which he intended to give to the “Poor of the Catholic Religion.” The volume also included an unusual crossover poem, "The Negro’s Address to the Lark." He died in July 1806 after "a lingering illness" in the East Indies. (findmypast.co.uk 5 Oct. 2020; Star 4 June 1807) AA