The petition of Elizabeth Dover of Rumboldswyke, Sussex, January 1656
To the Right Worshipfull Henry Peckham Esq[ui]r[e] and to the rest of the Right Wor[shipfu]ll the Justices of the peace for the County of Sussex assembled at the Quarter Sessions in the Citty of Chichester
The humble petic[i]on of Elizabeth Douer Widdow.
Humblie sheweth vnto yo[u]r good Worships That yo[u]r poore peticoners late husband Mathew Douer entred himselfe a souldier for the seruice of the State vnder the Earle of Essex and was at the fight at Edgehill And afterwards entred himselfe vnder Colonell Pride and Colonell Gibson and was in many fights and soe continued in the seruice for the State of England by the space of twelue yeares And haueing a discharge from the then Comander in Chiefe for that seruice and coming home to yo[u]r poore petic[i]oner And not long after his coming home by reason of the many duties he faithfullie p[er]formed in the said seruice and therein receiued soe many wounds became impotent and lay languishing by the space of three yeares before he dyed Vpon whose misery and distressed Condic[i]on in his life time yo[u]r Wor[shi]ps were pleased to looke vpon him w[i]th the eye of pittie & compassion by allowing him sixe pounds by the yeare for the maineteynance of himselfe his wife and three small children being all the subsistance they had for a liuelyhood.
Theis are therefore to desire yo[u]r Wor[shi]pps yo[u]r poore petic[i]oners husband being lately dead that yo[u]r Worships would be pleased that the said penc[i]on of sixe pounds by the yeare may be continued vnto yo[u]r poore petic[i]oner as of yo[u]r Clemencie & charity you haue beene pleased to continue vnto other distressed Widdowes in the like nature Whereby yo[u]r poore and humble petic[i]oner and her three small children may be kept from famishing and Ruine
And in soe doing yo[u]r poore and humble petic[i]oner Elizabeth Douer shall be bound to pray &c.
Ordered that 3 li. a yeare be continued to ye Petic[i]oner.