SOCIETY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION: Col Keating of 19 Charlotte St, Rathbone Pl proposed member 17.4.1792 by Robert Merry 2nded John Horne Tooke
Thomas Keating of St Edmund the King London bachelor = St Mary at Hill London 5.11.1772 Anne Peacocke otp spinster by lic wits Mann Peacocke, Rutt Peacocke, Mary Peacocke. Public Advertiser 6.11.1772 Yesterday was married Colonel Keating of Chinckford Hatch to Miss Peacock of Hackney. The will proved PCC 9.7.1802 of Thomas Keating former Colonel 88th foot of Amiens France dated 25.3.1797 (8th germinal 8th yr of republic) - administration of his effects had been granted Dec 1797 to his widow Anna Keating. In the will he referred to her as Ann Peacock residing at Bath, mentioned his properties at Moulton Park, Northampton and at Upper Norton St, Charlotte St, Rathbone Pl, and mentioned Jeanne Marie Lucy Raymenants and their natural daughter Lucy Helene Maratine Keating. I haven't found him in Army or militia lists berore 1779, his colonelcy may have been in the Indian Army. He may have been the Lt Col Keating chief engineer and commanding officer of artillery at Bombay who was given the command at the start of the first Maratha war in preference to Brigadier Robert Gordon (will PCC 15.10.1778). Narrative of Bombay Affairs 1776 claimed he was ineligible for this command and also a "person of obnoxious character" who had been sued for a large sum on account of a fraudulent contract, and had introduced a woman into society as his wife, to whom he was not married. He was also accused of savage cruelty upon the defenceless inhabitants of the country. The Bombay government had a policy which conflicted with that of the Calcutta Council. The troops under Col Keating were "totally defeated" on 18.5.1775. But in Samuel Pechel's "An historical account" 1781 an account was given much more favourable to Keating. See also Morning Chronicle 29.5.1776 and London Evening Post 25.6.1776 and Pechell's speech Public Advertiser 1.8.1776. London Evening Post 24.6.1777 reported on the court martial on Col Keating at Bombay in July 1776. A view of Col Keating's private life in India can be found In John Macdonald's Travels (1790), Macdonald was his valet for several years. If the Colonel Keating of Bombay was the later SCI member, he was back in England and raising a regiment by 1779. St James Chronicle 31.8.1779 reported on a scene of fun with a whole roast ox and a hideous grin competition at Spa Fields where Col Keating was enlisting men, and the Public Advertiser of 31.8.1779 reported to his credit that he refused to enlist an unwilling man who had apparently "taken the shilling". By October he had raised 800 (or 1000) men and on 19.10.1779 Lt Col Thomas Keating on half pay of 42nd foot (the Highland regiment later Black Watch) was appointed Colonel of the 88th foot. They sailed for Jamaica and their arrival was reported in Jamaica 9.3.1780 (London Evening Post 16.5.1780). The Gazetteer of 15.11.1779 complained of Keating's unfair promotion. Morning Post on the same day defended him but on 19.11.1779 attacked him. On 2.12.1779 there appeared an advert for a lost spaniel called Caesar with "Colonel Keating, Moulton-park, Northamptonshire" on his collar and two guineas reward at Col Keating's house, Bruton St, Berkeley Sq. The Morning Chronicle of 9.12.1779 reported the speech of Thomas Townshend (DNB 1731-1800) in the House of Commons the day before, where he said that Keating had been promoted to command his former commanding officer Lt Col Musgrave (probably Thomas Musgrave DNB 1738-1812). Townshend reverted to the subject in the House on 5.4.1780. Felix Farley's Bristol Journal 5.10.1782 reported that Col Keating had returned from Jamaica and attended the levee of the King on 3.10.1782. The Whitehall Evening Post of 3.4.1783 said the 88th foot which had been some time at Sheffield was discharged - the officers were apparently not granted half pay and Keatind was made a Major in the Army on "stipulated rank" (see Charles Michell, Principles of Legislation, 1796 p456). On 30.12.1783 Keating stood unsuccessfully as MP for Wallingford and on 31.3.1784 lost again at Great Marlow, and according to the Whitehall Evening Post of 15.7.1784 was "pushing hard" at Andover, treating the town to a ball and a genteel cold collation, though in the end he didn't stand. He laid an unsuccessful petition to parliament against his loss at Great Marlow, and brought an unsuccessful action for bribery at the Buckingham assizes (Morning Chronicle 27.7.1784). These attempts to enter parliament were presumably as a Whig, for he was a member of the Westminster Committee (Morning Post 26.2.1784) and steward of a dinner on 18.3.1784 in the interest of Mr Fox (Morning Herald 16.3.1784). On 24.5.1785 he was at a meeting of the friends to a Reform of Parliamentary Representation (Morning Chronicle 28.5.1785). The General Advertiser of 20.7.1787 reported that "Col. Keating, and his Lady, and Lady Eden are now at Spa". On 16.11.1792 he was a member of the committee of the SCI for the subscription to assist the efforts of France in the cause of freedom. The Whitehall Evening Post of 29.6.1799 reported the marriage of William Keating only son of the late Colonel Keating to Miss Cameron of Enfield. William Cryton bach otp = St Clement Danes 22.6.1807 Jeanne Marie Lucie Raymenants sp otp by banns. William Crighton SunFire 1794 3 Star Court, Butcher Row, Temple Bar, smith, SunFire 1809, 1825 9 Portsmouth St, Lincolns Inn Fields, smith, SunFire 1828 24 Margaret St, Spa Fields, locksmith