Talk:Charles Austen

CB and pension

The date given for the award of a pension is before that for the bombardment. He was appointed CB on 18 December 1840, according to the "No. 19931". The London Gazette. 18 December 1840. David Underdown (talk) 12:08, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

The gazette squares with the award of the CB as a result of his actions at Acre. I assumed that the award of the pension was not connected with Acre, as the source definitely says August 1840. Benea (talk) 12:23, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

OK I've straightened that out, the sentence was rather ambiguous. Having downloaded his service record from The National Archives (fortunately I don't have to pay the usual fee), he was promoted to commander in 1804, and given command of Indian, rather than captain as we currently state (a sloop wasn't a captain's command after all). He wasn't promoted captain until 10 May 1810, and his appointment to command Swiftsure. David Underdown (talk) 12:54, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Slip of the mind on my part, I'd meant to say commander. Feel free to add the date of his captaincy as well if you like. Benea (talk) 13:27, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Charles Austen was the sixth son, not the fifth. It is possible that those who originally wrote this page forgot about George Austen, an older brother who was mentally deficient and subject to fits. George does not play a role in the life of the Austens, as he did not live at home, but he did exist. The sons of the Austens were James, George, Edward, Henry, Francis and Charles. There were two daughters, Cassandra and Jane. Vgrossack (talk) 17:36, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the update - please in future could you try to say where your information comes from, as it's very important that facts should be verifiable to somewhere outside wikipedia - I managed to track a source down eventually. David Underdown (talk) 19:42, 20 January 2010 (UTC)