Henry Shepherd Pearson

Henry Shepherd Pearson (c.1775-1840) was acting Governor of Penang from 1807 to 1808.

According to "The Worthies of Westmorland", by George Atkinson, Henry Shepherd Pearson was the second son of Sir Richard Pearson and Hannah Shepherd. He was christened at Saint Mary the Virgin in Dover, Kent on 8 February 1777. Another source holds that he was born in Dover on 20 October 1776, and that his mother was the former Margaret Harrison. In 1820 he married Caroline Lyons, daughter of John Lyons of Antigua and Catherine Walrond, and had the following children:

• Richard Lyons Otway Pearson
• Caroline Pearson (1828-1909), who married barrister and solicitor Charles Evan-Thomas of Glamorganshire, Cardiff, Wales
• Augusta Pearson, who married barrister and solicitor George Arthur Knightley Howman (later Little)
• Emily Pearson (born 1830) who married Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, R.N.
• Henrietta Maria Pearson (born 1832), who married Sterling Browne Westhorp
• Agnes Minna Pearson (born Paris, 1835) who married the Rev. Richard Lister Venables in 1867 and had two daughters: Katherine Minna (born June 1870, London), who married Sir Charles Leyshon Dillwyn-Venables-Llewelyn, 2nd Bt., and Caroline Emily Venables (born 1872, London)

When Pearson was writing his will (held in National Archives, PROB 11/1931, Image Reference 227/203) in July 1839] he noted that he was "formerly of Bombay" but currently was "of Liverpool House, Dover" (actually Walmer, Kent) and was residing in Boulogne sur Mer, Kingdom of France. He continued to live in Boulogne sur Mer and was there when he wrote a final codicil to his will on 14 January 1840. In his will Pearson wrote that he wished to be buried where he died in the plainest manner possible. Evidence from the proving of his will on 28 July 1840 would suggest that he died in Boulogne sur Mer in mid July 1840 and is probably buried there. Another source gives his date of death as 13 April 1840.