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was born on the 26th of June, 1802. He came of an old French family, and the name was originally pronounced Gougêre. His great-grandfather emigrated from France in 1685, on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in Ramsgate, where he built himself a house. He was drowned at sea—a fate which also befell his son George—from which it is to be inferred that the business in which the family were engaged had relation to mercantile affairs connected with shipping in foreign parts.

The father of Robert Gouger was born in 1763, married in 1787, and died in 1840. He was the father of eleven children, Robert being the youngest but one. All of these have now passed away: four of them died young, others lived to a good old age, John, the eldest, dying at 93, Mary at 96, Sarah at 95, Alfred, the youngest and unmarried, at 78.