Drink is the curse of the landowning class; Hamilton's Whiskey shop on the Isle of Arran 1856

 

The wealth of the Dukes of Hamilton came from the Lanarkshire coal mines under their land and which eventually undermined and required the demolition, as unsafe, of the vast Hamilton Palace set above them. Their second Scottish residence was at Brodick Castle on the isle of Arran from which this letter was addressed, though posted in the mainland small port of Ardrossan between which and the island boats plied their trade. 

The eleventh Duke of Hamilton, the “His Grace” of this letter, inherited his title in 1852 but before that had taken little interest in his Scottish properties while living mainly in Paris and Baden. On becoming duke he bought a large house in London. Their recent past history had not particularly endeared the Hamiltons to the islanders: in 1829 as part of what are now known as the Highland Clearances, the Hamiltons cleared hundreds of people from small farms and gave over the land to sheep. Unusually, however, the Hamiltons offered to subside emigration to Canada and provide land there; many accepted the offer.

The 11^th Duke’s affairs in Scotland were managed by agents and this letter is from one agent writing to another, Daniel Robertson Souter based in Edinburgh but also it seems at Hamilton Palace. The Bodleian Library archives correspondence between him and the Hamiltons. The writer of the letter, Francis Townley (1793-1859), was the duke’s Land Steward at Brodick Castle and may have been a native of Arran and was buried there in the Kilbride old churchyard at Lamlash where his son William (mentioned in the letter) erected a memorial tablet which can be found photographed online. I cannot get a purchase on the reference to “the Major & Family” who may be resident at Brodick Castle.

The subject matter of the letter is interesting: Townley wants to close a “Whiskey shop” both because it causes drunken absenteeism among the estate’s labour force and because it would be welcomed by “the poor Labourers families” – in other words, their wives and children. The postscript to the letter indicates the sensitive character of his proposal.

 

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Daniel Robertson Souter Esqr   Hamilton Palace   Hamilton

Datelined: Brodick Castle 12 May 1856

Despatch postmark ARDROSSAN MY 12 1856; receiver postmark HAMILTON MY 13 1856. Docketing note: Mr Townley 12 May 1856

My dear Sir

I was sorry I did not meet with you last time I was out as I had several matters to speak to you about in particular that of Hamilton’s Whiskey Shop when Miss Jamison leaves it will then be the nearest House to the Castle. I assure you it is a perfect Nuisance, and it’s removal  would be a Great Boon to the poor Labourers families, and of infinite importance to His Grace if we loose the Efficient service of one day Each of the men Each month [? looks like math] would amount to nearly £120 per Annum and I am sure I am not wrong when I say we loose twice that amount, the Licence can easily be stopped if attended to at once I named it to Mr Leighton when I was last out,  I have also named it to Mr Paterson & trust it will be put a stop to as the new Inn will supply any Comfort of that sort that may be required.

I hope you will Excuse my being so troublesome to you, the Major & Family are well with the Exception of Miss Josey whom I think has got a little cold, Many thanks for your kind & polite attention to my Son

I remain my dear Sir with much respect yours very faithfully Francis Townley

Daniel Robertson Souter Esqr Hamilton Palace Hamilton

P.S. Have the Goodness not to let my name appear in this matter as they would devour me

 

References

Wikipedia: William Hamilton, 11^th Duke of Hamilton

Wikipedia: Brodick Castle

https://talesfromthefamilytree.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/the-mcmillans-of-arran-and-the-highland-clearances/

 

 

 

Henry Mackenzie author of The Man of Feeling (1771) pleads the insignificance of his Life

 

In 1771 the London publisher Thomas Cadell published anonymously The Man of Feeling which became a best seller and still serves as an exemplar of the eighteenth-century Sentimental Novel. It was also stylistically innovative, something not always appreciated at the time. The author was Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831), an energetic lawyer and from 1804 Comptroller for Taxes in Scotland, who combined this professional career with extensive literary and journalistic activity and in 1783 co-founded the Royal Society of Edinburgh with Sir James Grant of Grant whose sister Penuel he had married. That explains the dateline of the letter transcribed below . 

In the letter Mackenzie pleads the insignificance of his life as his reason for refusing to collaborate beyond a bare minimum on a proposed biography. In contrast, in  1808 he was involved in the production of an eight-volume collection of his works by his original publisher Cadell.  In Robert Chambers’ 1853 Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen the biographer says that, except in one case, when asked for his recollections of famous men, “he never could be persuaded to commit them to paper”. In the present instance, it could also be that Mackenzie, a lifelong Tory in politics, had his doubts about collaborating with Richard Phillips (1767-1840) in therecent past a political radical who in 1793 had served jail time in Leicester for selling Paine’s Rights of Man; Phillips was also a life-long vegetarian. About Mr Ritchie I discover nothing.

In 1803 Phillips included an entry for Mackenzie in volume 5 of his vast six volume Public Characters (a book with one of those sub-titles which goes on forever); it occupies twenty pages (pp 351-371) and is now  online with  open access. Also currently (August 2026) online I discover a later version 1823 of that biographical entry, torn from the original volume,  annotated with factual corrections in what may be Mackenzie’s own hand. No full-length biography was published until 1931 on the centenary of his death.

The letter was written on inferior paper which has aged badly and is now falling apart.

Transcription

Addressed to: Mr Philips [sic – spelt as the usual Phillips at the end of the letter]    Bookseller    No. 71 St Paul’s Churchyard    London

Datelined: Castle Grant Inverness-shire   16 August 1800

Postmarked NAIRN [the nearest post town], transit postmark of Edinburgh AU 22, London arrival mark AUG 23. Unusually, the letter is enclosed in an outer wrapper which doubles the postal charge paid by the recipient and is calculated to a final total of 1 shilling and 10d (written as 1/10) and equivalent to about £7.50 in 2026. Postage charges did not drop significantly until the introduction of postage stamps and Penny Postage in 1840.

Sir

Having left Edinr. [Edinburgh] on a journey to the North I did not receive your letter till withing these two Days.

I mentioned to you in London, very sincerely, that the Circumstances of a Life so private as mine were of too little importance to be recorded, & that O reall had no “Tracts or Notices” wh I think was the phrase in Mr Ritchie’s Letter, to communicate. That my publications were before the World, & that any one had a Title to make what remarks on them they might be thought liable to. That any Information as to Dates, which was one object of Mr Ritchie’s Enquiry, that my Memory or Papers afforded I should very willingly give him if he would let me know those which he particularly wished to be informed of. This, Sir, was the precise Extent of my promise, which, if a Life so insignificant as mine shall still be reckoned an Object for such a Work, I  ..… willing to abide me. I shall return to Edinr. about the Beginning of Sept.

I am, Sir, Your most obdt. Servt   Henry Mackenzie

Mr Phillips [sic]

 

References

Wikipedia: Henry Mackenzie

Wikipedia: Richard Phillips (publisher)

Wikipedia: Sir James Grant, 8^th Baronet

https://blog.nls.uk/henry-mackenzie-and-the-man-of-feeling/  Author Robert Bettereidge 2021

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Public_Characters/6QxEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en

https://www.abebooks.com/Henry-Mackenzie-Scottish-Novelist-Autograph-Signature/30986377216/bd

The Shakespeare scholar Mary Cowden Clarke writes to her friend Helen Tagart from Nice 1850

 

The writer of this letter Mary Cowden Clarke born Novello (1809-1898)was connected to several overlapping circles of literary and musical figures in the Victorian period, including notably Charles Dickens, but was also an author  in her own right and in collaboration with her husband, Charles Cowden Clarke, who was business partner of her brother Alfred Novello in a very well-known music-publishing business. She published a significant Shakespeare Concordance in 1846 and in the year this letter was written published The Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Heroines

The recipient of this letter, Helen Tagart, was the daughter of Helen Martineau and Edward Tagart, the latter a prominent Unitarian minister and considerable scholar (Linnean Society, Geological Society, Society of Antiquaries). In the 1840s Charles Dickens attended his London services.

The style of this letter is self-consciously literary – adjectives, allusions and alliteration. The content provides the explanation of why the Cowden Clarkes relocated permanently to Nice and later Genoa. Nice as Nizza was part of the Italian Kingdom of Savoy until 1860 when it was ceded to France.

Transcription

Addressed to: A Mademoisellle Mademoiselle Tagart       Poste Restante      Genève En Suisse   redirected to       Hampstead prés Londres

Datelined: Casa Salvi   Nizza   Sep. 8. 1850

Postmarked NICE 9 SEPT   London PAID mark 29 OC 1850

My dear Helen

A letter from Lake Leman’s shores & from you, was indeed a delight. Many thanks for giving me so great a pleasure. I was rejoiced to find you had had so charming a time. It must have been surprisingly pleasant, because I know you set out with brilliant anticipations which it seems even more than fulfilled. The “next week” you speak of promises no anti-climax; to be circling round that grand old snow-head, for several successive days, with the freedom of a ..... [?] & the intelligence of a human being, is a glorious privilege. I’m glad to think it is yours.

We also have prospered in our journey. We reached Paris that same night. It is something to be able to breakfast in the bed at Craven Hill & the next on the Boulevard des Italiens. We speeded on so well, that we reached Aix on the Monday night! But here was out first check. No places to be had on to Nice; & we had the satisfaction of loitering about, idling away a whole day, lounging  by fountain brinks [?], eating an occasional ice, finding out the deepest shade to sit in - & like truly lazy people giving profound and lengthened attention to the subject of dinner and at night having been in bed about one hour & a half we were aroused by the agreeable accident of a [letter torn here] the police who came at the extremely eligible hour of ½ past eleven to inspect our passports! Whether it was that our roving about for the whole day in sight of the whole town without any ostensible object but to obtain shade, rest, & a cool draught of water, seemed to them a suspicious circumstance or us it is impossible to say. Alfred was extremely explicit, told them his name, his pre-name, his father’s height, his grandfather’s birthday, his great-grandfather’s dinner-hour, with every other particular that cd. be important they shd. know about us. 

We found my dear Mother & all our dear ones well & happy to see us. The little Italians are charming children, & made friends with their English relations immediately; knowing them all intimately already, by name. We have enjoyed our days intensely hitherto with all the delight that quiet pleasures possess for us who are just on the borders of the land where the “yellow leaf” flourishes, yet with enough of the “salt of youth” left in us, to give zeal & keenness to our relish of happiness. We bathe in the blue depths of the “Mediterranean flotes” [?] or rather, on its safe shelvy shore. You can hardly believe the difference there is between such sea-bathing as this & the shivery, chilly, gasping plunge into Brighton or Worthing waves. Here the water is almost tepid warmed thro’ & thro’ with the glorious sun & basking beneath the soft Italian air.  After a bathe such as this, we come in with a hearty relish for our breakfast, where a propition of grapes, peaches, laughter & talk form the agreeable adjuncts to the substantials. Charles reads aloud to the working party during the forenoon; & in the evening Clara [ Clara Novello, her younger sister and a leading European concert soprano from the 1830s; she married Count Gigliucci in 1843] either brings the tears into our eyes with her glorious voice, or makes us shriek with laughter by her ludicrous exaggerations & descriptions in story telling [ letter damaged here] sometimes drily follows up some [?] of her histories with: - Fortunately, they all know you, Clara !! [ In 1843 she was detained by the authorities in Rome during a dispute; her jailer Count Gigliucci fell in love with her and they married a few months later].

Gigliucci speaks English with much more fluency now, than when first I met him, wh greatly adds to the pleasure of his society – since now we can all join in conversation together. Do you know that sometimes now, while revelling in the delicious warmth of this atmosphere – the greatest exertion we can achieve being to loll upon a sofa in a muslin wrapper eating figs – I can scarcely bring myself to believe how a fortnight ago I was shivering in a silk gown & endless petticoats, & actually stealing to the kitchen fire that I might enjoy a good toasting through & through!  It wants some courage to exchange the one climate for the other; & I already find myself wincing when I look forward to the necessity for encountering the wintry North on our return. I look up now from my paper, & behold a blue expanse of sea & sky – nothing between the window-frame & Corsica – all glittering & sparkling in the rich noontide sun & air; & then I think of the damp clinging fog that will embrace us the most ungenial welcome that will hang about us on the instant of our reaching home & will hold us in its grasp for many many months to come; I own I feel anything but attracted towards my Native Land – and have a “soul so dead” as I shudder at its bare thought.

Sabilla [Sabilla Novello, a younger sister of the writer] bids me give you her best love, & to say she was much disappointed not to see you at Nice, as she had hoped for the winter. My mother also, & all the family party here who know you, desire me to add their best remembrances to your father & mother [ Reverend Edward Tagart and Helen], your sister & yourself. We were much amused with the account of your indignation & disappointment at the performances at Fribourg. However, the Bach treat on the Berne organ must have compensated. We were greatly entertained by your letter, dear Helen; & again I thank you heartily for giving me such a pleasure. It was doubly kind of you, in the midst of such hurried travelling & so much actual enjoyment, wh makes writing a task unless to one whose [letter damaged here] & be sharing with us our present pleasure, & to take the next best means of having them with us in spirit. I feel tho [?] I am writing incoherently, but if you knew the divers conversations that are going on around me you wd hardly wonder. Here’s little Mario tugging at my knee with an infinitude of questions to “la Zia Victoria” [ Aunt Victoria, the child using Mary’s middle name] there’s Giovanni chattering & Zio Carlo – there’s Alf [Alfred Novello] & the Count talking politics. Clara & Cecilia consulting about a pattern – Sabilla &  my Mother confabulating – the whole family a Babel that makes my head less “in a concatenation accordingly” than cd be wished. But you will forgive the incoherency of the writer for the sake of the pleasure she is enjoying in the midst of so many beloved voices & faces. In accordance with your suggestion, I shall post this letter to Geneva, where I hope you may receive it in safety. We shall set out from here about the 23d of January, as we must be in England by the 5th of next month. There is one consolation in returning. There will be two Copperfields!!! [Dickens’ book was published in serial instalments 1849-50]

With kindest regards to your fellow-travellers & with best wishes for your & their continuanace in your prosperous journey & safe return. I am

Dearest Helen   Your affectionate friend    Mary Cowden Clarke

 

1805 Order of the Garter Installation ceremonies at Windsor, a foreign visitor narrates his experience

 

I guess that all societies have or had ceremonial occasions and that many of them offer or offered ceremonially awarded personal distinctions marked by additions or changes to one’s name and sometimes dress. In stratified societies, ceremonies are rather obviously differentiated by the number of people involved, the expense incurred, and the time they take – the last is, I suspect, often overlooked but it is obvious that though it might take an hour to bury a labourer it will take at least a day to bury a king.

In the United Kingdom’s order of precedence, Knights of the Garter (KG) are limited in number and placed third after holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross, both awarded exclusively for personal bravery. The Order of the Garter dates back to 1348. In 1805, after a lapse of thirty-four years in conducting its ceremonies, King George the Third decided to hold a formal Investiture of seven new Knights of the Garter who really would have a garter put on their leg and who would then continue to the second part of the ceremony, an Installation which assigned them Chapel stalls .

The ceremonies took place in Windsor Castle and the Chapel of St George but were not repeated until revived in 1948. The 1805 event was badly organised as has been recently documented by Kate McQuillian (see References) and clearly failed to impress the foreign attendee who wrote this letter in occasionally dubious French and transcribed below. Unlike Wikipedia, he spares us most diacritical marks but that may be because quill pens tend to turn them into ink blots. He is writing on paper with an English watermark (T BOTFIELD) which suggests he has been in England for some time and is not simply passing through.

He compares the Installation unfavourably with the ceremonies conducted -   chez nous he writes - in Sweden for the Order of the Seraphim.

The tone and content suggests that he is familiar with the recipient who is Colonel Alexander Campbell, currently living at the Gatcombe House in the Isle of Wight which came to him from his wife when they married. But in his own Scottish terms he is Colonel Alexander Campbell of Ardchattan (1776–1844) described online as an army officer, excise (Customs) commissioner, and landowner. He is no older than 29 when he received this letter and the writer may be of similar age. I have translated the letter less than literally with a view to preserving something of what I take to be its informal style as well as its exasperated content.

But who was the sender and how were the two men connected? The writer supplies his forenames “Charles Frederic” very clearly but his surname is illegible. I think he is either a Swedish consular official or merchant or both, perhaps based in London but heading now to Edinburgh which at this period had close trading links with Sweden. That he can write in French allows for the possibility that he had some diplomatic role, but why he should write in French to Campbell I don’t know. Maybe his French ws better than his English. The “Charles Frederic” could be a rendering of a Carl or Karl and Frederick or Friedrich.

 * 

Transcription

Addressed: to Collonel A. Campbell at Gatcomb House    Isle of Wight    Hants.

Datelined: York ce 2 de Mai [this second of May] 1805

Despatch undated postmark of YORK 196 [ = 196 miles from London], weak London transit mark, charged 11d on delivery.

*

Monsieur

Deja depuis 3 jours je suis ici et je ne crois point de pouvoir partir avant après demain. J’ai

I’ve been here for three days and don’t think I’ll have any strength to leave before the day after tomorrow. I

gagne un retraicisement terrible a la fête de Windsor. Je peut Vous assurer Monsieur que je

suffered a terrible setback at the celebration at Windsor. I assure you Sir that I

 regrette bien d’y avoir été premierment parce que cela m’a couté un argent immense et que 

thoroughly regret having been there first because it cost me a great deal of money and that

cela n’a pas du tout surpassé l’idée que j’eu avois eu auparavant et je co XXXXX que cette fête

that has not at all exceeded the idea which I could have had previously and I coXXXXX that this celebration

m’oblige arester ici dans une ville qui estime des plus ennuyeuse que j’aye jamais vu [ ?] ma

obliges me to remain in a town which I reckon among the most tiresome I’ve ever seen [in] my

vie. J’ai reste hyer et avant hyer comme il faisait tres mauvais tems dans ma chambre.

Life. I stayed yesterday and the day before in my room  because the weather was very bad

 Aujourd’hui je suis sorti un moment pour prendre l’air.

 Today I went out briefly to take some air.

Je ne Vous fais point de description de l’installation; Les Gazettes en ont été pleines Je ne peut

I won’t give you any description of the Installation ; the newspapers are full of them. I can’t  

 dire rien autre chose que, Je trouve que la fete que nous avons chez nous en Suede tous les

anything other than that I find the celebration which we have at home in Sweden every         

deux ans de l’installation de l’ordre du Seraphim est bien plus brillante et gulie [?]. J’a quitte londre  

                                                                                                                                                                                            two years for the installation of the order of the Seraphim is much more glittering and “gulie”. I left London

pour me rendre a Windsor le 23 a 4 heure du matin  j’y fus arrivé a [ink blot] heures. Je me suis

to get to Windsor the 23 [April] at 4 o’clock in the morning I arrived at ? o’clock. I

toute de suite rendu au chateau dans les apartements ou étaient rassemblé le Ministres étrangers.

went straight away to the castle apartments where the foreign ministers were assembled

a neuf heure nous nous rendimes a ‘Eglise dans la Loge des ministres étrangers qui est vis avis

at nine o’clock we made our way to the Church and into the stalls for foreign ministers which faces  

de la Loge de la Reine Le Roi et la  cour comme ainsi chevailleurs ne sonts arrivées que vers 

the stalls for the Queen the King and the Court as also the knights who didn’t arrive until around

les onze heures la ceremonie commenca et enfin elle dura  jusqu’à vers les 5 heures nous fumes

  eleven o’clock the ceremony began and eventually lasted until just before 5pm. We were

 alors dans la St Georges Hall ou le Roi dinait en public cela dura jusqu’à vers les huit heures

 then in the St George’s Hall where the King dined in public that lasted until around 8 o’clock

alors enfin nous nous rendimes dans les autres sales a manger ou nous eumes nos diners. a dix

 and then at last we made our way into the other dining rooms where we had our dinners. At ten   

heures il y eut cour chez la Reine mais comme moi je n’était point presenter a elle je ne pus y

o’clock the Queen held court but as I was in no way presented to her I could not

assister je redescendie dans les appartements des Ministres Etrangers et je fis chercher mon

 attend I went back down into the apartments for the Foreign Ministers and sent for my

carosse qui ne vient qu’a minuit. la fatigue de cette journée et le froideur dans l’eglise comme

carriage which did not arrive until midnight the exhaustion of this day and the chill in the chapel as

dans la nuit en retournant me rendit déjà a Londre tres malaise et puis la nuit j’ai passe au chemin de Londre ici y a contribuee je suis terriblement enrumés.

during the night coming back left me already feeling unwell in London and after that the night I spent on the road from London to here has contributed [to the fact that] I have a dreadful cold.

Je vous remercie infinitement pour le paquet de letre que vous avez eu la bonté de m’envoyer

A thousand thanks for the packets of letters [of introduction?] you have had the kindness to send me

pour Edinburg. Je vous prie de presenter bien mes respects a Madame Votre Epouse et bien mes compliments a Mons. Votre frere ayant l’honneerur d’etre Monsieur Votre tres humble Serviteur et ami

for Edinburgh. Please offer my respects to your wife and also my compliments to your brother. I have the honour to be Sir your very humble Servant and friend

Charles Frederic XXXXXXX

Click to Enlarge

 References

Kate McQuillian The 1805 Garter Installation (2023)  https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/1805-garter-installation/

Wikipedia: Order of the Seraphim

Wikipedia: Order of the Garter

 

 

 

1793 Managing the Pocket Borough of Weobley for the Marquess of Bath

 

Under the Succession to the Crown Act of 1707, any member of Parliament who accepted an office of profit under the Crown – in other words, a remunerated position – was obliged to submit themselves for re-election to Parliament. In 1793 this occasioned a by-election in Weobley when one of its MPs, Sir John Scott, was appointed Attorney General. He is  better known by his later name of Lord Eldon and for his hardline role as Lord Chancellor from 1801 to 1827 with just a brief hiatus in 1806-07. 

The result of the election was a foregone conclusion; there were no other candidates because Weobley had become the pocket borough of Thomas Thynne, from 1789 First Marquess of Bath. The electorate for the two MPs of the borough was very restricted: by 1821 it was confined to 93 “vote houses”, residential properties with owners or tenants. Thynne owned many of the houses and could oblige his tenants to vote for his candidates; he was also, and perhaps surprisingly, able to disqualify dissidents by instructing local constables NOT to register such persons for the Poor Rate payment of which was one of several voter eligibility requirements.

Until today I had never heard of Weobley, a village in Herefordshire with a population in 2011 of just 1,255 – a fact which may explain my ignorance. However, a conscientious local historian has provided Weobley with a 23-page (partly taken up by 175 footnotes) Wikipedia entry and which includes further details of the electoral arrangements. Weobley was disenfranchised in the Great Reform Act of 1832 and the Trustees of an underage 4^th Marquess of Bath sold the “vote houses” in the 1840s; they no longer had any political value.

The author of this letter, Henry Thomas, London agent for both Sir John Scott and the Marquess, moves seamlessly between carrying out his duties in relation to returning  MPs to Parliament and managing the Marquess’s agricultural and residential properties. "The Salutation" named in the letter is a long-established  Inn  in Weobley  which must therefore have at some point acquired its licence.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mr Evan Lloyd    Weobley   Herefordshire

Datelined: Parliament St Feby. 23d 1793

London postmark FE 23 93

Docketing notes: Henry Thomas Esqr 23 Febry 1793;  23 Feby 1793 Mr Thomas about ye Election Serjt. Bodenham etc

 

Sir

I received the Return yesterday, and saw Sir John Scott, who desires that you will give Twenty Guineas from him to the Poor of the Town of Weobley, or lay it out in such manner for them as you think will do them most good.

Serjeant of Bodenham carried a Letter to the Marquis of Bath’s House yesterday, and he sent him to me: but he did not tell me that he had been there. He wants to avoid being turned out. I told him that I ordered Notice to be given to him, and if he not give Possession, it should be got by Law. He said he did not want to keep Possession against our Consent. He said he should remove some young Trees, which he had planted, which he had a Right to do, as it was only at Nursery. I bid him take care what he did, and not pretend to say that I agreed to it. I mention this, that you may be aware of this Intention. If he has a Right to the Trees, perhaps, you had better buy them. The Marquis showed me his Letter, which mentions how many years he has been with his Uncle; enclosed your Notice, and begs to stay.

I could wish that Mr Philpotts might be brought into good Humour before another twelvemonth, in any way that you shall think most prudent. I would not court him just now, that he may not think us afraid of him; but some time hence, it may come about. What was the Reason for not licencing The Salutation?

Send me the Names and Residence of new Absentees rated (or charged to other Houses) at Easter 1791 and 1792, that I may get Deeds for them. Rowland Ford is lately dead – have you any body to propose in his room? Otherwise I must name some Shropshire Tenant

Yours    Henry Thomas

Aa soon as you have paid every thing, let me know the total Expense of the Election – add the twenty Guineas for the Poor - you may draw a Bill upon me for the Amount and send it as a Remittance to Drummonds just as you do the Stipend for the Schoolmaster &c

 

References

Wikipedia: Weobley

Wikipedia: Thomas Thynne, 1^st Marquess of Bath

Wikipedia: John Scott, 1^st Earl of Eldon

… they don’t regard what a Whoman says, Mary Barter must leave her home in Knaresborough 1789

 

Letters like this one are not easily found. It is written by someone whose style and spellings are guided by their spoken language. Such letters are of interest as social history but also to historical linguists trying to reconstruct past dialect speech forms. I have tried to transcribe accurately but there are a few places where I cannot settle on a reading

As I read it, Mary Barter  has been widowed and is obliged to leave a house in Knaresborough which is owned by, or has been inherited by, Thomas Wilbor (variant Willbor) living in one of York’s principal thoroughfares, Coney Street. It may be that money was owed to Wilbor at the time of Barter's death. I can get a result for Wilbor  as a landscape gardener who had done commissioned work for the Duke of Norfolk but no more. 

Mary Barter addresses Wilbor as her cousin. She is hoping to be taken in by a Mr Story who lives, as I read it, in Aberford in Yorkshire and who is indeed linked to that place if one changes the spelling to “Storey”.

A professional researcher in local archives could probably come up with a decent narrative.

The letter reminded me of that  by Mary Epps written in 1801 and also on this site:

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/now-all-my-famley-is-goan-to-bed-i-am.html

Click to enlarge

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mr Wilbor   Coney Street   York

Datelined: Knaresbro Jan 18 1789

Postmarked undated KNARESBOROUGH; charged 4d on arrival

Docketing: Jany 18^th 1789

Dear Mr Willbor

I am glad you got all safe and I hope those which youl receve will come allso perfect otherways all our care will be ill rewarded as I have neglected northing which was for thear percervation _  I sent for mr Blackburn but he told me he ded not know how it wod be and that he wod geve me an Answeer has not been near me since if you wod write a line he wod give you his determination as they don’t regard what a Whoman says I think it wod be your speedest way – that if you Chuse it is derections is Ri W^m Blackburn  serwing [?] bar

I showed Mr Lomas yours he ded not say he wod or wod not take the remainder of the furnerture so that I suppose he has no objictions the wash stand I keep otherways all other is sent by the carrer yeats that is thay go of in the moring

I have not seen mr Story but expect him on munday I hope hes not Changed is intention of taking me if so it will be frish trouble for me I have as much as I am will able to bear I mean to be out of the House by Candmass [Candlemass, 2^nd February] as you disire but if  am disopointed  Aberfd [Aberford, village in Yorkshire?] what is to become of me for the present but I wont think of that –

I missed geving you Mr Barters …. [?]stock   Bucel [?] &c but I shall find some opertunety to send them I shall write as sown as I get setled if mr story is in the same mind I beg my Love to Mrs Willbor and both the famalys

I am Dear Mr Willbor yours Aft [? Affectionately] Cousin Mary Barter

Knaresbro Jan 18 1789

All the News from Maracaibo: Frederic Harris writes to David T Lanman in New York 1852

 

The Past is like the Future. International trade in the nineteenth century was often disrupted by war on land and at sea, by revolution, piracy and pestilence. Merchants trading out of coastal ports were obliged to keep themselves informed of political happenings not only close to their base but far away. The writer of the letter transcribed below was a leading – perhaps the leading – merchant in the Venezuelan port of Maracaibo to whom the arrival from New York of a batch of American newspapers is clearly of some importance. He reciprocates by sending his correspondent a remarkably detailed review of what is now known to be the failed attempt by General Juan Jose Flores, starting out from a base in Peru, to overthrow the republican government of Ecuador (led by Jose Maria Urbana) and install a monarchy which might then seek to expand its territory or at least its influence northwards into Colombia.  Maracaibo in north western Venezuela is close to the border with Colombia but a long way from Ecuador; nonetheless this was a conflict which had the potential to spread and the writer of this letter appears to welcome it though in the context of what precedes it, possibly ironically.

Frederic Harris (1799-1875) was born and grew up in England which explains his use of a now completely obsolete derogatory term for the French, “Johnny Crapeau” also encountered as the identically pronounced “Johnny Crapaud” which appears to date from the period of the Napoleonic Wars. "Crapaud" is French for "toad" but the  expression also  incorporates the  English derogatory "crap". Harris died in Maracaibo.

Purely commercial matters relating to tea merit no more than a line in this letter addressed to David T Lanman (1802-65) who operated as a wholesale druggist on Water Street New York and was probably a friend as well as business associate: the letter opens, “My dear Lanman” not “Dear Sir”. The Lanman company expanded in later years and some of its paperwork is held in a Delaware museum.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: David T Lanman Esqr   Water Street   New York

Datelined: Maracaibo 16 May 1852

Docketing note: Frederic Harris Maracaibo Letter  May 16^th 1852  Answrd June 11/52

No postal markings; faded Forwarding Agent cachets of Matheson and Company [the letter would have been carried aboard ship and passed on arrival to this New York Agent for delivery]

My dear Lanman

The Alexander Mitchell arrived here on the 8^th instant & I received one [?] bundle of Newspapers directed to me by your well  known hand but your letter of the 10 ulto. was detained in the post office until the 13^th.

We are always kept in a state of excitement by some political affair – the Governments of Venezuela, New Granada [Colombia] and Equador [sic] are in a state of trepidation, in consequence of the Expedition of General Flores, the first asked permission of Congress to raise 5000 Men the 2^nd to raise Mas 9e [?] 20,000 & moreover has degraded himself & Country by stating in his message that he had every reliance on receiving assistance from the illustrious & liberal Govt of the United Sates of America. I am inclined to think that Flores must be very popular to occasion so great an alarm to 3 Govts his reported force was only 1 Steamer 1 Bark 1 Brig, 9 Gun boats, 3382 Soldiers & 1200 Sailors, his actual force in all probability is less as you well know how prone these Caballeros are to exaggerate. I recollect old Jolly saying on one occasion during the last Revolution when we attacked him for having published a bouncer [idiomatic?] that in War the pen was frequently more destructive than the Sword – the Spanish race has certainly the advantage of expressing their ideas with great facility  & if they had the tact of wielding their Swords as effectively as they do their pens they would be irristible. I trust Flores may carry  all before him, the friends of order look to him as the only person who can release them from their present ignominious state – do not fail to send me all the papers that are published reporting his movements.

I wish you would send me by the return of the Alexander Mitchell a similar quantity of Tea as formerly but if possible of a better quality.

Our trade continues in a most ruinous state. My regards to Mrs Lanman & Believe me

Yours truly

Frederic Harris

What is your opinion of the Prince President [Louis Napoleon Bonaparte] perhaps Johnny Crapeau may come to his senses one of these days & think that he is very dear in his Charges & send him about his business as they did Luis Felipe [Louis Philippe, King of France abdicated 1848] who had more talent & was not so handsomely paid.

It is already reported that General Paez [Jose Antonio Paez, Venezuelan general living in exile in the  USA] has left the States that he is in league with Flores & may attempt an Invasion

References

Wikipedia: Juan Jose Flores

Wikipedia: José Antonio Páez

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL13848713W/La_familia_Harris_de_Maracaibo

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28101402_MARACAIBO_Y_SU_CIRCUITO_AGROEXPORTADOR_EN_EL_SIGLO_XIX [contains a description of Frederic Harris’s business]