Yesterday I had a sealed Letter from the Emperor delivered with the utmost caution of secrecy The British Consul James Matra intrigues at Tangier 1790

 

Should you ever have been tempted to think diplomacy a polite synonym for intrigue, this letter will renew the temptation.

Since the installation in 1789 of the violent, mercenary, and unpredictable Sultan Yazid as Emperor of Morocco, the British consul in Tangier, James Matra, has been busy trying to keep him friendly to Britain, whose garrison in Gibraltar is partly provisioned from Morocco, and to ensure that if there are hostilities they should be directed against Spain, as indeed they were, culminating in the siege of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. In this letter, Matra proposes the acceptance of Yazid’s request for two artillery men to come over from Gibraltar to train his troops in firing cannon. As it happens, the letter was written just at the beginning of  what turned into a long ceasefire at Ceuta. Some artillery training might be useful in the interim before a resumption of hostilities, something which did indeed happen in 1791.

I have not been able to establish the identities of all those mentioned below, notably Harcas. This water-damaged letter was written nearly six months after an earlier letter posted immediately before this one at

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/09/on-death-of-sultan-mohammed-third-his.html

The letter is written on the same Britannia watermarked paper as the previous letter (and other letters in my possession) and the paper is probably official issue. I do think it is written in Matra’s own hand but may be a second copy. The outer wrapper with an address  is missing, as is true of the related letters I have.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: “Gener” [ General Charles O’Hara in Gibraltar]

Datelined: Tangiers 15 October – 1790 –

Docketing note: 1790 15 Oct Consul Matra [ and in a different ink] 45 [presumably 45^th item in a series]

Dear Sir

I am particularly obliged to you, for your Introduction of Col. Symes, with whom I have had much conversation [Edward Symes, at this period the minder of Prince Edward feckless Duke of Kent recently despatched to Gibraltar by his father George III ] – as R. [?] is rather costive of his information. I knew not that Harcas [?] had risen his demands beyond the Feramaty [?] & Pully[?] which the Emr. [Empe[?]ror = Sultan of Morocco Yazid, 1789-92] mentioned to me. The fellow has behaved like a Moor & probably may pay for it. Both he & our acting Governor [of Tangier] had twice written to Master that he had everything. [That is to say, they had handed over all the money in their Treasury to Yazid]. They were both so frightened that I had some difficulty to keep them from deserting. I have sent H [Harcas] of & given him a Letter to his Master – if the fellow be not in a scrape at his first onset, it may save him on a supposition that there is some reason left [in his or in  the Emperors’s mind?] – I have explained the delicacy of our situation to him; but I might just as well sing him a Psalm.

Harcas has picked up much military information from you, which I have digested for him & if he is to give it to his Master, that he may be prevailed on to let Ceuta sleep in quiet, until he is better prepared to disturb it. [Sultan Yazid set siege to Ceuta on September 25, 1790, followed by a ceasefire from October 14, 1790 – note the date of this letter - ending August 15, 1791] I have always been driving at this, but indirectly, for here, one must not appear wiser than an Emperor. Under your shield, I may, & so may H [Harcas] talk more freely.

Now for a hot shot –

Yesterday I had a sealed Letter from the Emperor delivered with the utmost caution of secrecy. After mentioning the purchase of some Prize Cannon as Gib. [Gibraltar] he tells me – that his People are very ignorant, and that he wishes I would have two sent here from the Garrison, good Artillery Masters, capable to instruct some of his men to fire hot Balls. If they come, he says by the blessing of God he will reward them liberally, & will never forget my rendering him that service. The arguments ordered to be used with me were that the French did so for the Turks while they were at war with the Germans, and as that we always have a number of soldiers & officers here, it may be done without being known.

Certes [Certainly] if a Gentleman & his Deputy, or two Deputies without a Gentleman, would volunteer such a business, for benefit of health, I think I could conduct it so, that neither you, nor the Government at home – nor probably anyone here should know anything of the matter. And so I have told Mr Grenville [presumably in Tangier?] – all I should require would be a little discretion on the part of the two - & I assure you - & If by accident two such People come over here on any other account I shall privately employ them that way - & let you know nothing of the matter. You may call me a Moor, or what you please. The whole is a childish piece of business and will end in a Present [presumably from the Emperor to Matra].

Some of your People have shaved us completely. Except myself every human creature believes the Spaniards are coming from Algeciras to knock Tangier down; & we are busy making Fagots & Batteries – Colasso [the Portuguese consul in Tangier, Jorge Pedro Colaço de Sarre] & Chappi [? ] have written to the Emr. for leave to send their families to Europe.

None of your reports about the place are true – no war is declared against Spain – not a shot has been fired – no Ships have been taken or lost on the Coast – nor no Cruizer out. But they say Spain wishes to accommodate with this country which looks like quarrelling with us. I will now assure you a truth which I have proof of – Count Florida Blanca [ Chief Minister of Spain 1777-1792] was concerned in the Corn trade here. He must in the end protect Salmon [Spanish consul who presumably knows about Floridablanca’s business dealings; the Moroccan Jewish vice-consul for Spain was gruesomely executed by Sultan Yazid a few months previously]. This was generally believed, but until within these last few days, I could not suppose a Prime Minister capable of such things.

For the particulars of Business here I must refer you to Col. Symes.

Would to God our Masters knew their own minds, & would give us either War or Peace, and invalid me with an Irish Mitre, for that is the utmost of my Ambition now – here I will not stay [Matra stayed and died in Tangier in 1806].

If it be War, you stand a worse chance of getting [out] from Gibr. than I do from this; for I suppose they have sense enough to know that you are the properest person to defend your own works [Gibraltar’s defences]. The Government [Governorship of Gibraltar] may be hung up as expectancy, as long as Jamaica did [O’Hara  was sent to Jamaica from 1782-42 after being freed from American wartime captivity]. It is too good a thing to be given in a hurry. [O’Hara did eventually become Governor of Gibraltar].

I must turn away all my workmen before I can move from this, which I wish I could tomorrow. I have already a Drawer full of Letters from this Man [Sultan Yazid] – am hourly pestered from every corner of the Coast, that my name may be made use of, & till the Sp. [conflict with Spain?] blew up, was hourly pestering every body that their name might be made use of, so that I can never lose sight of my Desk.

I am ever Dear Sir Your most Faithful Humble Servant

J. M. Matra

 

 

 

 

 

On the death of Sultan Mohammed the Third his son and successor Yazid wreaks vengeance as described in this 1790 letter from James Matra in Tangier

 

The British captured Gibraltar in 1704 and Spain ceded it in 1713. It was heavily garrisoned and also became home to a growing and ethnically mixed civilian population serving the everyday needs of the military; but the territory could not feed itself. Food could be imported locally from Portugal, Spain, and from the independent kingdom of Morocco just across the Strait of Gibraltar provided Britain was not in conflict with any of them which was not always true. Maintaining good relations with the Sultans of Morocco became of strategic importance and placing British consular officials in Morocco’s ports provided a necessary lubricant to smoothing both political and trade relationships.

For much of the 18^th century things went well though Morocco sought to play off both sides during the French and Spanish Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) - see on this site

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/09/the-author-of-these-letters-which-may.html

- things became difficult again when the violent (quite possibly psychopathic) and mercenary Sultan Yazid succeed his father in 1789, opposed by his brothers and significant parts of Morocco’s very mixed community, notably its Sephardic Jews. Yazid’s troops terrorised Jewish communities and were sent to re-take Ceuta from Spanish control. Yazid  was killed in battle against his brotheres and rivals in 1792 and life returned to something like normal.

Yazid’s hostile intent towards both Jews and Spain was signalled very early on when he ordered the gruesome execution of the Spanish vice consul in Tetuan, Solomon Hazzan, a prominent local Jew. The letter transcribed below includes an eye-witness depiction of the scene.

It was written by a man with a past both remarkable and colourful and addressed to another in the same category; they probably knew each other from shared pasts.  The relaxed tone of his letter suggests to me that he knew the recipient quite well.

James Mario Matra (ca 1746-1806), author of the letter and born a British subject in New York, got himself a place in the history books when he sailed to Botany Bay with Captain Cook, at the same time cementing a long friendship with the actual botanist Joseph Banks. Back in England he published his experiences and lobbied for the creation of a colony in New South Wales which could become a home for the Black Loyalists who had fought on the British side in the American War of Independence; the colony was established but it was one designed to house convicts; the black soldiers were offered Sierra Leone.

There is then a gap in his life story which  research by Wendy Moore suggests may have had unsavoury elements . Through his brother Captain Perkins Magra (an amended spelling of the original Corsican name which James Matra had reverted to) and probably directly James Matra knew the fabulously wealthy Mary Eleanor Bowes who as a young widow in London was tricked into marrying an unscrupulous (and, as it turned out, abusive) self-syled "Captain" Andrew Robinson Stoney. The plot to achieve this outcome was extraordinarily devious and involved  a cast of bit-part players. Jame Matra could have been one. But it is also the case that James Matra and Mary Eleanor Bowes were connected through a shared acquaintance with the botanist, Joseph Banks.   

When James Matra re-surfaces it is as successively consul in Tenerife, Constantinople and – from 1786 – Tangier where he lived until his death in 1806.

Charles O’Hara (ca 1740 – 1802) eventually became Governor of Gibraltar but at the date of this letter  was a senior military officer there. He had fought in America and was one of those who surrendered to Washington (though the sword was handed to Washington's second-in-command) at Yorktown in 1781. At Gibraltar he had children by two women and both families benefitted very substantially from his will as did a black servant who had probably stayed with him since his time in America.

I have glossed as much as I can but have not succeeded in clarifying every reference in this long and interesting letter. The letter concludes with an opaque passage which I think may be some kind of encoded message. The status of this letter is itself puzzling. It is probably a duplicate or copy letter and it could be that it is not in Matra’s own hand. Similar letters are known: in 2023 the London auction house Christies sold 99 copy letters from Matra to home secretaries Henry Dundas and the Duke of Portland dated between 1792 - 1801. They achieved a very modest hammer price of £2,250; the foolscap paper, handwriting and organisation of the material on the page appear identical to that of this letter. 

Click to Enlarge

For a continuation of this story see the next Post:

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/09/yesterday-i-had-sealed-letter-from.html

Transcription

Addressed to: Genl. O’Hara [annotation at bottom left of first page]

Datelined: Tangier 24 April 1790

No outer address wrapper and probably a second copy, but folded into filing format and docketed 1790 24 Apr Tangier

My dear Sir

I left Tetuan this morning & what with the confusion we were in there & the journey I am quite stupid. One of Andersons boats goes in the morning early [to Gibraltar] when certainly I shall not be up, there fore however dull I be I shall say something to You before I lay down. I left a Letter for You to go by Checardo [alternatively Chicardo ] who tho the communication be open there [Tetuan], I fancy will go with a few fowls [?]. For such is the state of things there, that the Moorish merchants will not allow they have any money – Here the communicatn [with Gibraltar] is not yet opend, tho the order of Tarif [ ?] be signed. Our Governor [of Tangier] has them, & he will be here with his Master [Moulay Yazid, the new Sultan of Morocco] tomorrow or next day. In short none of us have our Papers & that is one reason why you get no official letter from me – what I have done is – confirmation & renewal of old Treaties – new Tarif – order for our shipwrecked Seamen – letter to the King [in England?]; & the usual Papers – As the Empr [Emperor- meaning the Sultan] has requested his letter to the King may be sent home in a Frigate I take it for granted one must go – but lest I forget – I now send a Letter to the Admiral [probably Rear-Admiral Joseph Peyton in command of the Mediterranean fleet] – if he be gone to Algiers, it may cool [uncertain, could be he may call?] but if he be cruizing with intention to come to me I wish above all things it may be forwarded to him – in fact I must stop his coming here – not knowing if a single ship is at Gibraltr I write not to any of them  but if you should have a friend in, I wish you would prevail on him to set off immey [immediately] to the Admiral if he be cruizing –

Atall [Jacob Attal , Jewish secretary and adviser to Sultan Mohammed III of Morocco who died in 1789 and succeeded by Yazid] was cut into pieces and burnt – his head fixed here on the market – the Spanish Vice Consul at Tetuan [Solomon Hazzan] had a hole through the heels & hung up naked. I saw him alive 20 hours after, left on purpose for the Spanish Consul [González Salmón] after which he was burnt – my old acquaintance Gl [General] Abbas, Commander in Chief of the black Army [an army of technically enslaved African men] & his Deputy – killed, for attempting to debauch [detach?] the [?] Ulemma [the religious scholars] from his brother. Heavens how I shall shock you when we meet – when the Emr. goes away from this [place] I mean if possible to go over to Gibr to finish my [diplomatic] letters & have a little holiday. I shall give you the substance.

At our first publick audience I was particularly distinguished. The Empr. declared his friendship for our nation, with whom he would preserve a good peace & grant what we asked for, & with the Ragusians [from the city state of Ragusa, now Dubrovnik] – to the other nations he gave 4 months at the end of which time he would be at war with them – the next day he recollected that the Swedish Consul had joined with me once, in privately sending him a Present at Abslem [Moulay Abdesalam]  – H.M. immediately sent for him, promised to renew the Treaties, & made him a present of a Horse. In time all got on good terms. How the Spanish Affairs are I know not, but I believe their arrangement will prove very temporary – It is hinted that a very considerable annual sum is demanded – what they spent at Tetuan I assure you was very considerable.

Now we are in high favour; I may say thanks to me, for to obtain it, I have truly risked roasting for many months past – had I been detected it would have certainly happened. Will they do anything at home to preserve it. No.

Hadge Hassen el Huash [?] is appointed Vice Consul at Tetuan.

Nothing yet, that I know of from Morocco [used to designate the southern part of the kngdom] but the Prince there Hesheim [Hisham, Yazid’s brother and rival] has neither party not abilities & as far as our intelligence extends the Empr. is acknowledged, & he has given me a Horse.

His favourites are: Capt of Cruizers & the Cheriffs of Muly Abslem [Moulay Abdesalam]– Would to God our Army such!!! were come & gone for I dread a general plunder – the following is an extract from one of my private letters – I formerly mentioned a friend of mine to you I cannot tell what to make of him. When he lived alone & had but one adviser he adhered steadily to his plans; but I am told since he has come into company, he listens to everybody, is of opinion with the last speaker, does whatever is required of him & of course must be doing wrong  a dozen times a day – beside which he trifles away his time most egregiously, so that if anyone wished to set up in business they have all possible opportunity instead of playing the great man in a pretty villa  he should be exercising in London but they say every hour produces new Schemes. I hope this want of steadiness may mend, if not the House rich as it is may be ruined, for he has a determined and active Enemy away down in Cornwall.

A confidential letter cannot be sent to me by way of Tetuan.

I have the honour to be   Dear Sir Your most faithful Hum. Servt.  J.M. Matra

 

References

Wikipedia: James Matra

Wikisource: Dictionary of National Biography Charles O’Hara ca. 1740-1802

Wikipedia: Black Army

Wikipedia: Muhammad_III_of_Morocco

Wikipedia: Yazid of Morocco

Wendy Moore, Wedlock (2010)

 

 

By the way, I was shipwrecked off the French coast … a phlegmatic correspondent in 1828

 

Robert Abbotson from Westmoreland is in London conducting various kinds of loosely specified business and writes to his brother John back home and who is likely to have been the John Whaley Abbotson practising as an attorney in Black Bull Yard, Kirkby Stephen.

Robert Abbostson is probably lodged over the Mori and Lavenu sheet music shop at 28 New Bond Street and more likely works nearby rather than in the music shop; he regularly visits a draper in Clerkenwell, John Pemberton, who is well-established selling printed cottons. Abbotson writes about business and everyday matters but describes - without making it the centrepiece of his letter - having been to France on an excursion which went wrong when the steam packet from London ran aground off Boulogne. This would have been the Columbine which was wrecked north of Boulogne on the 18^th September with over 300 people on board, all of whom were rescued. One would have expected the rescued passenger to have written earlier about his experience but, no, he says “I had nothing particular to write about”. This letter, however, does fill three sides and is then cross written over one and a half sides.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mr John Abbotson   Kirby [sic] Steven   Westmoreland

Datelined: 28 New Bond Street    Nov 16 1828

Despatch postmark: [London] NO 17 1828

My Dear Brother

You will think me very negligent in not answering your letter sooner as I had nothing particular to write about I pospon’d it till now. I am a regular visitor at Pembertons in St John Street the first time I saw him he gave me a general invitation, I din’d there a fortnight ago they always enquire after you. Miss P you have been a great favourite with when she comes down to Yorkshire she vows she will not return without seeing you. The younger of the Miss Ps poor lass has long had a love fit her Brother did not approve of the match, she left London in March for Burton and has been there ever since her true lover followed a short time afterwards and I have heard that they were married, you perhaps will know him he was Clark at Mr P. when you were in Town. I stay all night the last time I was there. Mr P. and myself went up to the angel at Islington and had a couple Bottles of wine we then went to his house in St John Street & had supper by that time it was eleven o’clock too late for me to gain admittance in Bond Street. I slept with Mr P had Rump stakes & Coffe for Breakfast and got to Bond St time enough for business. My Cousen Whaley [?] and me are good friends he was in town about three weeks ago we went to the theatre at his expence he generally stays in town a week or ten days and during that time I sleep with him four or five times I had a letter from him yesterday morning, some commission he wants me to execute for him I believe he is doing business in Liverpool I am going to the city tomorrow morning about his business perhaps that is the reason of his being unusually generous to me when in Town I have had an excursion to France but to give you a description of it, I should require several sheets of paper, you would read in the papers, an account of a steam packet  been wreckd on the french coast, I unfortunately was on board and had a very narrow escape, lost my luggage but that was trifling. The vessel struck about ½ past eight and, remained there till Eleven expecting every moment to go down to rise no more after we got on shore by the assistance of small boats we walkd a cross the country about 15 miles that night or rather morning when we arrived at Bolongue which was the place we were going we banished from our minds what had past and determined to enjoy ourselves which we did much to our satisfaction

Robert Burrows has return’d from the Indes he poor fellow had but an unfortunate voyage. I have nothing more to say at present I heard from home by Mr Thomas Redmayne he returned a bout a fortnight ago they were all quite well I am going to write to Mary this week if you have been at Austwick [ North Yorkshire] lately you will have the goodness to insert all the news when you write which I hope will be soon

If you could send me a couple brace of game to give to Mr Pemberton or send them to him carriage paid I should feel particularly obliged to you. When you write tell me how you are getting on in the way of business I hope it continues to answer well for you I was sorry to hear of Richards misfortune but I hope he will be no worse for it …. and pray tell me what they are going to make of William it is quite time he should be off some where I have no opinion of him staying at home. Write to me as soon as you have time excuse all faults for I know there are many have you heard any thing of John Metcalfe Ann gave me a shocking account sent but I hope it is not correct & must conclude hoping this will find you quite well as it leaves me at present

I Remain Dr Brother Yours affectionately   Robert Abbotson

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_September_1828

Sarah Lawrence is seeking admission to the Colston Alms Houses in Bristol 1839

 

Dictated letter from a woman in Bristol who has probably been a servant in the household of a Mrs Rice who appears now to be making her occasional gifts of money. The writer is seeking admission to the Colston Alms Houses in Bristol built in 1691.They are named after the Bristol-born slave trader, merchant, philanthropist and Member of Parliament, Edward Colston. The Alms House originally designed for 12 residents still exists with an unchanged purpose, though internally modified to provide tweve one bedroom flats. The deferential tone of the letter may be due in part to the intervention of the friend who wrote the letter. The mention of riots in Bristol probably refer back to those which occurred in 1831 following the rejection in the House of Lords of the Great Reform Bill; the palace of the Lord Bishop of Bristol was burnt down. 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mrs Rice. Original address heavily crossed out and replaced by 9 rue de Pierres à Bruges Belgium

Postmarked: BRISTOL JU 24 1839, LONDON 25 JUN 1839, OSTENDE transit mark 26 JUN

Datelined: June 23^rd 1839

Docketing notes indicating Five Pounds sent on June 12 1839 and a further payment on Dec 14 1839

 

Most honor’d Madam

This comes with my most humble duty & beg pardon for not writing before, I hope you will forgive me. I hope my dear Master & you my Dear Lady, with the dear Young Lady & Gentleman are in good health as I bless God I am at present. I beg to return you my most thanks for your kind present & may the Lord bless you my dear Lady & each of the dear family with health happiness & prosperity.

I havea petition for Coulstons [ = Colston’s] Alms-houses but must wait for a vacancy I hope in the Lord I shall succeed. I feel distress’d in not having answer’d  your kind letter before & Lady’s call’d on me twice & ask’d me if I had receive’d it & said they should write or I should have written before. I do hope I shall get in the Alms house to have a Home if it is ever so small for every year I feel the want of one more as I almost feel at times I am as an intruder. I pray God to protect my dear Mr George. We have now built where Reeve’s Hotel was where yo once staid a most splendid Hotel call’d the Great Western Hotel is was expected there would be a riot here again but now we have Barracks filled up at the Armoury Stapleton Road  the 29 Regiment of foot soldiers and the Band plays every evening  at the Great Western Hotel it is the officer’s head Quarters and at Clifton, a detachment of Horse Soldiers the 10^th Hussras which makes  Bristol very gay.

I have made Dear Madam several attempts to try & write myself but every day I feel I get still more nervous. I have dictated this & got a kind friend to write it for me.

I remain Dear Madam

Your obedient Humble Servant

Sarah Lawrence

Reference

Wikipedia: Colstons Almshouses

Reverend John Gratwick Challen, Rector of Shermanbury Sussex and Vicar of Bressingham Norfolk 1833

 

The land-owning author of these letters writes from his family’s long-established home at Shermanbury Place in the village of Shermanbury, West Sussex.  He was Rector of St Giles, Shermanbury from 1795 but employed a stipendiary curate from 1825; the church of St Giles neighbours his home and was in his own patronage, so originally he would have proposed himself to the Bishop of Chichester for the job; for another example of self-selection see:

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/the-million-pound-advowson-of-reepham.html

The independently wealthy Dr Challen was also a pluralist, holding two church livings, and in the two letters below is seeking a licence of non-residence, allowing him not to live at Bressingham in Norfolk, on grounds of ill health. He became Rector of Bressingham in Norfolk in 1800 but with a succession of three stipendiary curates from 1813. This information is from the Church of England clergy database which as far as I can see leaves a period of about 12 years in which no assistance with the two parishes is recorded though it must have existed - the two parishes are about 180 miles apart.

In 1817 Dr Challen was also appointed to  two successive prebendary stalls in Chichester Cathedral, the second one worth an insignificant £11 per year (£850 today) and in this case more honorific than lucrative. John Gratwick Challen died in 1835 which suggests that his pleas of ill-health in these letters are genuine; he had no direct descendants.

 

Shermanbury Place

 Transcription 1

Addressed to: J Kitson Esqr   Norwich   [Kitson was the Bishop of Norwich’s Registrar and a great deal of correspondence addressed to him exists outside any archive]

Datelined: Shermanbury   Octr 17^th 33   Postmarked: 18 Oct 1833

No docketing note

Dear Sir

I have returned the nomination of of Mr Harrison to the curacy of Bressingham signd by me & when you see that Gentleman will thank you to get him to inform me when he gets to Bressingham that I may enter into correspondence with him respect to the precise time of his entering upon the duties of the Parish. I must communicate with Mr Betts [the current curate] upon that subj as soon as I hear from Mr Harrison as above.

I believe at Christmas or rather on the 31^st Decr next my Licence of non residence expires. I shall have to petition the Lord Bishop of Norwich for a renewal of it; in fact two apoplectic attacks have affected my speech, & otherwise injured my health, that I am incapable of performing the spiritual duties. I should be extremely obliged to you to inform me whether & what renewal of Petition is necessary to his Lordship.

I am Dear Sir    most truly yours    J G Challen

 

Transcription 2

Addressed to: J Kitson Esqr Norwich

Datelined: Shermanbury Novr 29^th 1833

Dear Sir

On the other side I enclose a Petition to the Lord Bishop of Norwich for the favor of renewal of my Licence of non Residence.

I have a letter from Mr Harrison who is arrived at Bressingham, but I fear he will not be able to procure a house there sufficient for his numerous Family, consisting of a wife & five children, nor subsist on the curacy unless he has other means. I imagined he had been a single man

The Licence if you please may be sent by post to me here & Mr Davey my Churchwarden will pay all Fees.

I am Dear Sir

Most truly yours

J G Challen

 

 

 

1828 Christmas is Coming but the Feather Bed and Bolsters have been distrained.

 

Two hundred years ago there was a straightforward way of dealing with those who owed rent: if they did not pay up by whatever date had been fixed, then a bailiff could be instructed to distrain – that is  seize - household goods which their owners could redeem by paying off the debt (and associated costs) but which would otherwise be sold at auction. The Distress for Rent Act came into force in 1690. Further legislation in 1737 authorised the off-site seizure of goods which had been removed from premises on which rent was owed in order to avoid their distraint.

These acts have been modified on several occasions; in 1888 bedding was excluded from what could be distrained. Distraint is still a recognised procedure for securing payment of debts both private and corporate. Over time, it became less common to physically remove goods immediately; more often they were ticketed (“touched”) to indicate they could not legally be moved from their present location but would be if debts were not paid within whatever period of grace was allowed.

The brief letter below simply records the 1828 distraint ofmoveable property in Avebury, Wiltshire. For another and more elaborated example of distraint go to

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/distraint-of-goods-in-suffolk-ann-adams.html

 

Transcription

Addressed to: S.Winterbotham Esqr     Solicitor    Tewkesbury

No dateline and carried by hand

Docketing note: 18 Decr 1828 Mr Hind Nickells rent

 

Dr Sir

The bearer Thomas Mann has been sent by Messrs Winters to distrain for Nickols [spelt thus] Rent. He has been more successful than Winter was, having obtained entrance, and there is safely deposited in my Corn Chamber

1 Feather Bed and Bolsters

2 Blankets

1 Tea Tray &

1 round Table

Nickols and his wife are gone off in haste I suppose to consult their Attorney they threaten heavily to have some Lr [Lawyer] If they do not redeem the goods, I will let you know about Monday as I suppose it is necessary to let them have four clear days to think of it.

I remain in great haste Yours truly

Jas. Hind

Avebury   16th Decr 1828

T.M. [Thomas Mann] will of course give you further information if you think it necessary.

 

References

Wikipedia: Distress for Rent Act 1689

Wikipedia: Bailiff

1828 Norman Macleod a 15 year old student at Glasgow university writes to his grandfather

 

Norman Macleod (1812 – 1872), the cheerful author of this January 1828  letter is currently aged fifteen - next birthday in June - and a student at the University of Glasgow; he writes to his grandfather giving him some details of his studies and me some information about his diet. In later life, he had a prominent career in the Church of Scotland, eventually serving as Moderator of its General Assembly for the year 1869-70. He travelled extensively in the Middle East and to India. and wrote about his travels and many other topics. He has a Wikipedia page and so does his mother, Agnes Maxwell MacLeod (1783-1879) who was a poet and writer of songs set to music of which the best known is Sound of Pibroch.

Transcription

Addressed to: James Macleod Esqr   Aros    I of Mull     Argyllshire

 Datelined: Mr Brodie’s Barony Pl.   20 Jany 1828

Postmarked: GLASGOW 23 JAN 1828

 

My Dear Grandfather

I believe I never almost wrote to you a letter without beginning it by making appologies for not writing sooner &c, or without promising amendment. Some old clergyman used to say that if I was paved with good resolutions; I think he should have rather said Macadamised so it is with me. I shall not however now take up your time with a long Rigmarole about the matter, but rather thank you for the letter of good advices (which I hope may not be thrown away) that you took the trouble of writing to me and also for the box of excellent sauceages – the box you were so kind as to send me formerly I also got. Goose – Jam – Cheese are all recei’d and many thanks to you for them. As for the cheese it trancends my scanty genius to relate its rare virtues – its blueness – its – lest I must stop for were I to begin to describe a cheese my paper would very soon be done. I will therefore proceed to tell you of my Studies. We are at present reading in the morning Latin class – Livy 23 lib -  & in the afternoon Horaces Satyres – I read since I wrote to a few of Cicero s orations … pro Marcelo pro Ligario & some others.

In the Greek class Xenoophon, Herodotus , &c. The more I see of Sandford the more I like him as a professor [Sir Daniel Keyte Sandford (1798–1838), professor of Greek] -  & as for Walker [Professor Josiah Walker (1761–1831)] he wd do very well was he not so kind hearted, being unwilling to fine a student &c &c.

I saw the other day some students profess for the prize. In the Greek profession 4 competed, one of these (an Englishman) fainted. He was an interesting lad but he wont get the prize – In the Latin profession 5 competed: all Englishmen indeed they seem to be decidedly superior to us Scotsmen as classical scholars – This examination  is rather a formidable business – as you are surrounded  by 6 professors  and are examined half an hour =

I was out at Campsie last week all the children are laid up with colds but Mama Papa & Aunt Jane are well.

Have you heard anything of the Gaelic monthly magazine that is to be published (P. 6 pence) Papa & Dr [Daniel] Dewar Editors for the 1^st year – it will go on if they get I believe 500 subscribers – as to its content among other things there is to be a short sermon & prayer suited to the capacity of the Highlanders – the Prospectus is published. There is some doubts however of the ultimate success of the work. [Dewar and Macleod published a well-known Dictionary of Gaelic in 1831 but there is no trace of a magazine].

Poor Mrs McGregor is still here trying to support herself – for her greedy Brother wont let her stay with him – I hear (for the information of the ladies) that Martha McM[rest of word lost when seal broken] is to be married to the assistant surgeon of the …….- tis fixed.

I drew the half of my bursary today which was 15£ (Dundonould Mor …..)

I hope Aunt M & Grandmama are well this cold weather & aunt Betty if I may class her among the old people between her & N Morris you must have been teazed with Newyearsday moralizing thus it is with all old maids who have nothing more pleasing to speak about. My love however to them all & to Jessy [?] who does not yet dispair – My best love to her. I will write along with the boxes when the steam B[oat] commences if not before then. I hope this wont add a stone to the pavement of ……

It gives me pleasure to hear your arm is so well. I hope you may yet have the use of it. Give my love to aunt Mrs Maxwell when you see her – she & I got on famously – I must now alas say Vale! Vale! Vale! I have a great many lessons to learn to night. I hope this may be an excuse for this bad letter.

Your affectionate Grandson Nor McLeod

I heard of the loss of the Stirling S B [the steamboat sank on 17 January 1828] and Poor Glengarry drowning [Alasdair Ranaldson Macdonell of Glengarry: The 15th Chief of Glengarry] .

References

Wikipedia: Agnes Maxwell MacLeod

Wikipedia: Norman Macleod (minister, born 1812)

 

Bristol in 1839 is in great want of Eau de Cologne ….

 

 

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I could not resist this short missive boasting a stylish wax seal (unbroken) and stylish handwriting, so stylish that I could not read the last name of the Bristol firm (Score) and resorted to street directories. But had I paid attention to the docketing note added by the recipient I need not have troubled myself:  in handwriting which suggests real familiarity with English the docketing reads “1839 Bristol 31 Aug^t Ferris Brown & Score R [eceived] 5 Septb^r  and R[eplied] 12 Sept^r”

The letter is addressed to the firm of Jean Maria Farina which still exists and still manufactures the Eau de Cologne invented by the Italian-born Giovanni Maria Farina (1685 -1766). He settled in German-speaking Köln but traded in fashionable French. The outside of this letter from Bristol is addressed in French with Jülichs-Platz rendered as the Place de Juliers, something which would not have troubled the Köln/ Cologne mail sorters; the name “Farina” in the top line would have been enough for them.

The moral of this letter, as of others on this site, is that 19^th century European cities – including British ones - were cosmopolitan places where you could expect to hear many languages spoken and find many nationalities represented. And, clearly, there were eager customers for boxes of Continental toiletry in the former slaving port of Bristol. The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 dented the economy of Bristol, the abolition of slavery in 1833 probably less so. Bristol expanded other activities which would keep it rich, including the processing of imported raw materials. The mass production of cigarettes was pioneered in Bristol by W.D. and H.O. Wills. Bristol remained an affluent city resting on accumulated wealth.

But my direct ancestor Thomas Veryard (1798-1843) who worked in the Bedminster suburbs of Bristol as a ropemaker left in the 1820s when business was bad and returned to the Veryard family’s historic base in the village of Hawkchurch just inland from the Dorset port of Bridport. Both village and port retain traces of the long and narrow ropewalks needed for the outdoor work in which many male Veryards engaged; their wives and daughters did the indoor work of making boot laces. Bristol’s Bedminster still has a pub called The Rope Walk and architectural remains of this old labour-intensive spinning industry, eventually made redundant by steel ropes and ships without sails. But an 1825 print of Bristol High Street features the once-successful business in which Thomas Veryard worked for his brother. Ferris, Brown & Score was not located on the High Street and I cannot find an engraving of their premises. But this one does give a sense of the city centre.

 

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Transcription

Addressed to: Mons^r  Jean Marie Farina, Place de Juliers Cologne

Datelined: Bristol August 31^st 1839

Endorsed: Paid [ Postage paid in advance]

Sirs

About two months since we wrote to you for the usual supply of Eau de Cologne which we are in great want of but hearing nothing from you on the subject we fear our Letter must have miscarried – this therefore is to beg the favor of your sending us P[er] the first Vessel to Bristol London Liverpool a Case Containing 50 Boxes without fail & oblige your Ob [edient] Ser[van]ts

Ferris Brown & Score

Mons Jean Marie Farina Cologne

Reference

Wikipedia: Johann Maria Farina

Wilkie Collins climbs Vesuvius in this 1837 account by his father William Collins RA

 

This very long (1350+ words) letter is terribly faded and I would have given up the task but for the fact that the writer is William Collins RA, father of the popular Victorian author Wilkie Collins now better remembered than his painter father. I read The Woman in White and The Moonstone with pleasure some years ago, both in Penguin Classics editions.

The difficult task of transcribing this letter was rewarded: towards the end it includes a striking cameo of the young Wilkie – first name William and thus Willy to his father – clambering about on Vesuvius. The letter is very faded at the crucial point and even though I have adjusted contrasts on my scan etc I am not confident in my transcription, not least because it all seems too good to be true.

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William Collins RA (1788-1847) was a popular and financially successful painter of sentimental scenes, some of which were reproduced as carefully engraved prints. He was able to afford to spend two years with his family in Italy (1836-1838) during which period the letter transcribed below was written. His work no longer arouses much interest, original oil paintings selling for a few hundred pounds; the painting which made his fame, The Sale of the Pet Lamb (1812) was estimated at £8-10000 in a 2026 Sothebys sale.

Parting with the Pet Lamb (contemporary engraving)

His second son Charles Allston Collins (1828-73), mentioned in the letter, became a Pre-Raphaelite painter and later a writer.

William Collins and his wife were highly religious and they intended Wilkie for the priesthood; on the family’s return to London he was sent to a private boarding school in north London run by a Reverend Cole; he was bullied but escaped the worse fate of his younger brother who was sent to the north of England Roman Catholic boarding school Stonyhurst; it is appropriately named and more of its character may be gathered from another letter I have from the same period:

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/henry-bedingfeld-very-unhappy-pupil-of.html

The addressee of the letter below is Jacob Bell, a prominent and wealthy pharmacist and at the end of his life briefly a Whig/Liberal MP. He was a friend of Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73) and it is Bell’s two dogs which feature in Landseer’s painting Dignity and Impudence.

 

Transcription

Addresses to: Jacob Bell Esqr   338 Oxford Street   London   per Inghilterra

Datelined: August 19^th 1837

Undated Crossed Keys postmark of the Papal States; London receiver mark of 9 SEP 1837

Docketing note: Collins

 

Dear Bell

Your letter afforded us all the greatest pleasure and the best proof of the delusion under which you labour in supposing yourself not a first rate hand in driving a quill, and you cannot do us a greater favour than to write a few more, you already perceive that I am making use of my wife’s hand, which I am obliged to do in consequence of labouring under a violent rheumatic attack entirely disabling my right hand, and so far affecting my eyes as to put a stop for the present to either writing or drawing. My left ancle too is so much attacked as at one time to lead to a suspicion of gout. I am however thank God fast improving under the most attentive care of an extremely intelligent English physician Dr Strange [ ? no details found ], who resides in this place, all this has been brought upon me by a too eager desire to increase my collection of sketches by which I have been induced to expose myself  too much to the sun and atmosphere of this climate, not liking to shut myself up during the day, which ought to be done through the raging heat of the months July and august, had all this occurred before the sales you speak of , it is impossible to say how much higher the works of the old master might have sold. With respect to your question about remaining abroad I never had the most distant idea of settling out of my own country. When I started from England, I most faithfully intended as I mentioned to you to be back in the autumn of – 37 -, but we have lost so much time in the annoyances of avoiding  Quarantines connected with the cholera, that I fear our original intention may perhaps be exceeded till the following spring; though we have not yet quite abandoned the hope of being back by Decr. next all our friends strongly advise our passing another winter in the genial climate of Italy. The Cholera has been most fatal both at Naples and Palermo, and there seems very little doubt that it has at length reached Rome, at Naples and the neighbouring villages it is considered as quite over, and many friends who have been staying at this place are now returning every day. Our present plan is to remain here quietly until I may be blest with strength to leave and the weather becomes cooler, which it does after the first rains (now expected every day) and then to proceed to Amalfi, Castilla Mare, and other beautiful places, too numerous to mention spoken of by all as affording the most perfect subjects for both the painter and poet, not only as regards the objects themselves but as respects that peculiar glow of colour and tint said to exist alone in fair Italy.

I have been very industrious have made an immense number of sketches, many very highly finished, but have begun no picture although I have made plans for many, as I feel convinced that much greater acquisitions are to be made under the character of a student. - Augst. 23d What was written above was as much as my strength would endure, and until today I have been too feeble to attempt anything further. My eyes I am happy to say are very considerably better, I trust nearly well but require great care, my right arm is much better, my left knee (newly attacked since I last wrote) still in great pain, so much for the Bulletin of today. The information you gave me respecting the prints of “Sunday Morning” and “Leaving Home”  says much in favour of adopting your advice as to the mode in which any future pictures may be engraved, I am quite delighted with your description of Phelps [Benjamin Phelps Gibbon who engraved paintings by Landseer  ] … you quite confirm my previous opinion of his sterling talent. I had a letter from him since the arrival of yours in which he tells me how much he is gratified by your approbation of his [seal broken here, possibly the word is drawing] he wishes to know if the plate is to be dedicated to you, I hope you have no objection to its being so. I am surprised you had so much difficulty in finding Phelps and the picture, as I particularly desired him to call upon you for the purpose of showing you the etching, and other states of the plate, and I most certainly thought I had myself furnished you with the address before I left London. I trust the print will soon be finished and the picture placed in your safe keeping. When it does reach your hands, have it wiped with a clean cloth by hand or at most washed carefully with water alone but by no means allow any one to persuade you to have it varnished until my return. I am much obliged to you for the readiness you express to have charge of any picture I may send, I shall bear this in mind, tho’ I do not think at present I shall have to trouble you. We have often talked over the possibility of coming suddenly upon you and your sisters at the foot of Vesuvious as we formerly met at Snowdon, and we do not yet despair but what a mighty difference in the two ascents! The enormous height in the first place, and part of the way up  more than ancle deep in ashes at every step but no price in the way of labour can be too great for the truly sublime  and terrific [used here to mean awe-inspiring or terrifying]  which the summit affords, though there is no great eruption at present, still volumes of …. and hot ashes hurtling forth at intervals with a most awful and terrific noise, and the red hot lava  every where visible in the wide & lengthened [?] chasms complete the picture of desolation & horror. In this great undertaking I was accompanied by Willy, who was delighted to find the shoes burnt off his feet even[?] to regale himself with eggs roasted in the lava, and copious draughts of Palermian wine, and would fain have smoked [?] his cigars [?] lighted at the lava before [?] the rest [?]. this description has nearly diverted my original intention at the mention of your sisters to give a good scolding in which we all heartily join for never mentioning one single word of either Father, Mother, brothers or sisters.

In a letter I recd. a few days ago from Mr  Rice he advises me of the payment you had made. I do not forget is included the price of one of the very best sketches I can make you. I am much obliged  by your kind inquiries after my wife and children they are quite well. Willy talks Italian with as much fluency as English & drives all our bargains, which is no joke [?] here, as they always ask six times as much as they intend to take. Charlie is pretty idle, and both fonder than ever of dogs and riding any animal they can get.

Pray remember us to Mr & Mrs Briggs [H P Briggs RA, painter] & Landseer [Sir Edwin Landseer, friend of Bell ] the Rentons [John renton, painter?] &c &c – and especially to the various members of your own family – what progress has my rival for fame in the fine art trade in his studies in architecture & almost forgot to tell you that  as we found it impossible to return by Michaelmas we have quite given up our house to Capt Washington [Captain John Washington, a Royal Navy hydrographer] therefore you must find us on our return a fine house in a fashionable square at 25 £ a year.

I must now having no more room though much inclination close this epistle having just room to squeeze in at least one truth that I am faithfully yours William Collins.

References

Wikipedia: William Collins (painter)

Wikipedia: Wilkie Collins

Wikipedia: Charles Allston Collins

Wikipedia: Jacob Bell (Chemist)