[Nassau William Senior, English political economist notorious for his supposed callousness during the Irish Potato Famine.] Autograph Signature (‘N W Senior’) to envelope addressed by him to ‘The / Lady Theresa Lewis / Kent House’.

The claim that Benjamin Jowett reported Senior as saying that ‘the famine of 1848 in Ireland would not kill more than a million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do much good’ appears to have been made up by Cecil Woodham-Smith. It is certainly not mentioned in Senior’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with the entry for the recipient Lady (Maria) Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). The present item is a 12.5 x 8 cm envelope. In good condition, lightly aged. The front panel has the signature ‘N W Senior’ at bottom left, with the address centred as usual: ‘The / Lady Theresa Lewis / Kent House’. On the reverse the back flap has been carefully torn open, leaving a the red-wax seal intact, but sadly without any impression. See Image.