ADMIRALTY

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small and slightly rusted staple holes to one corner. Folded once. Addressed to ‘My dear [Gern?] King / A. G. B. I’ (i.e. the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution) and signed ‘Aston Webb / Presd. A G B I -’. He is writing at the request of ‘the Council’, ‘to express to you on their behalf & my own our sincere regret at your resignation from our Council’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on grey paper, with central horizontal fold. Each signed ‘Aston Webb’. ONE: ANS to ‘Dear Walter Spiers’, 27 March 1899. 1p, 16mo. Thanking him for his congratulations on his election. TWO: ALS to ‘Dear Mr Baldwin’, 20 June 1903. 1p, 12mo. After thanking him for his congratulation he continues: ‘We had a most delightful dinner with you the other evening.’

[Copy, from the 'Barrack Office' at Chatham, printed ] 4to: 120 + [19] pp. The last 19 unpaginated pages comprise the appendix, divided into 18 parts. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper. Original boards rebacked in leather, with title on spine and new free endpapers. Title-leaf carries no date or printing details. In manuscript scored through on reverse: 'Adjutants Office by order | [signed?] T. G. Gascoigne | Adjutant', with crude drawings.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. For the context, see the 1863 pamphlet ‘Clare versus the Queen’, in the slug to which John Clare (1820-1885) is described as ‘THE KING OF METAL SHIP BUILDERS’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with folds. Docketed ‘Fitzhardinge / Lord -’. Signed ‘Fitzhardinge’ (sic). In a difficult hand.

See his entry, and that of his son, in the Oxford DNB. Hornby served as Superintendent of the Royal Naval Hospital and Victualling Yard at Plymouth between 1832 and 1838. This item is 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with thin mourning border. Fifty lines, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage and a few closed tears around gutter. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Phipps Hornby’, and with recipient (‘My dear Sir’) unnamed. Pencil note giving note by recipient at head of first page, giving prices for butter and cheese ‘for the Year 1834’.

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Each of the two letters is 1p, 4to, with the Prince’s letter on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, and the Earl’s signed autograph copy of his reply on the recto of the second leaf of the same bifolium. Both leaves are discoloured and damaged, with wear and loss from infestation, but the two signatures and the area around them are good and clear. The document has been folded twice for postage. Strip of white tape along gutter of blank reverse of second leaf from mount. ONE (Frederick’s ALS): Fifteen lines.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down by the four corners to piece of paper neatly cut down from a leaf of an album. Reads: 'Sir J. Barrow will thank Mr. Clowes to let him have the Art. on Egypt, as soon as set up, as he will have considerable alterations to make towards the

1p, folio. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight wear and spotting to the extremities. With ‘(L.S.)’ at top right and at the foot the slug ‘Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.’ Headed: ‘At the Court at St. James’s, / The 28th of May, 1800. / PRESENT, / The King’s Most Excellent Majesty / in Council.’ Thirty-four lines of text, including a twenty-three line transcription of an Admiralty memorandum, in smaller type.

Providing a good view of the day-to-day practicalities of Nelson's navy. Middleton was the nephew of Admiral Lord Barham. In 1795 he removed from the Lowestoffe to the Flora, serving under the Nelson off Genoa in support of the Austrian Army, and during July 1796 at the occupation of Porto Ferrajo. All three 1p, foolscap, and somewhat discoloured and worn, the first and last with chipping at head, but all with text entire.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of white 'star' wafer mounts adhering to the four corners. Beneath the underlined heading 'Note for Secretary' reads: 'The relative positions of Iris & Phoebe do not appear to agree in papers marked (2) and (4) in my letter. Please let me know which is right. / LB.' Presumably Iris and Phoebe were ships.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with the blank second leaf carrying some traces of pink paper mount. Written a couple of months before Haldane’s acceptance of a peerage, so that he could become leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords, and in response to Hurd’s essay ‘The New Policy of Imperial and Home Defence’, published in the January 1911 number of ‘The Nineteenth Century and After’.

A scarce piece of naval ephemera. Six copies on COPAC: Chetham’s Library, Lambeth Palace, NLS, Oxford, Society of Antiquaries and BL. According to ESTC, the journals of the House of Lords state that it was ‘presented to the House on 17 January 1705, and ordered to be printed 5 February 1705’. In landscape on one side of a folio sheet of watermarked laid paper, folded into a two-page bifolium.

The Eliza was on her way to Bristol from Memel in Prussia when she was wrecked on the Kentish Knock on 4 August 1818. The court is not named, but the second document contains a reference to 'the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court'. ONE: Affidavit headed ‘Eliza James Driver Master.’ 1p, foolscap 8vo. Forty-six lines, closely written. Text clear and entire on aged paper with chipping along head of leaf. On reverse: ‘Messrs. Cobb & Son / Margate / by favor of Mr.

There is a record of one 'Heinrich Ernst Seiffert aus Altona bei Hamburg' in 1787. The letter is clearly addressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, whom, we may be sure, were not taken in by what was either the production of a madman or a clumsy confidence trickster. 3pp, foolscap 8vo. On bifolium of gilt-edged paper. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper with slight wear and short closed tears to extremities. Folded twice.

See the entries for Barrow and Seymour in the Oxford DNB. On laid Whatman paper dated 1833. Having served for four years as Commissioner at Portsmouth, Seymour had sailed out to South America in 1833 as commander-in-chief, dying of ‘low fever’ at Rio de Janeiro two months before the writing of the present letter. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, folded twice. At top left: ‘Duplicate, / No 50.’ Initialed at bottom left: ‘J. P.’ Good firm and attractive signature ‘John Barrow’. Writing with regard to ‘the late Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour’s letter of the 16th.

1p, foolscap 8vo. On piece of wove paper with Britannia watermark. Lightly aged and in fair condition, but with some creasing and nicking at the head. Folded three times into a packet. A printed document, completed in manuscript.

HMS Beacon (launched in 1820 as HMS Meteor and renamed in 1832) was a survey ship (having been under her previous name a Hecla-class bomb vessel), sold in 1846. HMS Britannia, the third of the name, was launched in 1820. She took part in the Siege of Sebastopol, and later in 1854 was driven ashore on the Russian coast, thereafter serving as a training ship until being sold for breaking in 1869.

1p, foolscap 8vo. On an aged and worn piece of watermarked laid paper with some closed tears. Folded twice. Reads: ‘These are to Certify the Right Honble. the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. or whom else it may Concern that Mr. George Ross serv’d as Midshipman on Board His Majesty’s Ship Princess Amelia under my Command from the Twenty Seventh day of May 1778 to the Day of the Date hereof - During which Time he behaved with Diligence & Soberiety [sic] and always obedient to Command.

Sir Charles Adam was great-grandson of the architect William Adam, and his father (also William Adam) was a friend of Sir Walter Scott. See the entries for Charles Adam and his father in the Oxford DNB. William Adam had a son - Charles’s brother - named William George Adam (1781-1839), but the reference to ‘Wm. Adam Esqr. Senior and Junior’ appears to suggest the father. Each of the two items is 1p, 4to. They are on different paper stock. Both in good condition, lightly aged. Both endorsed with modern note in pencil: ‘enclosed in Spottiswoode to W. A. - 23 July 08’. ONE: ‘Captn. Chas.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with creasing at head. Folded into packet. 1p, folio, and docketed on reverse: ‘Admiralty Order of 6 May 1802 respecting Bearing Boys of 1st Class recd. 1 July 1802 -’. Signed by Marsden, and addressed by him ‘To / Commodore Darby / &c. &c.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio, on recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank. Discoloration and wear along outer edge, and patches of light staining to leaves at head and foot.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along inner edge, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. All printed, except for Marsden’s firm signature.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along gutter, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Kemphaan’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along gutter, with two leaves half detached from head; otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Staunch’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Steady’.

See Gambier’s entry in the Oxford DNB. He served during capture of Charleston during American Revolutionary War, at the Glorious First of June, and commanded at Battle of Copenhagen and Battle of the Basque Roads. He was First Naval Lord, three times: 1795-1801, 1804-6 and 1807-8. Henslow was Surveyor to the Navy, 1784-1806, and Hope was Deputy Comptroller of the Navy, 1795-1801.

An interesting piece of Royal Navy and Napoleonic War ephemera, casting light on the implementation of Admiralty Prize Law. See the reference to the writer of this letter in the 1926 ‘Memorials of the family of Hurry of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and of America, Australia, and South Africa’: ‘Edmund Cobb [Hurry], born at Great Yarmouth, in 1762, admitted a freeman by birthright, 23rd of August, 1782. He settled as a merchant and banker, at Gosport, where he married a Miss Liddell.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the explosion of the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, with the loss of 1283 officers and men, he came out with the celebrated understatement, ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today’.

Scarce: no other copy traced. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript 37. Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 December 1842. Headed in manuscript ‘Crime in the high Seas’. At bottom, in manuscript (not Stanley’s hand): ‘/sd/ Stanley’. Twenty-nine lines in copperplate font.

From the first Smith has been considered as the model of the ‘Sir Joseph Porter’ of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘HMS Pinafore’, and Disraeli himself is said to have referred to him as ‘Pinafore Smith’. See Smith’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is signed ‘W. H. Smith’, addressed to ‘Mr Townsend Warner’, and headed ‘Private’. The recipient is the historian and Harrow housemaster George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), father of the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.