[Edward Drummond, Personal Secretary to Sir Robert Peel, fatally shot by Daniel McNaughton.] Autograph Note Signed ('Edwd Drummond') to Sir Thomas Phillipps, acknowledging receipt of letter. With pencil note by Phillipps.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive spike hole to corner through both leaves. Addressed to 'Sir Thomas Phillipps Bart', and reading: 'Sir, | I am desired by Sir Robert Peel to acknowledge the Receipt of your Letter of the 3d Instant containing suggestions for the Improvement of the Public Revenue. | I am Sir | Your obedient Servant | Edwd Drummond'. On the otherwise-blank second leaf Phillipps writes in pencil: 'This is the unfortunate Edwd Drummond who was shot by mistake for Sir Robt Peel.' The activities of Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middle Hill as collector of manuscripts are described in the five volumes of A. N. L. Munby's 'Phillipps Studies'. Drummond was shot by Daniel McNaughton (1813-1865), and as a result of the case the McNaughton Rules were developed by the House of Lords to establish the basis for the insanity defence in all common law countries. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.