Printed pamphlet (with 'P.T.O.' in large letters on cover) and handbill notice, with autograph covering letter to an unnamed clergyman [Rev. Charles William Shepherd], in which he describes himself as 'the "Doyen" of Ecclesiastical Agents'.

The three items indicate a brashness approaching hucksterism on the part of a Victorian professional, in addition to marketing techniques advanced for the period. Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Stamped at head: 'Edw. Broughton Rouse, M.A., LL.D. | 436, GLOSSOP ROAD, | SHEFFIELD.' Twenty-five lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Many hundreds of this letter must have been copied out and sent to clergymen throughout England. Begins 'Should you be thinking of effecting an Exchange, or of disposing of your Patronage, I shall be glad if you will allow me to either endeavour to carry through the former, or to introduce a Purchaser, as the case may be -'. Later he boasts, 'Now that Mr. Emery Stark has retired I am, I believe, the "Doyen" of Ecclesiastical Agents.' In pencil on the reverse are notes regarding the Rev. Charles William Shepherd's benefice: 'Commuted Value £356 & 6 acres of Glebe | C.W.S. aged 65 next month.' Pamphlet: 12mo, 16 pp. On art paper. Good, though aged, and with rusting staples. Unusual cover with illustration of cloister and letters 'P. T. O.' in large font. Two full-page photographs: the first of a smug frock-coated figure (presumably Broughton-Rouse) inside an opulent Victorian drawing room, captioned 'Good Morning! Well, I hope you like the Rectory?', and the second of his impressive residence, the 'Grey Tower, Glossop Road, Sheffield'. Four pages of testimonial 'Extracts from Letters of the Clergy' (initials only of writers). The Benefices Act is reproduced over three pages, followed by a page of details of Broughton-Rouse's 'General Law Club', and a perforated subscripton leaf (with photo of 'The New Municipal Buildings' on the reverse). The pamphlet ends with advertisement for Broughton-Rouse as 'Agent for Two or Three of the Leading Life Offices'. Handbill: 4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper. Headed 'The Benefices' Act' and consisting of an 'Extract from "Truth" of 12th June, 1902.' On 1 August 1905, according to Whitaker's Sheffield Almanac, Broughton-Rouse was 'suspended from the practise of his profession for one year. The charge against him is that he induced Walter Brown, the patron of a living, and the Rev. William Henry Holland Healey, who was presented to the living, to commit an act of simony, and that he caused the latter to make a declararation under the Benefices Act, 1898, which he knew to be false'. From the Shepherd family archive.