MAJOR-GENERAL

Seven items in good overall condition, lightly aged and worn. See the obituary of the recipient Major General Sir Noel Galway Holmes (1891-1982) in the Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1982. ONE: Robert Fellowes (b.1941), Baron Fellowes [Lord Fellowes], Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II. TLS to NGH (‘Dear Sir Noel’). 15 December 1981; on letterhead of Buckingham Palace. 1p, 12mo. Signed ‘Robert Fellowes’. He has been commanded by the Queen to thank him, ‘and all survivors from the XVIIIth The Royal Irish Regiment, for your Christmas card’.

The Tichborne Case was very possibly the greatest scandal of Victorian England. See the entry for ‘Tichborne claimant’, with subheading for ‘Arthur Orton’ in the Oxford DNB. Trained as a civil engineer, Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), civil engineer, was a prominent homeopath, anti-vaccinationist, and anti-vivisectionist, who promoted his views as proprietor and editor of the Citizen newspaper. Each inscription is on one side of a single 11.5 x 18.5 cm piece of gilt-edged wove paper, presumably extracted from an autograph album.

See his obituary in The Times, 16 June 1987. 1p, 4to. On aged and lightly creased and worn paper. Folded twice, with short closed tears to edges of central horizontal crease. Addressed to ‘Dear Hide’ and ‘Lieutenant G. Hide, R.N.V.R. / 700 Squadron / TWATT.’ Signed ‘Robert Neville’. He feels ‘very guilty’ that he did not write to thank Hide ‘for the Walrus, which was, of course, an absolute Godsend to me. Sargent could not have been a more delightful or obliging pilot.

The entry for Slatin in the Oxford DNB gives a good outline of the life of this adventurer. The present item forms half of a 4to leaf, torn down the middle vertically, no doubt in order to provide an autograph. In good condition, lightly aged. Written lengthwise on the reverse, in a large bold hand, is the valediction: ‘Hoping that you are fit & well / Yours ever / R Slatin’.

An uncommon signature. During the 1794 invasion of Corsica, D’Aubant took over as Lord Hood’s second-in-command after Hood forced Major-General David Dundas to resign, but proved even more cautious, to the frustration of Nelson and others. 1p, landscape 8vo. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album, captioned in Victorian hand, ‘General D’Aubant’. On discoloured paper, with deeper discoloration from glue from mount. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Genl D’Aubant presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and will call upon him at 12. next Thursday 8th July / Devonshe. place.’ See image.

See Mrs George Wrottesley's obituary in The Times, 10 May 1883, in which she is praised for 'her undaunted courage and unshaken endurance of difficulties displayed repeatedly during her father's mission to the East' in 1854. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. The main body of the letter reads: 'Mrs. George Wrottesley will feel much obliged to Mr Lacy if he will send her a copy of the play of | "The Wonder" - | The address is to | The Honble. | Mrs. George Wrottesley | Wrottesley | Wolverhampton'. At the head of the letter she adds a query concerning 'the play of Donna Diana'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Sir John F. Burgoyne. | Bart:'. He is sending 'a copy of the Abstracts from Meteorological observations taken at our Foreign stations, in which Sir Emerson Tennent will find the abstract from the observations taken at Columbo in the year 1853-4'. He is also sending abstracts from subsequent years which 'have not yet been printed'.

1p., 16mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Reads: Dear Sir - | I am directerd by the Commander of ther Forces to request that you will pay the enclosed on account of the Extraordinaries of th Army.' Torrens was Military Secretary between 1809 and 1820.

LETTER: 3pp., 8vo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, with the Society's stamps and annotations. He apologises for being 'behind in my annual dues', explaining that he has 'suffered severely from the war, financially & personally - my wife went down in the Lusitania - and have had my means seriously reduced'. Nevertheless he would like to renew his subscription and would like to know 'on what terms I can rejoin the Society'. Docketed in pencil and ink on reverse of second leaf: 'Elected June 1911 | Paid 2 years | taken off Dec 1916' and '2.2 for arears £5.5 up to Xmas 1925'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. One can hear the clipped tones of the military man: 'Dear Capt. Barron, | Gen. Gosling spoke & wrote to me about you. | What is your present state, duty, light duty, leave, or what? | Please let me know & tell me when you get orders to join a reserve unit, & which. | Yours very truly | H. C. Lowther | Brig. Genl.' Lowther's entry in Who Was Who reads: 'Entered Scots Guards, 1888; Capt.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, in aged franked envelope ('J. Cowell') addressed to 'The Right Reverend The Lord Bishop of St. Helena.' Reads: 'My Lord - | I am desired by His Royal Highness, Prince Alfred, to forward you the accompanying portrait of himself. | Believe me | My Lord | Yours faithfully. | J. C. Cowell'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with a short closed tear along a crease and slight loss to one corner. He regrets that 'it is not in my power to afford any Official Assistance, in promoting the use of your very Ingenious, & Valuable Invention; as the Business of this Department is exclusively confined to the Building, & <?>, belonging either to His Majesty, or the Public, such as Palaces, Public Offices &c.' He suggests a number of organisations to which Lawrence should apply., 'as the Departments most likely to encourage your useful Undertaking'.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. In very good condition. Covering the whole of the front page is a beautiful coloured illustration of the Imperial State Crown, with no text. The following three pages are printed in black and purple, with the second page carrying the publication details; the third page a full-page note from the editor; and the last page an advertisement for Sir John Wilson's 'Royal Philatelic Collection'. No copies of this item traced on either COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

2pp., cr.8vo (30 x 18.5cm). In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damage to one corner, resulting in loss of one word of text. 62 lines of text, with deletions and emendations, and the thirteen lines of the conclusion largely rewritten. Headed: 'To the Right Honorable | the Earl of [sic] Bathurst | His Majestys Principal Secretary of State for the Colonial & War Department, | &c &c &c | the Memorial of Major General Charles Viscount Grant de Vaux | Shewest [sic]'.

24pp., 8vo, with one extra plate on art paper, and five full pages of diagrams in text. Stapled, in blue printed wraps. With two ownership inscriptions on the wraps, both of Royal Artillery personnel: the first of S. M. Dawes, and the second of '483 S/L Batt RA', i.e. Jack Lynden Batt (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. This offprint is excessively scare, with no copies listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

12mo, 3 pp. 38 lines. Text clear and complete. The two leaves attached along the margins. Signed in Devanagari and European ('So: Rustam Khan Captain') scripts. He acknowledges 'receipt of the Commission conferring on me the honorary rank of captaincy with a deep sense of gratitude to you and all the Officers of the Regiment'. States that he will 'ever cherish a grateful remembrance of all that the Officers and Regiment have done for me'.

Folio, 2 pp. On first leaf of bifolium, with the verso of the second leaf docketed, under the heading 'King's Warrant'. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Headed '(Copy)', and with 'George R' in a bold hand in the top left-hand corner. Although the signature is almost certainly not in the hand of the king, the document is docketed in pencil: 'Signature of his late beloved Majesty King George III on Copy of a Warrant retained by General Saml. Townsend'.

Folio, 2 pp. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. On laid paper watermarked 'Gilling & Allford 1816'. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first page contains a letter addressed to 'General Hall' from 'Union Office | Norwich 16th Novr. 1818', forty lines long and signed 'J Crowe'. The second page is headed 'Norwich Union Life Insurance Society | Statement of the particulars of the misconduct of the Secretary Mr Thos Bignold Senr.' It contains a six-point indictment of Bignold, totalling thirty-seven lines.

All four items with text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The four items pinned together and placed in the stamped envelope of Cameron's letter, addressed to Dickson as 'Clerk of the Peace of the County of Northumberland | Newcastle upon Tyne'. Casting interesting light on the workings of the Ordnance Survey. Letter One: Cameron to Dickson ('for Lieut: Colonel James | Director, absent on duty'), 19 September 1855. 4to, 1 p.