PEERAGE

[Napier of Merchistoun: William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier of Merchistoun.] Long Autograph Letter Signed ‘To Colonel Napier / Royal Artillery’ [Charles Napier?], regarding genealogical matters, and with a Royal Navy reminiscence.

Author: 
Lord Napier of Merchistoun [William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier (1786-1834), Royal Navy officer and Chief Superintendant of Trade in China [Col. Charles Napier (d.1849), Royal Artillery?]
Publication details: 
‘Thirlestane - Selkirk Decr 19 / 1831’.
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is presumably the Captain Charles Napier (d.1849) of the Royal Artillery who ‘received eight wounds from the bursting of a shrapnel shell’ at Waterloo (see Dalton’s ‘Waterloo Roll Call’, p.194). 8pp, 4to. Closely and neatly written on two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, but folded three times into a packet, and with some closed tears to the creases. Addressed ‘To Colonel Napier / Royal Artillery’ and with the valediction ‘I will now bid you adieu & subscribe myself / Yr very faithful Kinsman / Napier’.

[Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone], Governor of Madras and Bombay.] Autograph Signature (‘Elphinstone’) and valediction to letter.

Author: 
Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone] (1807-1860), Scottish soldier, Conservative politician and colonial administrator, successively Governor of Madras and Bombay
Elphinstone
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£25.00
Elphinstone

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. Folded once. On 6 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from conclusion of letter. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘[...] European troops / [...] quartered them. / Yours sincerely / Elphinstone’. See image.

[Sir Charles Travis Clay, Librarian of the House of Lords, antiquary and genealogist.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Charles Clay’) to the mediaevalist Austin Lane Poole, regarding his work on the entry on the Percy family in the Complete Peerage.

Author: 
Sir Charles Clay [Sir Charles Travis Clay] (1885-1978), antiquary and Librarian of the House of Lords [Austin Lane Poole (1889-1963), British mediaevalist, son of historian Reginald Lane Poole]
Publication details: 
26 February 1942; on House of Lords Library letterhead.
£56.00

2pp, 4to. 34 lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mr. Poole’. After expressing a hope that they will be meeting Poole now that they are both on the council of the Royal Historical Society, he explains that he is writing in relation to his redrafting of ‘the early part of Percy for the Complete Peerage’, noting that ‘the present draft is certainly alarming’. He is taking it ‘down to 1245’ and finds it ‘full of snags’. He has ‘just finished a draft of Jocelin, Agnes de Percy’s husband’, and L. C.

[Sir George Burrows, President of the Royal College of Physicians.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Burrows') to the editor of Debrett's Peerage, R. H. Mair, with slip of his entry, completed and corrected in his autograph.

Author: 
Sir George Burrows (1801-1887), President of the Royal College of Physicians, Lecturer on Medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London [Robert Henry Mair (1832-1888), editor, Debrett's Peerage]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of Springfield, near Ryde, Isle of Wight; 22 August 1874.
£200.00

ONE: Letter. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse. He is returning 'the slip for Debretts Peerage & Baronetage, revised, corrected & with the blank spaces filled up'. He will be resident on the Isle of Wight for the next six weeks, and 'would not delay answering your communication until I return to London in October', although 'materials would have been accessible for affording further particulars'. He ends by stating that he 'always has a copy of Debrett' in his house.

[ Sir John Bernard Burke, the pre-eminent genealogist of the Victorian age. ] Collection of material, from his papers, including around 350 proofs of coats of arms for his 'Dormant and Extinct Peerages', drawings, a tracing.

Author: 
Sir John Bernard Burke (1814-1892), the pre-eminent genealogist of the Victorian age, and Ulster King of Arms
Publication details: 
[ London. ] 1865 and thereabouts.
£600.00

The work for which these proofs were prepared, Burke's 'Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire', was published in London by Harrison in 1866, and was a revision of his father John Burke's 'General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages [...] extinct, dormant, and in abeyance', first published in 1831, with a third edition in 1846. The present collection is largely in fair condition, on aged and worn paper, but with some of the items damaged.

[ Home Office Departmental Committee on the Baronetage, 1907. ] Nine items (eight printed and one TLS), including reports, notes, and a pamphlet, from papers of Committee-member Sir Richard Harington.

Author: 
Home Office Departmental Committee on the Baronetage, 1907; Standing Council of the Baronetage, London; Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911) of Ridlington, 11th Baronet
Publication details: 
Home Office Departmental Commitee on the Baronetage, 1907. Standing Council for the Baronetage, London..
£250.00

The nine items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. They derive from the papers of Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington, and reflect his dual position as a leading member of the Standing Council of the Baronetage, and a member of the Home Office Committee, which was set up to consider and report whether any, and if so what, steps should be taken to safeguard the status of the holders of Baronetcies, and to prevent the assumption of the title Baronet by persons who have no right thereto'.

[ William Digby, 5th Baron Digby. ] Autograph Signature ('Digby') to an Exchequer receipt.

Author: 
William Digby, 5th Baron Digby (1661-1752), Irish peer
Publication details: 
[ Receipt of His Majesty's Exchequer, London. ] 30 April 1716.
£60.00

1p., 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with heavy chipping and wear at head and two holes to text, but signature clear and clean. Laid out in the usual style, with printed text competed in manuscript. Recording the receipt by Digby of £2 15s 10d, on an annuity. Filled in by the witness, whose signature is illegible.

[ Captain Basil Cochrane, Commissioner of Customs in Scotland. ] Autograph Signature ('Basil Cochrane') on an Exchequer pension receipt.

Author: 
Captain Basil Cochrane (d.1788), Deputy Governor of the Isle of Man and Commissioner of Customs in Scotland, brother of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald
Publication details: 
[ His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London. ] 7 June 1788.
£150.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. With printed text, headed 'PENSIONS', completed in manuscript. Recording payment to him of £8 6s 8d. Signature at foot of witness 'A Dickie'. Signed within months of Cochrane's death, and a little shaky.

[ Printed item. ] Standing Council of the Baronetage. Shorthand Notes of Proceedings at the Sixth Annual General Assembly, held Thursday, 8th July, 1909.

Author: 
[ Standing Council of the Baronetage, Sixth Annual Assembly, 1909 ] [ Sir John R. Heron-Maxwell, chairman; Sir Richard Temple; Sir Lambton Loraine ]
Publication details: 
[ Standing Council of the Baronetage, London. 1909 or 1910. ] Henry Good & Son, London, E.C.
£150.00

9pp, 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper; with central horizontal fold. A main topic of the meeting was, as Sir Lambton Loraine explained, the assertion by the Duke of Norfolk of his 'right to a jurisdiction over the Baronetage in every way', and his belief that he has 'a right to keep our record at his own house in St. James's Square, whereas we have not yet got the King's answer to the Home Secretary's Committee's proposal that a person appointed by the Home Office should be the future Registrar of the Roll of the Baronetage'.

[ Printed House of Lords publication. ] Case and Pedigree on behalf of Henry De Vere Vane, of 74, Eaton Place, In the County of London, claiming to be Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle, in the Peerage of England, on his claim to the said title, [...]

Author: 
[ Henry De Vere Vane, 9th Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle (1854-1918); House of Lords, Lords Committee of Privileges ]
Publication details: 
In the House of Lords, Before the Lords Committee of Privileges. [ Trower, Freeling, & Parkin, Lincoln's Inn. ]
£120.00

(The title ends: '[...] the said title, honour, and dignity.') 52pp., folio. With large fold-out 'Pedigree of the Barony of Barnard'. In brown printed paper covers with red ribbon spine. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, in worn and chipped wraps. Mainly consisting of 'Proofs to be adduced in support of the case of Henry De Vere Vane, claiming to be Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle, on his claim to the said peerage'. and an appendix in five parts. On the death in 1890 of the 4th Duke of Cleveland, the line of succession to the dukedom was left unclear.

[ General John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun, Scottish politician and soldier. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Hopetoun') to Viscount Melville, respecting the fitting up of a part of the Old Palace at Linlithgow for the county meetings.

Author: 
General John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun [ Lord Niddry ] (1765-1823), Scottish politician and British Army officer [ Robert Saunders Dundas, Viscount Melville ]
Publication details: 
Hopetoun House. 23 May 1819.
£150.00

3pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly-aged, on two leaves each neatly cut out of a windowpane mount. Headed 'Private'. Docketted by the recipient: 'Resp[ectin]g. the fitting up a part of the Old Palace at Linlithgow for the County Meeting'. He describes the applications he has made to the Lords of the Treasury and the Prince Regent, and a correspondence between the Keeper of the Palace and the Secretary of State. 'Your Lordship is aware that the Building is a complete Ruin; & of no use whatever, it its present state to any one [...]'.

[ John Debrett, London publisher. ] Printed catalogue of 'Books printed for J. Debrett'.

Author: 
John Debrett (d. 1822), London publisher, responsible for the celebrated 'Debrett's Peerage'
Publication details: 
J. Debrett [ John Debrett, 178 Piccadilly, London ]. Undated [ 1794 ].
£100.00

8pp., 8vo. Unstitched (stabbed). Unopened, so that the four leaves unfold into a single strip with four pages on each side. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. First page headed 'BOOKS Printed for J. DEBRETT.' Numerous works are described in no particular order, in small print, beginning with 'PARLIAMENTARY REGISTER, 1794. | This day is published, | NUMBER XII. of the DEBATES of the PRESENT SESSION, [...]'. For more information on Debrett, see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. BBTI states that he was active before 1781, and went bankrupt in 1804.

[ Ulick John de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Clanricarde') [to W. de Boinville]

Author: 
Ulick John de Burgh (1802-1874), 1st Marquess of Clanricarde [ Lord Dunkellin; the Earl of Clanricarde ], Irish Whig politician [ W. de Boinville ]
Publication details: 
Portumna [ Ireland ]. 14 January [1850s].
£45.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. He thanks de Boinville and his family for their 'kind wishes & feelings': 'I have thank God, quite recovered from my accident'. He is sorry that de Boinville and his wife 'have been suffering', and hopes to see them on his return to London. One of a batch of letters addressed to de Boinville in the 1850s.

Autograph Letter in the third person from George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, apologising to the Prince Regent (George Augustus Frederick, later King George IV) for having to decline an invitation.

Author: 
George Spencer (1739-1817), 4th Duke of Marlborough [George Augustus Frederick (1762-1830), Prince Regent between 1811 and 1820, thereafter King George IV]
Publication details: 
'Blenheim | April 19th'. [Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire; 1812.]
£120.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased laid paper with watermark '1810'. The letter reads: 'The Duke of Marlborough is very sorry it will not be in his power to obey His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's commands on Thursday the 23d of April, which he should have been very happy to have done had it been possible for him. | Blenheim | April 19th.' The only 23 April falling on a Thursday during the Regency before the 4th Duke's death was in 1812.

Eleven manuscript items, from the papers of Thomas William King, York Herald, relating to the claim to the dormant baronetcies of Mackenzie of Tarbat and Royston by Alexander Mackenzie of Tasmania, uncle of the Dowager Lady Filmer.

Author: 
Thomas William King, York Herald [William Anderson, Marchmont Herald; Helen [née Monro; 1810-1888], Dowager Lady Filmer; Alexander Mackenzie of Tasmania; Mackenzie of Tarbat and Royston]
Publication details: 
Mostly London and Edinburgh, 1858.
£320.00

In 1826 Lieut-Col. Alexander Mackenzie, eldest son of Colonel Robert Mackenzie of Milnmount, assumed the dormant baronetcies of Tarbat and Royston [ALEXANDERMACKENZIE OF ROYSTON CROMARTY TARBET GRANDVILLE.], despite their having been forfeited under attainder in 1763. On his death without issue in 1841 his only brother Sir James Sutherland Mackenzie also assumed the titles. He died unmarried and insane on the 24 November 1858. The claim to which the present documents relate does not appear to have been pursued, and the baronetcies have remained dormant.

Autograph Letter Signed "Saml Romilly" to unnamed correspondent [Hans Francis Hastings. See note below, re. claim to peerage].

Author: 
Sir Samuel Romilly, law reformer and advocate (1757-1818).
Publication details: 
Tanhurst nr Dorking, 5 Oct. 1817.
£225.00

Three pages, 12mo. Good only: some staining but text clear and complete. He's been away and so has only just received his correspondent's letter. He continues: "It is impossible for me to give you any information as to the probable amount of the Expence of presenting your claim to the Earldom of Huntingdon before the House of Lords. As however the pedigree is a very long one & the attendance of many witnesses with the original parish Registers will be necessary I apprehend that it must be very considerable.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'Dudley Coutts Stuart' [Lord Dudley Stuart] to the genealogist Sir Edmund Lodge.

Author: 
Lord Dudley Stuart [Dudley Coutts Stuart] (1803-1854), Whig politician, husband of Lucien Bonaparte's daughter Princess Christine Bonaparte, supporter of Polish independence [Sir Edmund Lodge]
Autograph Letter Signed from 'Dudley Coutts Stuart'
Publication details: 
22 July 1834; Wilton Crescent, London.
£45.00
Autograph Letter Signed from 'Dudley Coutts Stuart'

4to, 1 p. 7 lines. Clear and complete. Fair on aged and lightly-creased paper. He is returning 'the leaf of your Peerage', which is 'quite correct in the part more immediately concerning me & in all other's [sic] as far as I have observed'. He makes a suggestion regarding Lord James Stuart'.

Manuscript, in French, written by a Royalist, titled 'Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution. (Extraits trés Abrégée.)'

Author: 
[King Louis XVIII of France; the Bourbon Restoration; the French peerage; nobility]
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Publication details: 
[Early nineteenth-century.]
£650.00
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.
Notes sur la Conduite des grandes Maisons de France, dans la Révolution.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Neatly and closely written. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Evaluations of the conduct of more than thirty families, from a staunchly Bourbon point of view. First entry: 'Lorraine. Des sentiments trés pur. Ils quitterent ce Pais et furent trouver l'Empereur, qui les Emploie dans ses Armées.' Some families come in for criticism: 'Bethune. Cette maison si illustre s'est couverte d'ignomenie, un seul Bethune d'Artois a Emigrée.' Longest entry (twenty lines) on the Durfort Boissier family.

Autograph Letter Signed by the English genealogist John Bernard Burke, editor of 'Burke's Peerage', to one of his 'Earliest Supporters', regarding his 'St. James's Magazine'.

Author: 
Sir John Bernard Burke (1814-1892), English genealogist, editor of 'Burke's Peerage'
Two Autograph Letters signed from the Sussex antiquary Mark Antony Lower
Publication details: 
17 August 1849; 8 Alfred Place West, Brompton, London.
£65.00
Two Autograph Letters signed from the Sussex antiquary Mark Antony Lower

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Because of the 'Very great outlay attending the production of the work at the onset', asks for a year's advance subscription of £1 10s 0d. Gives the publication date, adding 'from the distinguished literary aid I have received I am sanguine enough to hope that it will mert your full approval'.

Autograph Note, in the third person, to Twining.

Author: 
Hugh Percy [Hugh Smithson] (1742-1817), 2nd Duke of Northumberland [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
2 December 1799; Northumberland House, London.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Good, aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to reverse. Reads 'The Duke of Northumberland presents his Compliments to Mr. Twining, & shall be glad to see him on Wednesday next at three o'clock. | Northd. House | Decr. 2d. 1799.' From the Twining family archive.

Autograph Signature ('Clarendon')

Author: 
Thomas Villiers (1709-1786), 1st Earl of Clarendon, British Whig politician and diplomat
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On piece of laid paper, 1 x 3.5 cm. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on reverse, which is docketed in a nineteenth-century hand '1776'.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, to Ridgway.

Author: 
Edward Law (1790-1871), 1st Earl of Ellenborough [James Ridgway (1755-1838), London bookseller]
Publication details: 
16/07/35
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with remains of stub adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Ask for the Morning Post to be sent to Euston Square, and 'the Standard discontinued'. He will require the Morning Post the following day.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Stuart Wortley') to Ridgway, bookseller..

Author: 
James Stuart-Wortley [James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie] (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe [James Ridgway (1755-1838), London bookseller]
Publication details: 
26 September 1812; Wortley Hall, Sheffield.
£38.00

4to, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper, with the remains of a stub adhering to the blank reverse. Concerning the insertion of an advertisement in a number of newspapers.

Autograph Letter to the Editor of Debrett's.

Author: 
Sir Evan MacKenzie, 2nd Baronet of Kilcoy [DEBRETT'S; BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA]
Sir Evan MacKenzie
Publication details: 
Exmouth | 23d. Decr. 1871' on letterhead 'Belmaduthy | Munlochy | N. B.'
£66.00
Sir Evan MacKenzie

Mackenzie (1816-83) was the founder of the Australian city of Brisbane. One page, 12mo. Good, but with two-inch glue stain, and with traces of mount adhering to verso of blank second leaf of bifolium. Unsigned formal letter in the third person. 'Sir Evan MacKenzie would feel obliged by the Editor of Debrett's restoring the two Highlanders /the supporters to Sir Evan's shield/ which are suppressed in all the editions of Debrett that have hitherto appeared. They appear in "Burke" & the Scutcheon looks bold without them.'

A Letter to the Right Honorable the Lord Brougham and Vaux, &c. &c. &c. On the late Decision of the Earldom of Devon.

Author: 
T. C. B.' [Thomas Christopher Banks; Henry Peter Brougham, Lord Brougham and Vaux; the Earl of Devon]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for J. Wilson, 19, Great May's Buildings, St. Martin's Lane. 1831. [G. Norman, Printer, Maiden Lane, Covent-Garden.]
£120.00

8vo: 24 pp. Stitched as issued. Inscribed at the head of the title-page 'For Mr Walpole'. Text clear and entire. Good, on foxed paper, with one dog-eared corner. A couple of manuscript annotations, one in the form of a footnote, and one correction, whether by the inscriber or recipient unclear. The author defends his claim that he 'cannot believe otherwise, than had the claimant to the Devon Peerage been an humble individual, less affluent, and less powerfully connected, he would not have succeeded in his claim'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the Durham and the British Library.

Typed Note Signed ('A. C. Fox-Davies') to H. S. Vade Walpole.

Author: 
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1871-1928), English writer on heraldry, and Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George V
Publication details: 
8 June 1899; on letterhead of Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand, London.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Regarding 'certain verses concerning this street', Walpole will 'find an explanation of the whole circumstance in this week's Notes & Queries'.

Coloured advertisement for 'Burke's Colonial Gentry'.

Author: 
Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms [Burke's Peerage; English genealogy]
Publication details: 
1890 [1891]. [London.]
£45.00

8vo: 1 p. A bifolium (leaf dimensions roughly 270 x 185 mm), on thin wove paper, with the printed page on the recto of the first leaf, the rest being blank. Very good, on lightly aged paper. Attractive item printed in red, blue, black and gold. Text reads 'Vol I in the Press. Burke's Colonial Gentry. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Principal Families residing in the British Colonies by Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms.

Printed communication, signed 'd'Hozier', to Monsieur Boucher.

Author: 
Ambroise-Louis-Marie d'Hozier (1764-1841), genealogist, 'Vérificateur des Armoiries de France'.
Publication details: 
10 June 1823; Paris.
£35.00

4to, 1 p, 12 lines. Text clear and entire, on creased paper. Printed in copperplate. Requesting subscription money due for his 'Indicateur Nobiliaire'. Good firm signature.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-70)
Publication details: 
Grosvenor Crescent; 11 July 1852.
£36.00

Three pages, 12mo. Good. He did not receive the letter till his return from the continent the previous week. '"The Grove" is a comfortable mansion but there is nothing in any way remarkable about it - Clutterbuck's history of Hertfordshire contains all that is known respecting the persons who have possessed it. There is a fine collection of pictures, many of them by Vandyke & Sir P. Lely, wch. belonged to the Chancellor Clarendon & of them you will find an accurate description in the 3d. Vol. of the "Clarendon Gallery" published a few months ago by my sister Lady Theresa Lewis.

Autograph Note to the Editor of Debrett's Peerage.

Author: 
William Jacobson, Bishop of Chester
Publication details: 
28 October 1875; Chester.
£25.00

English cleric (1803-84). 1 page, 16mo. In good condition. Formal letter written in the third person. Reads 'Chester, October 28, 1875. | The Bishop of Chester presents his Compliments to the Editor of Debrett's Peerage, &c, and has the satisfaction of stating that he has found no occasion to offer any remark on the inclosed Paper.'

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