08. British History

The collection includes letters from, portraits, autographs, and a drawing of, a fragment of a poem by, and an article written by Thomas Campbell, as well as biographical information about Campbell and Alfred Tennyson.

Bound volume of transcribed correspondence to and from British Rear Admiral Sir John William Phillips Marshall, CB (1785-1850), during the period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) and concurrent War of 1812, including correspondence concerning a court martial related to the capture and destruction of the ship H.M.S. Java by the USS Constitution in 1813.

This letter from Sir Richard John Strachan was sent to Commodore Sir William Cornwallis, his squadron commander in the East Indies, describing his role in the action against the French frigate Resolue off Pondicherry, India, which resulted in her capture.

This collection consists of a 161-page handwritten logbook, penned (probably) by William Ward, whose name appears on the front pastedown endpaper. The majority of entries are Orders of the Day, letters, memoranda, and accounts of expenditures. Each entry is initialed by at least three officers; some are initialed by as many as eight officers.

This is a 38-page handwritten logbook containing dozens of general memos signed by proxy for various British Navy and Marine officers during the time period 1807-1809.

The volume contains the productions of the Sisterhood of the Gossip Society of Gloucester, England. The author is unknown, but goes by the nom de plume “Penelope Placid.” The entire work is purportedly a product of these women’s meetings; more likely, it is the work of one woman satirizing the situation of elderly spinsters whom society considered to be gossips in nineteenth century England.

This collection contains thirteen letters written by the Duke of Wellington to Miss A.M. (Anna Maria) Jenkins, a 19th century evangelist. Two other letters are from Ms. Sophy Mistes to Miss A.M. Jenkins. Accompanying some of the letters are envelopes with wax seals; also included in the collection are a miniature photo of the Duke and a paper Mariner's Compass.

Document is an anonymous commentary on an article appearing in the February 28, 1827 edition of “The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter” that discussed propositions put forward by Lord Bathurst for reforms in the treatment of enslaved people in the Colonies; in particular, a prohibition of the flogging of women, which failed to pass.