A manuscript letter book containing copies of incoming correspondence from George Beauchamp Proctor, Mr. Oldenshaw, Lancaster Framingham, the Duke of Richmond, Sir William Fordyce, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, Mr. Lionel Smythe, Benjamin Stehelin, and others as well as Townshend’s outgoing letters to Mr. Stacpoole, the earliest dated 5 March 1785 and the last dated 22 June 1785. The subjects discussed with Thomas Beevan include a living in his posession that he did not confer on Beevan’s son, to Beevan’s great disappointment; issues regarding his regiment with Major Taylor; his appointment by the King to the Board of Land & Sea Offices to investigate the plans to secure the dock yards at Plymouth and Portsmouth; a court martial of 1785; the American loyalists (“I have given one fourth of my Lot to the unfortunate American Loyalists”; military patronage, concerns about his son Frederick, who was later declared insane for shooting his brother. Other matters include the difficulties in assembling an impartial jury and other parliamentary matters and references to the wishes of the King.
- Author: Townshend, George Townshend, Marquis, 1724-1807.
- Title: George Townshend manuscript letter book entitled ‘1. Copies of letters from the 5th March 1785-‘ : manuscript.
- Production: Norfolk, England, approximately 1785.
LWL Mss Vol. 245
Acquired March 2019