A collection of receipts and bills, in a variety of hands and mostly signed by the tradespeople, related to Sir Christopher Musgrave’s expenses during the years 1708-1718, with the bulk of the detailed receipts covering the years 1716-1718.
LWL Mss 31
Acquired November 2018
A manuscript recording the detailed expenses of Mr and Mrs Bradshaw while on a tour and prolonged stay in France before and during the French revolution.
LWL Mss Vol. 242
Acquired September 2018
Manuscript ledger of Roger Pettiward for the years 1789-1796, when he was a bachelor in his late 30’s living primarily in Putney. This extensive and detailed ledger offers insight into the necessities and frivolities of an 18th century man-about-town.
LWL Mss Vol. 233
Acquired March 2018
Manuscript inventory of the household goods of Susanna Wood, who appears to have had a thriving farming business at the time the inventory was made in 1785. In addition to the usual household items, the inventory also includes a quantity of “Hogheads of Cyder” kept at several locations, three cider presses at two separate locations, “Malt Mill &c. … Untensils belonging to it”, apple trees, gardens, numerous farm animals including cows, horses, sheep, and pigs, andd related items including hay and barley, farm equipment, cheesemaking tools, and a long list of household items and furniture.
File LWL Mss File 139
Acquired March 2018
Sixteen letters, all dating from 1819, that provide detailed view of the negotations over a very limited time period. The subjects of the letters include: Enquiring as to the terms for renting the theatre, suggesting that his figure of £10,000 per annum to include all the costumes and fixtures and fittings was quite sufficient; asking for a list of the present engagements and expenses; offering a further £3,000 to refurbish the theatre; vouching for the integrity of his backers (‘their sole motive is the placing me unconditionally and without controul as entire Manager & Conductor & principal Partner in the concern’); informing the committee sub rosa that Mr [Abraham] Walker of [Doyley’s Warehouse] the Strand would give security, expecting to take £200 for 200 nights [i.e. £40,000]; suggesting in July that he may be able to make a more advantageous offer; inviting Ward to lunch and dinner and to discuss business with Walker, and the following day putting forward the new proposal: (‘… I agree to pay the Taxes for the whole term in addition to a Rent of £9000 per An: for the first Two years and £10,000 per An: for the Remainder of the Term to be agreed on, which Term (considering the very discouraging and totally reduced state of the Theatre at present and that it will take a very long time to re-establish it) ought to be at the option of the Lessee, for seven, fourteen or twenty one years. …’). Dibdin continues the correspondence on 23 July by questioning why he has received no response to the proposition, and on the 31st putting forward to the committee a further offer of a loan from Walker (also included is Walker’s own proposition, dated 22 July); with two incompletely dated letters of 1919 to R. Peatre complaining that he (Peatre) should not have been given confidential information relating to the offer for the lease. Together with other Dibdin-relating material, including: Three Autograph Letters Signed from the dramatist Cecil Pitt to Winstone (?James Winston) and the Board of Management of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, (watermarked 1801 and postmarked 1804) concerning his own productions, and particularly Zingara, or the Heroine of China, for which he includes the printed playbill; also three letters of George Dibdin Pitt (1795-1855 – ‘I am the elder brother of Mr Pitt the Painter – and nephew of the Dibdins’), offering his services and those of Miss Pitt-Phillips (‘of the Worthing and Leicester Theatres’) to Elliston and Drury Lane, and elaborating on his theatrical achievements, 1826 and 1830 where dated.
LWL Mss Group 6
Acquired July 2017
Manuscript signed by the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole ordering George Earl of Halifax to arrange payment to the merchant Jonathan Forward, for transporting 66 convicts from Newgate Jail to His Majesties plantations in America aboard the ship Anne, Captain Thomas Wrangham, Commander. The transportation of British convicts to the colonies in America and the West Indies first began in 1617, having been authorised by James I in 1615, but ceased to function by the end of the 17th century due to objections by the colonies themselves and the plantation owners. Consequently, an Act of Parliament was passed in 1718 ‘for the more effectual transportation of felons’. In accordance with the Transportation Act 1717, Forward was contracted to transport felons from Newgate Prison and from numerous home counties. The ship Anne which was used for the transportation described in this document had originally been a slaver. Also signed by Charles Turney and R. Edgcumbe, this document orders the payment of 264 pounds to Forward, ‘For the Allowance of Four Pounds per head for and upon sixty six Malefactors who were lately lying in Newgate in the City of London under Sentence of Transportation.”
LWL Mss File 143+
Acquired July 2017
A handwritten receipt or invoice for thatching work carried out by Edward Peirce on various estates of Peter Delmé at “Whetly”, “Posbroock” [Fossbroke, Wiltshire?], “Swanwick Hill Farm” and “Frogmoar” among others for Peter Delme, Esq. It is dated 15th December 1764. The list of charges include supplies such as spars, ledgers, leggers, and rope as well as labor charges for a five month period, August through December.
LWL Mss File 141
Acquired July 2017
Sir Harry Trewlawny’s diary with the first entry dated 1785 August 17 and the last September 2nd all in a single hand. A wonderfully chatty diary in which he talks about farming matters, the crops that are being harvested, maintaining the shoreline property, as well as the management of his current holdings, acquisition of land and leases, including the potential purchase of Bochym Manor, on The Lizard. He reports on meetings with tenants and relays friendly gossip about his circle of acquaintances. He also discusses the candidates for several curacies under his control and the ministers in his neighborhood.
LWL Mss Vol. 237
Acquired July 2017
Autographed letter signed by John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork, and addressed to the booksellers Messrs. Dodsley on the subject of Horace Walpole. He commences the letter by asking to see any work by “Mr Walpole”: “I am told of one that it is very difficult to be procured”. He says that he met “Mr Walpole” many years ago at Houghton when he was treated with “honours and civility,” but has never had “an opportunity of improving my acquaintance with him” but would “you oblige me to the highest degree in trying to let me have one of his books”. Signed “Corke”.
LWL Mss File 140
Acquired October 2017
Manuscript inventory for the Scots Arms, [10] Little Hermitage Street, a pub in Wapping in East London. Drawn up at a change of ownership in 1799, the document gives a record of the furniture, fixtues and other contents of this London pub during the late Georgian period. Equipment and paraphenalia relating to the running of the pub are included, in particular items listed in the “tap room”, “kitchen” and “cellars”.
LWL Mss Vol. 235
Acquired July 2017
Recent Antiquarian Acquisitions 