William Pitt the younger: some unnoticed manuscripts.

Schweizer, Karl W.

In 1989, A.D. Harvey published William Pitt the Younger, 1759-1806, the initial volume in the Meckler's' series Bibliographies of British Statesmen, intended to be authoritative guides for graduate researchers, listing all available published, as well as manuscript, source materials. In the course of preparing a volume in the same series on William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, I have identified additional archival sources relating to the younger Pitt that were not included in Harvey's compendium or referred to only peripherally. The aim in this note is to supplement the latter work by listing and providing the precise location of these sources in the hope that this information, made more generally available, will aid the work of future biographers or other scholars interested in the period.

1) Birmingham, Central Library, B3 3HQ, England.

a) Eight items of correspondence between William Pitt the Younger and

Mathew Boulton, 1787-1800.

b) Autograph letter from William Pitt to John Baker-Holroyd, 8 April

1783.

2) Cumbria Record Office, Kendal, Cumbria; LA9 4RQ.

a) Rydal Hall papers: two letters from Pitt to Sir Michael le Fleming,

1788, 1797.

b) Lonsdale Archive: i) letter from the Duke of Portland to Sir James

Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale concerning Pitt's candidature for the

Cambridge University seat in Parliament 1779 D/Lons/LI/I/55.

ii) letter from Pitt to 1st Earl of Lonsdale concerning sending militia

regiments to Ireland 1798 D/Lons/LI/158. iii) letter from Sir William Lowther concerning Pitt's support for the

Earl of Lonsdale, 1801 D/Lons/LI/I/59.

iv) various letters from Pitt to J. Browne and Lord Lumher, 1799-1805

D/Lons/LI/2/4.

v) three letters from Lord Mulgrave to Lord Lowther concerning

putting Pitt in office, 1803-1804 D/Lons/LI/2/10.

vi) correspondence between Lord Camden and Lord Lowther

concerning Pitt's political affairs, 1803-1806 D/Lons/LI/2/19. vii) letter from Lord Lowther to Pitt criticizing his administration, 1805

D/Lons/LI/2/52. viii) assorted letters from Pitt to J. Smyth of Wakefield, 1792

D/Lons/LI/2/119.

xi) one bundle of letters from Pitt to Lord Lowther, 1787-1804

D/Lons/LI/2/159. (most of these letters have been printed in:

Historical Manuscript Commission Reports: report on the manuscripts

of the Earl of Lonsdale, London, 1893).

3) Essex Record Office, County Hall Chelmsford, CM1 1LX.

a) correspondence of Sir Robert Smyth, MP for Colchester, 1780-1790.

i) letter from William Pitt, 1784, regarding proposed India Bill

(D/DFg z1).

b) correspondence of Sir John Griffin-Griffin Lord Howard and

Braybrooke.

i) several letters from Pitt, 1784-1795.

4) Staffordshire Record Office, County Buildings, Eastgate Street Stafford ST16

2LZ.

a) (Sutherland Papers)(2)

i) William Pitt to 2nd Earl Gower, later 1st Marquis of Stafford, 5

Sept. 1784 D868/10/37a.

ii) 2nd Earl Gower to William Pitt, 8 Sept. 1784 D868/10/37b. iii) William Pitt to 2nd. Earl Gower, 25 Aug. 1797 D868/10/38a.

iv) 1st Marquis of Stafford to Pitt, nd (1797) D868/10/38b

v) Pitt to 1st Marquis of Stafford, 4 July 1798 D868/10/39.

vi) Pitt to same, 27 June 1798 D868/10/40. vii) Pitt to same, 15 July 1799 D868/10/41a. viii) Pitt to same, 18 June 1800 D868/10/42a.

ix) 1st Marquis of Stafford to Pitt, nd (1800) D868/10/42b.

x) Pitt to Earl Gower, 2nd Marquis of Stafford, 4 May 1802 D868/11/6.

xi) George Granville, later 3rd Earl Gower to Pitt, 2 Aug. 1792

D868/11/4. xii) Pitt to same, 22 Feb. 1799 D868/11/29.

5) Suffolk Record Office, County Hall, Ipswich, IP4 2IS.

a) (Pretyman family papers)

i) correspondence of Sir George Pretyman Tomline includes letters

from 2nd Earl of Chatham concerning Tomlines manuscript "Life

of Pitt," 1818.

ii) a memorandum by the 2nd Earl of Chatham concerning attack on

Pitt in 1784, outside Brooks's, 1821. iii) several letters from 2nd Earl of Chatham concerning executorship

of Pitt's will, 1822.

6) William Clements Library, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, 48109.

a) Pitt Papers: eight letters from Pitt to various unidentified correspondents,

1780-1804.

Several political memoranda, including the copy of commercial

agreement between the French and English East India Companies.

Also correspondence with: Augustine, Pierre; Baron de Beaumarchais,

1795; Augustus, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, 1804; Baring, Francis,

1786; Blackburne, J., 1786; Cambridge, University of 1792; Chatham,

Lady, 1787; Cornwallis, Earl of, 1798; Cotton, Joseph, 1797, 1803 (two

letters); Coutts, Thomas, 1785, 1802 (two letters); Dundas, Henry, 1st

Viscount Melville, 1784-1805 (thirty-three letters, bound); Dunning,

John, 1st Baron Ashburnam, 1780; Elliot, Hugh, 1785; Fane, John, 10th

Earl of Westmoreland, 1801; Fiennes, Henry Pelham-Clinton, 1782;

Yarmouth, Earl of, 1793; Nugent-Temple, George, 3rd Earl of Temple,

1788; Osborne, Francis, 5th Duke of Leeds, 1787; Petty, William, 2nd.

Earl of Shelburne, 1780-1783; Repton, Humphry, 1798; Rose, George,

1787-1807 (twenty-seven letters); Skeeler, Rev., 1790; Spencer, George,

5th Dake of Marlborough, 1791; Townshend, Thomas, 1st Viscount

Sidney, 1780-1798 (about forty letters); Vorontzov, Count, 1804-1805

(eight letters); Wellesley, Richard, 1st Marquis of Wellesley, 1796-1804

(ten letters); Wilkes, John, 1788.

b) Lacaita-Shelburne Papers; one letter from Erskine, David Stewart, 11th

Earl of Buckam, 1782.

c) Clinton Papers: one letter from Pitt to Sir Henry Clinton, 1792; eight

letters from Sir Henry Clinton to Pitt, 1785-1792; one letter from

Angus Campbell to Pitt, 1788; one letter from Pitt to Charles

Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, 1787.

d) Melville Papers: nine letters from Pitt to William Eden, 1st Baron

Auckland; one letter from Pitt to George Cranfield, 17th Baron

Berkeley, 1804; two letters from William Fullerton to Pitt, 1791-1792;

three letters from Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melvine to Pitt, 1784;

one letter from Pitt to Sir Arthur Pigott, nd.

e) Lee Papers: one letter from Pitt to Lord Hawkesbury, 1793.

f) Canning Papers: one letter from Pitt to George Canning, 1801; four

letters from Canning to Pitt, 1801.

g) Knox Papers: three letters from William Knox to Pitt, 1787-1790.

h) Sydney Papers: eleven letters from Pitt to Thomas Townshend, 1st

Viscount Sydney, 1784-1787; eleven letters from George III to Pitt,

1784 enclosed in Pitt's letter to Sydney, 1784; Gilbert Elliot, 1st Earl

Minto to Pitt, 1786; 1st Viscount Sydney to Pitt, 1794.

7) Houghton Library, Harvard University Cambridge, Mass. 02138.

a) Numerous letters to and from Pitt, 1784-1806.

8) National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.

a) Wigfair Papers. 12416-22. Political Papers concerning Pitt's defense of

the King and his three Parliamentary resolutions for meeting the

constitutional crisis and creating a regency (1788).

b) Wigfair 40 (Misc. Corr.). One letter (1799) no address, concerning

decision to assemble parliament in order to propose a bill concerning

the militia volunteers.

9) University of London Library, Senate House, Malet St., London, WCIE 7HV.

a) Irving Papers. State of the navigation, revenues and commerce of

Great Britain, 1790 (MS140). A report made for Pitt by Thomas Irving.

It includes the number of United States ships from each state entering

and clearing British ports; a report on the conditions of British trade

with the American states and a comparison of British and foreign ships

entering and clearing the ports of the American states.

10) Scottish Record Office, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh, EHI 3YY.

a) Melville House Muniments. Lengthy letter from the Earl of Elgin to

Pitt, 1800, dealing with Black Sea Commerce, America's intention of

making a commercial treaty with Turkey, British commercial and

political interests in Turkey.

11) British Library (Department of Manuscripts), Great Russell St., London,

WCIB 3DG.

a) Melville Papers. Add. MSS. 40102. Letters to and from Lord Melbourne,

1798-1805.

b) Add. Mss. 38765. Speech on Tea Duties, 1784.

c) Add. Mss. 38354. Negotiations with Bank of England, 1796-1797.

d) Add. Mss. 38737. Letter to and from Sir. F Baring 1805.

12) W.N. Saumarez Smith, Esq. Firdale, Lower Bourne, Farnharm.

a) Letters from Carmarthen to Pitt relating to the evacuation of the

Mosquito Shore, Dec. 1786.

13) Waldershare Rectory, Dover, Kent.

a) Vernon Smith Manuscripts. Several letters from Joseph Smith, Pitt's

secretary, to Pitt and one letter each from Pitt to Cornwallis, Shelburne

and B. Cotton, 1780.

(1) A project since taken over by Greenwood Press. (2) Harvey does mention the Sutherland collection but is mistaken about the number of letters from Pitt to Earl Gower, does not note the letters Gower sent to Pitt, nor does he provide dates and precise reference numbers.