Add MS 86493-86546

Keith Papers

86493-86546. Correspondence and papers of George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount Keith (b.1746, d.1823); 1681 - mid-20^th cent. Partly copies; mostly MS, partly typewritten and printed. Mostly English, partly Dutch, French and Spanish.

Keith entered the navy in 1761 and rose to become Admiral of the Red before he struck his flag finally in 1815, after having supervised the departure of Napoleon for St. Helena. In recognition of his naval career he was created an Irish baron in 1791, a British viscount in 1814 and was made G.C.B. the following year. The archive documents in particular Keith's service during the Napoleonic wars, especially in the Mediterranean, the English Channel, at the Cape and the British Asian colonies, which is reflected in an extensive series of letters to his sister, Mary, journals and logs. To a lesser extent the archive reflects Keith's parliamentary career and business associated with his office of Comptroller and Treasurer to the Duke of Clarence and as Receiver General of the Rents of the Principality of Scotland, whilst Secretary to the Prince of Wales.

For a biography of Keith, see A. Allardyce, Admiral Lord Keith (London, 1882), and for his later naval career, see K. McCranie, Admiral Lord Keith in the Naval War against Napoleon (Florida, 2006). An extensive collection of Keith's papers is housed in the National Maritime Museum, London (ref. KEI). For the papers of Keith's daughter, Margaret de Flahault de la Billardrie, Lady Nairne and Baroness Keith, at The British Library, see Add. 86849-86877.

Through the marriage of Keith's granddaughter Emily Jane Mercer Elphinstone de Flahault, Baroness Nairne, to the 4^th Marquess of Lansdowne, the papers passed to Bowood House, home of the Marquesses of Lansdowne. Prior to The British Library's acquisition of the archive, the papers were given references beginning 'KF', possibly for 'Keith-Flahault', reflecting the transfer of the papers of Keith's son-in-law Auguste Charles Joseph, Comte de Flahault de la Billardrie, which passed to Bowood with the Keith papers. These references have been listed in parentheses after the descriptions in the present catalogue. Many of the Keith and Flahault de la Billardrie papers have also been putatively dated in pencil, possibly in 1982 [see Add. 86849 f.1]. The papers were purchased by The British Library at Christie's as lots 34 and 36 (the latter containing only Add. 86524) in the Bowood sale in October 1994.

The documents within files have been arranged chronologically wherever possible; George Keith Elphinstone is referred to as Keith throughout and his daughter as Margaret Mercer Elphinstone.

Paper unless otherwise stated. Fifty-four volumes. British Library arrangement. Classified as follows:

A. Correspondence: 86493-86505.

B. Estate and Financial Papers: 86506-86514.

C. Naval Papers: 86515-86535.

D. Papers relating to Keith's Parliamentary Career; His Office of Comptroller and Treasurer to the Duke of Clarence, and Receiver General and Secretary to the Prince of Wales: 86536-86540.

E. Personal Papers: 86541-86543.

F. Biographical Papers: 86544-86545.

G. Miscellaneous: 86546.