Add MS 86849-86877

Flahault de la Billardrie Papers

86849-86877. Papers of Margaret Comtesse de Flahault de la Billardrie, Lady Nairne and Baroness Keith (b.1788, d.1867); 1806-1930, n.d. Partly copies and drafts; partly typewritten. Mostly English, partly French. Born Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, the daughter of Viscount Keith and his first wife Jane Mercer, Margaret was introduced to the circle of George IV's daughter, Princess Charlotte, in 1809. The Flahault archive documents the relationship between Margaret and the Princess with whom she corresponded, frequently on a daily basis, and touches in particular on negotiations to arrange Charlotte's marriage. The collection mostly comprises letters from Princess Charlotte, over whom Margaret exerted a considerable influence, but also includes letters between numerous correspondents concerned with the Princess' affairs. Extracts of many of the letters appear in A. Aspinall, ed., Letters of the Princess Charlotte, 1811-1817 (London, 1949).

For a biography of Margaret Elphinstone, see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. For further papers relating to Margaret Elphinstone held at The British Library, see Add. MS. 40401 f.134, Add. MS. 43253 ff. 313-316 and Add. MS. 43254 f. 115 in the Department of Western Manuscripts and MSS Eur F 87-89 in the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections. For the archive of Margaret's father, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount Keith, see British Library Add. 86493-86546.

Through the marriage of Margaret's daughter, 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 'El', which have been listed in parentheses after the descriptions in the present catalogue. Many of the letters have been annotated in pencil with putative dates, possibly in 1982 [see Add. 86849 f.1]. The papers were purchased by The British Library at Christie's as lot 16 in the Bowood sale in October 1994.

Paper. Twenty-nine volumes. British Library arrangement. The correspondence has been arranged chronologically wherever possible; given the large amount of undated correspondence, undated letters that were acquired within a chronological series have been not been moved, while undated letters that were unaccompanied by any with dates have been placed at the end of the relevant series or volume.