Add MS 73770-74088 B

Walpole (Wolterton) Papers

73770-74088 B. Correspondence and papers of Horatio Walpole M.P., (b. 1678, d. 1757), diplomatist, and (1756) 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton; bef. 1702-1906, n.d. English; French; Italian; Dutch; German; Spanish; Greek; Arabic and Latin; partly printed; some items in cypher. Walpole was Secretary of Embassy at The Hague 1709 - 1711 and Ambassador 1715 - 1716, 1722, 1733, and 1734 - 1740; Ambassador at Paris 1723 - 1729. With some other papers of the Walpole family, including papers of Sir Robert Walpole, and of the Fawkener family.The papers were used extensively by the Rev. William Coxe in his Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, 4 vols., 1798, and Memoirs of Horatio, Lord Walpole, 1802. J. H. Plumb drew on the papers to some extent for Sir Robert Walpole, 2 vols., 1956, 1960. For Horatio Walpole see also John J. Murray, An Honest Diplomat at The Hague, 1955. A number of Horatio Walpole's political pamphlets and works were published in his lifetime, and another, a Letter on a proposed alteration of the 39 Articles, was published in 1863 by Frederick Walpole M.P. ( b. 1822, d. 1876 ); the latter's annotations occur in the collection; he appears also to have consulted Walpole's Paris despatches, and to have arranged and worked on the Plunkett spy papers ( see Add. MS 73998 ). At least one other nineteenth - century hand besides Frederick Walpole's can be found in the collection.

Some arrangement of the papers occurred in the eighteenth century, by and /or for Walpole, or by others, but Coxe, however, was responsible for arranging into portfolios a large part of the remaining unbound papers, although his work was left unfinished, as indicated by Coxe's annotations on some of the folders. Binding of a number of volumes may also have begun at least in Coxe's time, in some cases circa 1807. His annotations are found frequently in the papers; for his notes on his arrangement, see Add. MS 63749A; several other hands are to be found in the collection. Coxe's transcriptions and collections concerning this and other contemporary archives are now Add. MSS 9078 - 9283; see also 33198 - 33201. A few items present were copied by Coxe from manuscripts in the Orford ( Houghton ), Townshend and other papers, and some original papers, indicated below, appear to be strays from those collections.Walpole's diplomatic correspondence with ministers of state, together with his official papers, and correspondence with diplomats and foreign statesmen, form a major part of the collection, particularly his private and official correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle. Many other letters and despatches are addressed to Walpole's associates in various embassies and ministries, notably to Robert Hampden - Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden, Secretary of Legation at The Hague under Walpole, and his successor as minister. The despatches and letters sent to Walpole from England, and other volumes, including correspondence with royalty, also cover domestic politics, including extracts of cabinet proceedings from about 1735 onwards, scattered in various parts of the collection. The papers also include some private and miscellaneous estate material. There is also correspondence between Horatio and his brother Sir Robert, together with some personal and official papers of the latter. The latter material was apparently at some stage removed from Sir Robert's archives, probably in or after 1742, following the latter's loss of office. Horatio Walpole apparently burnt a mass of the former's papers at that time, and may well have kept some part of the archive ( Add. MSS 74062-74068 ). Some of Horatio's material has been bound in with Sir Robert's papers by mistake in places, and a few papers in Sir Robert's hand, or annotated or addressed by him, along with odd letters addressed to him, are to be found scattered throughout the collection. Some later Walpole family material was also acquired, together with correspondence of the Fawkener family, including the papers of the diplomat, Sir Everard Fawkener, and his son, William. There are also at least one paper and some notes in the hand of Horatio's nephew, the author Horace Walpole, later Earl of Orford.

For Walpole's Quietus rolls as Cofferer of the Great Wardrobe, 1729 - 1741, see Add. Ch. 77013-77023 . For Horatio Walpole see also Add. MSS 21555, 37634, 38502 -38504, and 9131, 9132 (Coxe transcripts). For Sir Robert Walpole see Add. MSS 18047, 35335; Eg. MSS 921, 922; and for an earlier Walpole family volume, possibly from Wolterton, see Add. MS 74245. Some manuscripts of Horatio Walpole were sold at Christies, 29 May 1986; for some of these latter volumes, purchased then, and including Walpole's correspondence with his brother Sir Robert 1716 -1744; see Add. MSS 63749, 63750. At least one other stray item at one time in the present collection seems to have been sold earlier (see Sotheby's Sale, 4 April 1977, lot 168). For related manuscripts, see for instance the Newcastle Papers, (Add. MSS 32684 - 33080; Add. Ch. 29267 - 29477), and Add. MSS 15946, 16451 - 16478. For other papers relating to Dutch affairs see the Dayrolle Papers, Add. MSS 15866 - 15875, 15915, passim; see also Spanish diplomatic papers 1721 - 1757, Add. MSS 35883, 35884. Formerly at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, the papers were acquired by Private Treaty Sale through Christies, 5 Feb. 1993, with the help of a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Paper and vellum. 319 volumes. A number of volumes are bound, some in vellum or paper covers. Arranged as follows:

A. Royal and diplomatic/foreign special correspondence and papers of Horatio Walpole; Horatio Walpole's Diary: 73770-74002.

B. Other special correspondence; home affairs; later correspondence with statesmen; autobiographical material: 74003-74005.

C. General diplomatic, foreign and other correspondence: 74006-74012.

D. General diplomatic papers: 74013-74041.

E. Other general political correspondence and papers: 74042-74049.

F. General papers, with some correspondence, relating to trade and the economy: 74050-74058.

G. Works by Horatio Walpole: 74059-74061.

H. Papers of Sir Robert Walpole: 74062-74068.

I. Later Walpole papers: 74069-74071.

J. Fawkener papers: 74072-74082.

K. Outsize and miscellaneous papers: 74083-74088 B.