Add MS 47171-47189

EGMONT PAPERS. Vols. CCLII-CCLXX. Heraldic and genealogical collections of the St. George family, comprising part of the collections of Sir Richard St. George (Norroy 1604 and Clarenceux King of Arms 1623, d. 1635), with additions by his son, Sir Henry St. George the elder (1581-1644), and grandson, Sir Henry St. George the younger (1625-1715), both Garter Kings of Arms. For biographical details of these three members of the St. George family see W. H. Godfrey, A. R. Wagner and H. S. London, The College of Arms, 1963, pp. 50-51, 55-56, 86-87, and A. R. Wagner, Heralds of England, 1967, pp. 88-347 passim, 544. The present MSS. entered the possession of the Perceval family after the death of Sir Henry St. George the younger, Garter: M. Noble, A History of the College of Arms, 1805, p. 353, states that the collection was sold by the sons-in-law of William Bridges, Serjeant-at-Law, executor of Sir Henry (whom he mistakes for the sons-in-law of Garter himself) to 'Thomas (sic) Percival, Earl of Egmont' for £500. Despite discrepancies in names and in prices, it seems probable that this is the transaction referred to by the 1st Lord Egmont in his diary entry for 23 Mar. 1737, relating the purchase by his son of nearly three hundred MSS. of the St. George family (Add. MS. 47067, f. 65; Hist. MSS. Comm., Diary of the Earl of Egmont, ii, p. 377). Further material appears to have been acquired in or after 1739, when more than two hundred MSS. of Sir Henry St. George the younger were auctioned by Thomas Osborne, the bookseller (cf. Osborne cats. 27 Nov. 1738, and 26 Feb. 1739). Some MSS. were later acquired by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. (Phillipps MSS. 12362-12388, 13080-13192, 13758-13789, 13963-13964, 22289-22349). For further details concerning the dispersal of St. George MSS. see A. R. Wagner, Records and Collections of the College of Arms, 1952, pp. 38-39, and The Diary of Humfrey Wanley, ed. C. E. and R. C. Wright, 1966, i, pp. xxxiv, lxxvii-lxxviii. See also Hist. MSS. Comm., 7th Rep., App., pp. 232-233. 15th-17th centt. Nineteen volumes. Paper (except Vol. CCLII, vellum).