Add MS 74062

Walpole Papers. Vol. ccxciii ( ff. ). Bound vol., account book of Sir Robert; apparently kept by a secretary; signed by Sir Robert and by his cousin, Robert Mann, London banker and merchant, on their being examined and allowed, 30 Aug. 1718; witnessed by William Daye and Edward Jenkins; later credit and debit entries for 3 Oct., and 1 Sept. 1718; entries include financial transactions, such as the sale of stock; many entries give only names and the sums involved, but others include payments for pamphlets ( 3 Aug. 1717 ); to servants; payments for clothes; for his wife's clothes and jewellery, ( see 24 June 1716 ), and ( 26 April 1716 ) for her " goeing to the bath "; for Walpole's sons Robert and Edward at Eton, and for his other children's education; together with payments to other family members, including Horatio; a few Norfolk payments, including some to or for members of the Rolfe and Turner families; bills for work at his Chelsea house ( for instance 28 Mar. 1718 ), and concerning other London properties. Other payments include a payment of ú500 to Sir Richard Steele ( 5 Sept. 1716 ), and a sum of ú125 paid by the latter ( 25 June 1717 ); a payment to Mr [ Jonathan? ] Richardson , painter, 3 August 1717, for paintings or drawings of Sir Robert, Sir Charles Turner, and Sir Robert's brothers; and for the purchase of two pictures at Graffier's Sale, 2 April 1718.

A similar volume, with other account books, is apparently in the Cholmondley Papers; see Plumb, Sir Robert Walpole, vol. ii, p.85; vellum cover; entries in one hand, with additions in a second; final note of August 1718 by William Daye; many folios blank; calculations in a later hand on the inner back cover; a volume of private accounts 1716 - 1740 for Walpole and others was sold at Christies, 29 May 1986, lot 122; for an earlier Walpole family account book see Add. MS 74245; 1714 - 1718.