Add MS 78698 J

J. Fairfax family: Correspondence of the family of Fairfax, Lords Fairfax of Cameron, of Leeds Castle, Kent, and W.R., co. Yorks.; circa 1680-1746. Purchased from J. L. M. Gulley, 25 April and (item ii) 3 July 2002.

ff. 30-47v. Nine letters. Various sizes. As follows:-

i. Henrietta Maria Wentworth (d. 1687), 6^th Baroness Wentworth, to ‘mi farfaix’ [prob. Charlotte, wife of Brian Fairfax (d. 1711), the elder], with a gift of beer and cider; n.d., circa 1675-1686.

ii. Bernard Bankes, agent at Denton Hall, to Thomas, 5^th Lord Fairfax, relating to improvements to the Hall, including fitting the window commissioned from Henry Gyles of York (d. Oct. 1709) for the chapel; 18 April 1703. See J. T. Brighton, ‘Henry Gyles virtuoso and glasspainter of York, 1645-1709’, York Historian, vol. 4, 1984, p. 44.

iii. Catherine Fairfax (d. 1716) to her brother Thomas, 6^th Lord Fairfax, at the lodgings in Somerset House of their cousin George Sayers, later D.D., concerning her health; Leeds Castle, Kent, 13 August 1710.

iv. Unidentified writer to Thomas, 6^th Lord Fairfax, at Oriel College, Oxford, giving news of local hunts in co. Kent, requesting a copy of the forthcoming Terrae Filial speech at Oxford and alluding to Swift’s Tale of a Tub (1704); 24 June 1713.

v. Barwick Fairfax (d. 1734), son of Henry, 4^th Lord Fairfax: three letters, as follows:-

(a) to his nephew Thomas, 6^th Lord Fairfax, from Newton, near Tadcaster, 19 Sept. 1711, relating to Lord Fairfax’s newly-inherited estates in W.R., co. Yorks., suggesting that Denton, ‘[Nun] Appleton (near Yorke & Tadcaster), the Seat of my L^d Thomas F[airfa]x the General); & likewise Bolton near it’ be redeemed by the sale of lands in Virginia. Mention is made of a legacy of £40 left to Gyles (d. Oct. 1709) for the chapel window. Also noticed is the engraver Francis Place (d. 1728).

(b) to Brian Fairfax (d. 1749), the younger; 5 Aug. 1730, 9 Feb. 1731/2. The second concerns his nephew Thomas, 6^th Lord Fairfax, of whom he writes: ‘I have as vile Opinion of this Indolent L^d as of that Scrubb Squire the Scum of the County, Tim Tweedle of Boobie Hall: was I to write a Play! I would call it the Indolents & Tim should speake the Prologue!’. There follow six couplets beg. ‘Surely our Uncle must be in a Rage’ and ending ‘For noe Dirt I see, Stones, nor rotten Eggs’. Red wax armorial seal of Fairfax on letter of 5 Aug. 1730.

vi. Mary, widow of Henry Colepeper Fairfax (d. 1734) to her brother-in-law Thomas, 6^th Lord Fairfax, relating to the will of her deceased husband, in which Fairfax’s second son is named as a devisee in remainder; ‘Hilsley’, co. Gloucester, 20 Sept. 1735. Body of text in scribal hand, signed.

vii. Unidentified lady to Brian Fairfax the younger (‘My Dearest B.’), giving details of social life, apparently at Bath; 22 March 1746. Subscription torn away; red wax signet seal of two facing classical busts, female and male. An undated document in 62709 B, f. 37, is in the same hand.

.

Brian Fairfax, the younger; Commissioner of Customs: Barwick Fairfax, son of Henry, 4th Lord Fairfax: Two letters to Brian Fairfax from Barwick Fairfax: 1730, 1732.

Poetry ENGLISH: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax: Barwick Fairfax, son of Henry, 4th Lord Fairfax: Satirical verses by Barwick Fairfax rel. to Thomas Fairfax: 1732: Autograph.

Brian Fairfax, the younger; Commissioner of Customs: Bath, Somerset: Letter rel. to social life at (?) Bath, to Brian Fairfax: 1746.

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax: Mary Fairfax, widow of Henry Colepeper Fairfax: Letter to her brother-in-law to Thomas Fairfax from Mary Fairfax: 1735.

Francis Place, engraver: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax: Henry Gyles, of York; glass-painter: Barwick Fairfax, son of Henry, 4th Lord Fairfax: Letter to Thomas Fairfax from Barwick Fairfax rel. to Henry Gyles rel. to Francis Place: 1711.

County of Kent: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax: Letter to to Thomas Fairfax rel. to hunts in Kent (County of): 1713.

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax: Catherine Fairfax, daughter of Thomas, 5th Lord Fairfax: Letter to her brother to Thomas Fairfax from Catherine Fairfax: 1710.

Henrietta Maria Wentworth, suo jure Baroness Wentworth: Charlotte Fairfax, wife of Brian Fairfax, the elder: Letter to Charlotte Fairfax from Henrietta Maria Wentworth: circa 1680-1684.