Add MS 51378

(1) Official correspondence and papers of 1st Lord Holland, chiefly as secretary at War and Secretary of State, relating to military and naval affairs; 1738 - 1763. Mostly copies. ff. 1-194b. Contents include:- (a) Two drafts, in the hand of Lord Holland, for a speech in the Commons against reduction in the army; circa 3 Feb 1738. ff. 1-12b:- (b) Papers relating to Scotland, viz:- (i) Account by Capt. Archibald Gordon of operations near Loch Rannoch, 1-5 Mar 1746. f.15;- (ii) Memorial by Capt. James Molesworth concerning the difficulties of service in the Highlands, 20 Nov 1750. ff. 87-96;- (c) Two letters to Lord Holland from Admiral Richard Lestock, the second enclosing (ff. 55-81b) an account of his attack on L'Orient, 18 Sep - 17 Oct 1746, in the form of a letter to the Duke of Newcastle; 1746. ff. 7, 50-81b;- (d) Proceedings at the court-martial of Maj.-Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe; 1746. ff. 18-49b;- (e) Lists of forces, etc., 1748-1756. ff. 84-86b, 107-113b, 164, 170-172b;- (f) Letter from Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State, to Lt.-Col. Melchior Guy Dickens, Envoy to Russia, relating to negotiations about Russian troops in Livonia; 2 Oct 1753. ff. 97-107b;- (g) Letters from Col. Robert Napier (Lt.-Gen. 1759), A.D.C. to the Duke of Cumberland, to;- (i) Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock, 24 Nov 1754 (printed with variations by W. Sargent, in Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, V, 1855, pp. 398-400). ff. 114-117b;- (ii) Claudius Amyand, Under-Secretary, enclosing (f. 160) notes on General Braddock's instructions with a view to their issue in an amended form to his successor, Maj.-Gen. John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, as Commander-in-Chief in America, 3 May 1756. ff. 158-163b;- (h) Letter from William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, to Sir Thomas Robinson, Secretary of State; 24 Mar 1755. Extract. Printed in full by C. H. Lincoln, Correspondence of William Shirley, 1912, ii, pp. 144-152. ff. 118-122;- (i) Notes apparently of proceedings at the Admiralty relating to the manning and use of ships; 1 Jan - 1 Nov 1755. ff. 123-124b, 139-144b;- (k) Correspondence, etc., relating to the raising of a regiment of foreign protestants (the Royal Americans) by Col. James Prevost; 1755 - 1756. ff. 125-138b, 145, 153-156b, 166-169b;- (l) Two letters from George Spellings, junior, of New York, to Charles Pierre Gaston François de Lévis, Duc de Mirepoix, French Ambassador to great britain, 12 Jan, and Joshua Vaneck, merchant, of London, 1 Mar 1756. See Hist. MSS. Comm., 14th Report, App. X (Dartmouth MSS.), ii, 1895, p. 7, for reference to anonymous letters intercepted at this period. ff. 149, 157;- (m) Account of the battle of Mindenby Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick-Lüneberg-Wolfenbüttel; 3 Feb 1760. Fr. Copy. Printed, in German translation, by E. von dem Knesebeck, Ferdinand Herzog zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg während des sieben jährigen Krieges, i, 1857, pp. 404-418, and, in French, with the omission of a passage on f. 184b, by F.O.W.H. von Westphalen, Geschichte der Feldzüge des Herzogs Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, iii, 1871, pp. 579-586. Followed (f. 190) by a copy of Prince Ferdinand's orders, 2 Aug 1759, printed by Westphalen, vol. cit., pp. 589-590. ff. 177-190b. (2) Miscellaneous papers, some relating to trade and finance; 1738 - 1770, undated. ff. 195-249b. Included are:- (a) Memoranda on trade between France and Great Britain, in the hand of George Whatley, Agent to the Levant Company at Marseilles; 1738. ff. 195-202b.; - (b) Suggestions for raising money for the government, including the Proposals of Sir John Barnard; 1746 - 1770. ff. 203-222b, 244, 245.

Includes correspondence and papers of:

Claudius Amyand

Sir John Barnard

John Calcraft

Henry Fox

Captain Archibald Gordon

Nicholas Hardinge

Admiral Richard Lestock

Admiral Thomas Mathews

William Mildmay

Captain James Molesworth

Colonel Robert Napier

Major General James Edward Oglethorpe

Thomas Pelham-Holles

Sir Thomas Robinson

Lord George Sackville afterwards Sackville-Germain

General Honorary James St Clair

Lieutenant General William Shirley

George Spellings

George Whatley

Lieutenant Peter Wraxall

Honorary Charles Yorke

Colonel Jospeh Yorke