Loan 96 RLF 4/1

Contains the surviving records of the Literary Fund’s first twenty-eight Anniversary Dinners, bound together in folders by year, their contents listed on the front by Octavian Blewitt. For the earliest dinners very few papers survive, but the later dinners are more extensively documented. The records principally consist of letters and administrative records. The documents present for each year are summarised below; the chairman for each dinner is also given:

1793 (Chairman: Joseph Andrews): Extract from the Minutes; letter from Francis Rawdon, Lord Rawdon; bill.

1794: (Chairman: Joseph Andrews): Extract from the Minutes; letter from Andrews; bill.

1795: (Chairman: Joseph Andrews): Extract from the Minutes; toast list.

1796 (Chairman: Thomas Williams): Extract from the Minutes.

1797 (Chairman: Thomas Williams): Extract from the Minutes.

1798 (Chairman: Thomas Williams): Extract from the Minutes; bill.

1799 (Chairman: Sir James Bland Burges): Extract from the Minutes; letter from William Ward, Viscount Dudley and Ward; anonymous letter enclosing a poem.

1800 (Chairman: Thomas Williams): Extract from the Minutes; letter from Joseph Andrews; dinner ticket; toast list; tavern bill.

1801 (Chairman: Sir James Bland Burges): Extract from the Minutes; tavern bill.

1802 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): Extract from the Minutes; dinner ticket; tavern bill.

1803 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): Extract from the Minutes; toast list; list of subscribers; letters from Charles Symmons and Richard Valpy; tavern bill.

1804 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Lord Pelham): Extract from the Minutes; dinner ticket; circular to members and subscribers; Tresurer’s report; list of new subscribers; toast list; letters from Henry Kett and John Lamb; tavern bill.

1805 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Earl of Chichester): Dinner ticket; circular to subscribers; toast list; Treasurer’s report; list of subscriptions; correspondence respecting offered recitations by William Mavor, Charles Monck and the Duke of Kent’s band; tavern bill.

1806 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): Extract from the Minutes; dinner ticket, lists of subscriptions; letters from the Lord Mayor (Sir James Shaw), Alex Davidson, [?] Mellish and Charles Monck; correspondence regarding recitations from the Duke of Somerset, Charles Monck, Andrew Mitchell and William Shield; summons to a breakfast of the Stewards & Committee.

1807 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): List of stewards and extracts from the Minutes; lists of subscriptions; correspondence regarding recitations from Charles Monck and David Williams.

1808 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Earl of Chichester): List of stewards and extracts from the Minutes; dinner ticket; toast list; subscription list; letter from Charles Hatchett; contract with tavern keeper; tavern bill.

1809 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): List of stewards; correspondence with Charles Bicknell, Matthew Raine, Charles Mace and the Lord Mayor (Sir Charles Flower); table plan; Treasurer’s report; subscription lists; tavern bill; toast list.

1810 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): List of stewards; dinner ticket; letters declining stewardship from Sir Robert Peel, Sir Thomas Mostyn, James Jacks, William Meredith and Francis Hargrave; correspondence with John William Adam, Charles Bicknell, the Duke of Bedford, Thomas Hope, Lord Moira, George Ranking, Lord Sheffield, Charles Symmons and Lord Valentia; correspondence regarding recitations from William Shield, William Thomas Fitzgerald and William Boscawen; ‘Letter respecting the Officers seating themselves at the Upper Table’; minutes of the stewards’ meeting; Treasurer’s report; List of Subscriptions; newspaper reports of the dinner; tavern bill.

1811 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Earl of Chichester): List of stewards; dinner ticket; resolutions for a sub-committee; minutes of Committee and stewards; letters from J W Adam, John Jackson, Charles Monro, Sir John Macpherson, William A Maddocks, Earl Mount Norris and Robert Pott; letters declining stewardship from Thomas Clutterbuck, John Mangles, Daniel Moore, John Sullivan, Claudius Stephen Hunter, J Hartley, Richard Smith, William Watson and David Pike Watts; correspondence regarding recitations from Charles Symmons, William Boscawen and Charles Wright; toast list; subscription list; newspaper reports; tavern bill.

1812 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Earl of Chichester): List of stewards, dinner ticket, letters from the Earl of Chichester, James Christie, the Lord Mayor (Claudius Stephen Hunter) and Benjamin Hobhouse; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald and J Parker of the Duke of Kent’s band; toast list; Treasurer’s report; newspaper reports; copy of tavern bill.

1813 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): List of stewards; dinner ticket; circular; letters from the Earl of Crawford & Lindsay, Sir John Lubbock and George Ranking; minutes of meeting of stewards; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald and Charles Symmons; toast list; Treasurers’ report; copy of tavern bill.

1814 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): List of stewards; dinner ticket; circular; correspondence respecting the chair from the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Sussex, Richard Yates and the Duke of Kent; letters from the Earl of Buckinghamshire, Stephen Gaselee and Louis Hayes Petit; letters declining stewardship from Sir William Garrow, William Henry Lunn, William Shepherd, Earl Spencer and J C De Boffe; letter from Prince Lieven declining an invitation; correspondence respecting recitations from Benjamin Hobhouse, Samuel Birch, Charles Symmons, James Christie and John Hinckly; toast list; Treasurers’ report; tavern bill.

1815 (Chairman: His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent): Correspondence respecting the chair from the Duke of Kent, David Williams and the Duke of Somerset; list of stewards; dinner ticket; circular; correspondence regarding successor stewards from John Brown, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, Lord De Dunstanville, Sir George Lee, David Pike Watts and Colonel Cocks; letters from Sir William Claton, Sir William Garrow, W H Lyttelton, Lord Palmerston and William Shepherd; letters declining stewardship from H Addington, [?] Bathurst, the Lord Mayor (Samuel Birch), George Byng, Lord Calthorpe, the Earl of Dartmouth, J C De Boffe, the Earl of Derby, Davies Giddy, H Goulburn, Charles Grant, Lord Kenyon, Lord Lowther, William Henry Lunn, Edward J Littleton, Lord Newark, Lewis Hayes Petit, the Marquis of Stafford and Earl Spencer; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgearald, Captain Harvey and Charles Smith; letters respecting seats from George Yates and [?] Rowcroft; toast list; toast list with music; Treasurers’ report; copy of tavern bill.

1816 (Chairman: His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent): Correspondence respecting the chair from the Duke of Kent, Richard Yates and [?] Cuff; minutes of stewards’ meeting; dinner ticket; circular; correspondence with John Bond, John Fuller, George Phillips and George Yates, letter from Fynes Clinton, declining an invitation; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald, William Shield and P L Courtier; toast list; Treasurers’ report; newspaper report; copy of tavern bill.

1817 (Chairman: His Royal Highness Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex): Correspondence respecting the chair from Benjamin Hobhouse, Richard Yates and Daniel Moore; dinner ticket; form of invitation; circular; letters from Walter Pye, the Earl of Essex, George Hicks, George Ranking, [?] Nicholas, the Bishop of Salisbury, Josiah Taylor, C Wallington, Frederick Webb and Henry Norton Willis; letters declining stewardship from John Coxe Hippesley, J Mawman and the Earl of Cassillis; toast list; Treasurers’ report, newspaper reports; copy of tavern bill.

1818 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset): Correspondence respecting the chair from the Duke of Kent, Richard Yates and Thomas Joseph Pettigrew; letters from Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Lord Bolton, Henry Colburn, the Marquis of Lansdowne and Jesse Watts Russell; dinner ticket; form of invitation; circular; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald and Charles Symmons; toast list; Treasurers’ report, newspaper reports; copy of tavern bill.

1819 (Chairman: Sir Benjamin Hobhouse): Correspondence respecting the chair from the Earl of Chichester, the Duke of Kent and William Thomas Fitzgerald; minutes of sub-committee and stewards; letters from Alexander Chalmers and John new man; letter from John Coxe Hippesley, declining invitation; correspondence respecting recitations from Charles Symmons; dinner ticket; circular; toast list; Treasurers’ report, subscriptions announced; calculation of guests; manuscript copy of Benjamin Hobhouse’s speech; newspaper report; manuscript report of the dinner by Richard Yates.

1820 (Chairman: Charles John Gardiner, Earl of Blessington): Correspondence respecting the chair from the Duke of Somerset, Charles Symmons, James Christie and the Earl of Blessington; letter respecting the day of the dinner from C K Pritchett; dinner ticket; circular; form of invitation; letters declining invitations from John Coxe Hippesley, Jesse Watts Russell and John Symmons; letters accepting stewardships from the Earl of Blessington, John Bodham, Charles Parr Burney, John dent, Edward Henry Greene, Richard Heber, William Jerdan, Sir John F Leicester and George Watson Taylor; letters on stewards from Alexander Chambers, Kames Christie, and Henry Ellis; letters declining stewardships from R Ackermann, [?] Batty, Thomas Brande, W E Rouse Boughton, T E Bowditch, J P Burrell, W Holwell Carr, J Stanyer Clarke, James S Donaldson, Charles Ellis, John Galt, R J Harper, Charles Harrison, W Haslewood, William Heygate, E H Locker, Bryan Waller Procter, William Robinson, Stewart Rose, Sir Walter Scott, George Stanley, Charles Stokes, E V Utterson and [?] Varins; letters from members unable to attend: William Bulmer, J Hatchard, J Hicks, Patrick Kelly, Messrs Longman, Messrs G and W Nicol, George Pearson, Louis Hayes Petit, [?] Rowcroft, William Smith, Sharon Turner and George Woodfall; minutes of Committee; list of persons invited to be stewards; correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald, Charles Symmons and Richard Yates; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations announced; copy of tavern bill.