Loan 96 RLF 4/2

Contains the surviving records of the Literary Fund Anniversary Dinners held between 1821 and 1825. The records are organised by year. For each year, there are several folders detailing different aspects of the dinner. The list below details the contents of each of these folders, which consist principally of letters and administrative documents. The chairman for each year is also given.

1821 (Chairman: Thomas Pelham, Earl of Chichester)

1: Letters accepting stewardships from the Earl of Blessington, Henry Hallam, John Cam Hobhouse, Douglas Kinnaird, John Murray, Lord Pomfret, George Reed, John Sanders, George Sinclair and George Stanley.

2: Letters declining stewardships from William Bowles, Andrew Spottiswoode and George Byrom Whittaker.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from the Earl of Belmore, Sir Rouse Boughton, Henry Thomas Colebrooke, A Hamilton, Sir Gore Ouseley, J Russell, A Salame and Demetrius Schinas.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from Matthew Baillie, Lord Bessborough, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, B Bridge, George Butler, the Earl of Dartmouth, Nathan Drake, Sir Charles Flower, Sir William Grant, Baron Garrow, Joseph Goodall, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Robert Hooper, Sir Everard Home, Joseph Hume, the Bishop of Killaloe, the Duke of Northumberland, Sir William Paxton, George Pearson, Sir George Staunton and [George?] Watson Taylor.

5: Correspondence with officers and members of the Fund, namely William Thomas Fitzgerald, William Jerdan, Charles Monro, John Britton, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, James Christie, John Coxe Hippesley, Messrs Butterworth, J Balfour, William Bentham, J C Denham, George Dyer, R J Harper, John Hatchard, Anthony Highmore, Patrick Kelly, W Kitchener, R Langford, John Petty Muspratt, Buchanan McMillan, Andrew Spottiswoode, Richard Twining and Colonel Witherston.

6: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset, Sir Herbert Taylor, James Christie, and Charles Symmons; lists of invitations; dinner ticket; circular; minutes of Anniversary Committee and stewards’ meeting; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations announced; subscription papers; copy of tavern bill.

1822 (Chairman: His Royal Highness Prince Frederick, Duke of York)

1: Letters accepting stewardships from Richard Blanshard, William Bowles, [?] Denham, Frederick William Hope, Robert Peel, Sir John Edward Swinburne and Charles Tennyson.

2: Letters declining stewardships from John Garratt, the Lord Mayor (Christopher Magnay), Henry Middleton and William Wastell.

3: Letters declining honorary invitations, from the Earl of Blessington, Lord Burghersh, Lord William Bentinck, Lord Carrington, Baron Fagel, Sir Charles Flower, Baron Garrow, Sir Willoughby Gordon, Count Lieven, the Earl of Liverpool, the Bishop of London (William Howley), William George Maton, James Henry Monk, the Chevalier de Ouis, Andrew Strahan, John Symmons, Nicholas Vansittart, Sheriff Venables, R Watkins and the Duke of Wellington.

4: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from George Canning, Samuel Lee, J Russell, James Smirnove, Sir Herbert Taylor and Lord Torrington.

5: Correspondence with members of the Fund, namely Henry H Baber, William Bentham, John Bridell, Jabez Henry, R J Harper, Charles Hatchett, J Johnson, Thomas Jones, Patrick Kelly, George Morant, James Moyes, John Petty Muspratt, George Pearson, Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, Walter Pye, Thomas Snodgrass, Andrew Spottiswoode, John Temple, John Tosting, [?] Twining and John Warren

6: Correspondence respecting the chairman from Sir Herbert Taylor, the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of York; letters from Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, James Anderson and John Ilderton Burn; dinner ticket, forms of invitation; copies of letters to ambassadors; lists of invitations; correspondence respecting recitations from Charles Symmons and Charles Marsh; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations announced; subscription papers; newspaper report; copy of tavern bill.

1823 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset):

1: Letters accepting stewardships from John Galt, Richard Gilbert, Sir John Malcolm, Thomas Penrose, Charles Tennyson and William Wastell.

2: Letters declining stewardships from Thomas Aymot, George Canning, Sir William Knighton, Charles Long, James Heywood Markland, Lord Morpeth and Abraham John Valpy.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from J H Allen, Sir Humphry Davy, Thomas Gent, Charles Grant, James Grattan, Sir Alexander Johnston, W Kitchener, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Colonel Leake, Alexander Nicoll, Jesse Watts Russell, James Smirnove, Thomas Snodgrass, Charles R Sumner, F B Watson and Lieutenant Colonel Wildman.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from Lord William Bentinck, the Marquess of Bute, J C De Boffe, Count de Marcellus, Robert Gray, Jeremiah Harman, J Henry, Major General Cuppage, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Lord Liverpool, Sir Charles Long, the Lord Mayor (William Heygate), Sherriff Lucas, Lord Melville, Charles Phillips, Robert Peel, Joseph Planta, Lord Redesdale, Richard Rush, J Russell, James Smith, Earl Spencer, Robert Stevens, Andrew Strahan, Sheriff Thompson, Lord Torrington, [?] Waymouth, Joseph Blanco White, R Wilmot and Charles Watkin Williams Wynn.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset; correspondence with the Royal Dukes from Somerset, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Sussex; circular; list of honorary invitations; correspondence respecting recitations and the address from William Thomas Fitzgerald, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Charles Symmons and John Bowyer Nichols; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations announced; newspaper reports.

1824 (Chairman: Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquess of Lansdowne)

1: Letters accepting stewardships from Thomas Gent, Charles Knight, the Marquess of Lansdowne, William Alexander Madocks, William Russell and Lord Templetown.

2: Letters declining stewardships from Charles Frederick Partington and F B Watson.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from Edward Baber, [John?] Bostock, R Carleton, the Earl of Chichester, Henry Thomas Colebrooke, John Holland, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Count Ludolf, Orlando & Lurcotti, Lord Palmerston, Peter Mark Roget, Serjeant Rough, Lancelot Shadwell, [Henry Herbert?] Southey and Colonel Wildman.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from the Duke of Bedford, George Canning, Lord Colchester, Taylor Combe, the Earl of Crawford and Lindsey, John Wilson Croker, Count [D’Aylie?], Sir Humphry Davy, Sir Charles Flower, Charles Grant, Earl Gower, R J Harper, Sir John Coxe Hippesley, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, John Cam Hobhouse, H P Hoppner, William Jacob, James Bland Lamb, [?] Lambert, Count Lieven, Captain Lyon, Count Mottke, Major Moor, Captain Parry, Prince Polignac, Richard Rush, J Russell, John Sleath, Earl Spencer, the Swedish Ambassador, Lord Torrington, William Turner, Comte de Vaudreuil, William Wilberforce and the Prussian Minister.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset and Sir Herbert Taylor; circulars; invitations; dinner ticket; honorary invitation card; correspondence with officers and members, namely John Barrow, Richard Blanshard, William Jerdan, [?] Nicholas, John Bowyer Nichols and John Symmons; letter from William Shield respecting music; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations and subscriptions announced; plan of tables; newspaper reports.

1825 (Chairman: Charles Savill Onley)

1: Letters accepting stewardships from Henry Caslon, William R Hamilton, L C Humfrey, William Huskisson and Alexander Ramsay.

2: Letters declining stewardships from James Copland and George Frederick Stratton.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from [?] Bosanquet, Henry Fynes Clinton, Charles Grant, Major Moor, Lord Palmerston and John Smirnove.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, J W Bellamy, [?] Bridge, Lord Bute, [?] Buller, the Bishop of Carlisle, Lord Carrington, Henry Thomas Colebrooke, Lord Ellenborough, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Henry Philip Hope, G P S Hynes, Lord Howard de Walden, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Lord Mayor (John Garratt), Thomas Pell Platt, Lord Prudhoe, Thomas Raffles, [James?] Raine, [?] Rush, [?] Wingfield and Thomas Young.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from William Jerdan, Robert Peel, Sir James Macintosh and Owen Rees; minutes of the Anniversary Committee; circular; dinner ticket; toast list; Treasurers’ report; donations announced; poem offered for recitation.