Loan 96 RLF 4/3

Contains the surviving records of the Literary Fund Anniversary Dinners held between 1826 and 1829. 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.

1826 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset):

1: Letters accepting stewardships from John Capel, Lord Glenorchy, Thomas Halifax, John Gibson Lockhart, R Marshall and J Morris.

2: Letters declining stewardships from W Adams, Sir William Ashburnham, Lord Bexley, J P Courtenay, Sir Montagu Cholmeley, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Frederick John Robinson), John Hawkins, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Lord Kenyon and Stephen Weston.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from Sir William Clayton, E Fynes Clinton, Henry Nelson Coleridge, Thomas Hartwell Horne, John Cam Hobhouse, Douglas Kinnaird, Major Moor, Captain Parry, Henry Phillpotts, John Hume Spry, Sir John Edward Swinbrune and James Stuart-Wortley.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from Samuel Bensley, George Byng, Lord Carrington, the Earl of Cardigan, the Earl of Chichester, George Canning, Lord Colchester, Lord Gower, Simon Gray, [William Rowan?] Hamilton, George Hibbert, Sir John Stuart Hippesley, R W Horton, Sir Alexander Johnston, Lord Kingston, the Earl of Morley, Henry Hart Milman, Robert Peel, Joseph Phillimore, Earl Spencer, Lord Torrington and George Townsend.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset; form of invitation; dinner ticket; letters respecting seats from John Symmons and Owen Rees; letters from members unable to attend, namely Richard Harris Barham, Joseph Butterworth, George Dollond, James Duncan, L C Humfrey, Rowley Lascelles, William Meredith, A A Mieville, George Pearson, Bingham Richards, Daniel Wilkinson and James Wilson; arrangement of seats at table; toast list; report of subscriptions and donations.

1827 (Chairman: Lord John Russell)

1: Letters accepting stewardships from Sir William Ashburnham, Lord Audley, George Dollond, Frederick Robinson, George Agar Ellis, Lord Goderich, John Hatchard, Lord Morpeth, Archdeacon Naves, Richard Ravenhill Oakley, Richard Percival [J?], Sir John Edward Swinburne, [?] Thompson and Sheriff Winchester.

2: Letters declining stewardships from William Adams, Irving Brock, Henry Drummond, George Grote, Alexander Henderson, the Lord Mayor (Anthony Brown), John Petty Muspratt and Thomas Snodgrass.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from John Backhouse, Alexander Dawson, Sir Augustus Frazer, John Cam Hobhouse, Colonel Leake, Sir John Malcolm, Major Moor, Lord John Russell, Sadok Bey, Martin Archer Shee and Henry Willock.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from Sir Francis Burdett, the Earl of Calre, Sir Simon Clarke, Charles Clarke, the Bishop of Chester, Lord De Dunstanville, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Lord Ellenborough, [?] Farebrother, Sir Thomas Farquhar, R Cutler Ferguson, Lord Gower, John Frederick William Herschel, Sir John Hippesley, Henry Hobhouse, Henry Kater, Douglas Kinnaird, Prince Lieven, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Bishop of Llandaff, John Miller, Charles peyps, Thomas Poynder, Lord Palmerston, Edward B Sugden, Sir John Soane, William Smith, Richard Sharp, Lord Torrington and George Townsend.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset; circular; dinner ticket; letters from Committee members, namely James Christie, William Jerdan, John Bowyer Nichols and Richard Yates; letters respecting tickets from Sir William Clayton, [Thomas?] Gent, L C Humfrey, William Mudford and George Pearson; letter enclosing a donation from William Marston, correspondence respecting recitations from William Thomas Fitzgerald and Sir William Ashburnham; letters respecting music from William Shield and Uriah Collyer; arrangement of tables; toast list; list of honorary invitations; subscription list.

1828 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset):

1: Letters accepting stewardships from John Adolphus, William Harrison Ainsworth, Samuel James Arnold, Francis Baily, Richard Harris Barham, Henry Butterworth, James Silk Buckingham, Sir William Clayton, Thomas Crofton Croker, Colonel FitzClarence, Sir John Stuart Hippesley, Henry William Hobhouse, Stephen Lushington, Samuel Maunder, Major Moor, Samuel Sotheby, Sheriff Spottiswoode, the Bishop of Winchester and Edward Williams.

2: Letters declining stewardships from Henry Carington Bowles, H Carlisle, Lord Ennismore, Robert Jennings, the Bishop of Llandaff, the Lord Mayor (Matthias Prime Lucas), Captain Parry, Joseph Planta, the Earl of Radnor, John Sleath, Edward George Stanley and Thomas Telford.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from Sir George Duckett, Lord Durham, Lord Goderich, [?] Holland, Leonard Horner, L C Humfrey, Charles Kemble, Douglas Kinnarid, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Chandos Leigh, [?] Somerville, Sir John Edward Swinburne and Lord Torrington.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from the Earl of Aberdeen, John Abernathy, the Duke of Bedford, James Campbell, Lord Carrington, the Vice Chancellor ([Sir Lancelot Shadwell?]), the Bishop of Chichester, Lord Colchester, Lord De Dunstanville, Lord Ebrington, Lord Ellenborough, George Agar Ellis, Lord Farnborough, Sir Francis Freeling, Lord Gower, John Gurney, Thomas Hope, Alexander Johnston, Thomas Frankland Lewis, Prince Lieven, Sir Robert MacFarlane, the Earl of Morley, [?] Morlock, D E Morris, [?] Park, [Parnther?], Charles Pepys, Frederick Pollock, David Pollock, the Earl of Pomfret, the Earl of Roseberg, [?] Seymour, Sir John Soane, Earl Spencer, Leicester Stanhope, Sir John Edward Swinburne and [?] Thompson.

5: Correspondence respecting the chairman from the Duke of Somerset; forms of invitation; dinner ticket; correspondence from members of the committee, namely John Britton, Richard Blanshard, Lewis Andrew de la Chaumette, Henry Foss, John Griffin and George Woodfall; correspondence respecting tickets from Michael Bland, Christopher Packe, W H Ward and Stephen Weston; list of honorary invitations; toast list; arrangements of seats at table; Treasurers’ report, list of donations at dinner; report of dinner.

1829 (Chairman: Edward Adolphus St Maur, Duke of Somerset):

1: Letters accepting stewardships from Robert Blackmore, John George Children, Henry Nelson Coleridge, William Clowes, Sir George Duckett, Davies Gilbert, Lord Goderich, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Dionysius Lardner, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Alexander Mackinnon, John Ayrton Paris, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Michael Thomas Sadler, John Sleath and Henry Stebbing.

2: Letters declining stewardships from John Bankes, John Barrow, James Shergold Boone, [?] Copeland, John Greenwood, John Harris, [Otley?] and Frederick Waller.

3: Letters accepting honorary invitations, from James Barbour, Sir William Beechey, Lord Blayney, Edward Lytton Bulwer, [?] Conolly, Captain Glascock, Augustus Bozzi Granville, Stephen Price, the ‘Mexican Minister’ ([Vicente?] Rocafuerte), John Smirnove and Sir John Soane.

4: Letters declining honorary invitations, from Dr Niel Arnott, Earl Amherst, Sir John De Beauvoir, the Bishop of Bristol, Benjamin Bond Cabbell, Sir William Clayton, the Duke of Cleveland, Henry Fynes Clinton, Lord Colchester, the Earl of Darnley, Lord De Dunstanville, Lord Durham, the Earl of Eldon, Lord Ellenborough, George Agar Ellis, the Earl of Ennismore, Colonel FitzClarence, Lord Garvagh, Henry Goulburn, Earl Gower, Lord Francis Leveson Gower, Charles Grant, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Thomas Hope, Leonard Horner, Charles Kemble, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Thomas Frankland Lewis, Prince Lieven, the Bishop of Llandaff, Thomas Norton Longman, the Lord Mayor (William Thompson), the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Normanby, Sir Gore Ouseley, the Marquis de Palmella, Robert Peel, Thomas Phillips, Frederick Pollock, Lord Porchester, George Rose, George Henry Rose, [?] Russell, Sir John Sinclair, James Smirnove, Thomas Snodgrass, the Speaker (Charles Manners-Sutton), Earl Spencer, Sir George Staunton, Sir John Edward Swinburne, G Watson Taylor, Charles Tennyson, Lord Torrington, [?] Warre, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Richard Westmacott and [?] Williamson.

5: Correspondence from members of the committee, namely John Britton, Michael Bland, Lewis Andrew de la Chaumette, Henry Foss, William Jerdan, Owen Rees, William Tooke, George Woodfall and Richard Yates; circular; dinner ticket; minutes of sub-committee and stewards; toast list; Treasurers’ report; list of donations; report of the dinner.