Lot 243

Nineteenth Century Politicians

Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs

Auction: Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs | 09 May 2007

£780

Description

A collection of autograph letters and notes signed, mostly written to Rev. William Denton, including letters by: William Gladstone (four), mostly concerning affairs in the Balkans at the time of the “Bulgarian horrors” (“…At the end of a very long speech in the House of Commons, I dwelt but little on the Bulgarian outrages…”), 7 pages, 1865-78; Catherine Gladstone (two), 5 pages, 1869; Richard Cobden (three), concerned with a plea for clemency for “the boy Collins” and thanking Denton for “your pamphlets on the Turkish question”, 8 pages, 1863-4; Joseph Chamberlain concerning Balkan affairs, 4 pages, 9 July 1878; Robert Cecil (three), one as Marquis of Salisbury, principally concerning Parliamentary inaction over persons displaced in the construction of railways, 8 pages, 1864-72; 14th Earl of Derby (four), concerning legislation about “the displacement of a large number of the poorer classes, consequent on the formation of the Metropolitan Railways”, 10 pages, 1861-63; The Duke of Wellington, 1 page, 5 November 1830; Lord Palmerston, 3 pages, 2 February 1832; Sir Robert Peel (two), 4 pages, n.d. and 1834; Lord Melbourne, 1 page, 27 September 1837; John Scott, first Lord Eldon (two), 2 pages; the 15th Earl of Derby; Stratford Canning; Charles W. Dilke (two); A.J. Mundella; Henry Richard Vassall, Lord Holland; the Marquis of Lansdowne; third Viscount Dungannon; 11th Earl of Devon; Sir William Henry Gregory (two); A.J.B. Beresford Hope; Stafford H. Northcote (two); Sir W.V. Harcourt; Robert Lowe; J.E.T. Rogers; and James Bryce, most letters mounted on backing leaves removed from two albums, some general wear and tear (50 items)

Footnote

Provenace: Rev. William Denton; thence by family descent.

Note: The Rev. William Denton was involved in a number of political campaigns, and these are the subject of many of these letters. His Observations on the displacement of the poor by metropolitan railways (1861) attacked the tendency of railway companies to choose routes through working-class areas. He also wrote extensively on the Balkans and campaigned about the suffering of Christians under the Ottomans, and as a result achieved some celebrity at the time of public outrage over the "Bulgarian Horrors" in 1876.