Lot 130
English navy press ganging - Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th Earl
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 29 August 2012 at 12:00 BST
Description
Document signed ("Sandwich") as First Lord of the Admiralty, and also by the Lord Privy Seal Lord Dartmouth & others, addressed to the Duke of Northumberland, "Custos Rotulorum" [Keeper of the Rolls], informing him that as "His Majestys [George III's] Service doth at this time require a speedy supply of Seamen and Seafaring Men, to Man His Majestys Fleet which is now Fitting out, We do... require Your Grace to call upon the Justices of the Peace of the County of Middlesex... to cause all stragling seamen who are fit to serve on board his Majesty's Ships, to be taken up", and sent to one of the naval ports for a bounty of twenty shillings per man. Manuscript, 2 pages, folio, with integral address leaf and paper seal, "from the Council Chamber at St. James's, 8 November 1776", silked, with some browning, but perfectly legible
Footnote
Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire