Finding Aid
1.
Letters and genealogical records of the Merediths or Meredyths of Greenhills, Kildare. – 1800-1905. – 1 folder : paper. – Manuscript and print. -- Title based on content of sub-collection.
Letters and genealogical records of the Merediths or Meredyths, baronets of Greenhills. These papers appear to comprise a collection made about 1862 by John Barry Meredith, attorney, at the request of his cousin Capt. Meredyth, who wanted an account of his grandfather's family. This sub-collection has been arranged into two series: letters, and genealogical records. The letters concern several important family issues, especially the death of Barry C. Meredith in 1800 and his widow's pension, though not all letters are addressed to a member of the Meredith family. Some of the letters have been numbered, perhaps by John Barry Meredith in the 1850s or 1860s. In describing this sub-collection, these numbers have been employed and extended to letters already numbered, according to the current physical arrangement. The genealogical records, which incorporate genealogical writings, clippings, and transcriptions, have not been arranged. Note that the third genealogical record, the copy affidavit of Stephen James Brown, has no clear link with the Meredith family.
Letters
1) Sir John Jervis White Jervis, bt., to Sir Barry Meredith, bt., 1812, 1 letter.
2) Sir John Jervis White Jervis, bt., to Sir Barry Meredith, bt., 1812, 1 letter.
3) Sir John Jervis White Jervis, bt., to Joshua Paul Meredith, bt., 1812, 1 letter.
4) Sir John Jervis White Jervis, bt., to Mrs. Margaret [Wartere?], 1813, 1 letter.
5) Sir John Jervis White Jervis, bt., to Richard Meredith, esq., 1813, 1 letter.
6) Barry C. Meredith to his mother [Elizabeth Eastwood], 1800, 1 letter.
7) E. Coombe to [Sir Barry Meredith, bt.], 1800, 1 letter.
8) E. Coombe to Sir James Dollard, 1800, 1 letter.
9) Copies of Letter of Attorney to empower Capt. Kempster to receive widow Meredith's pension, and copies of proof of her marriage to Lt. Meredith, 1800, 1 letter. Annotated by John Barry Meredith, 1850.
10) Captain Kempster to Barnaby Scott, 1800, 1 letter.
11) Captain Kempster to Barnaby Scott, 1801, 1 letter.
12) Captain Kempster to Barnaby Scott, 1801, 1 letter.
13) Captain Kempster to Bridget Meredith, 1803, 1 letter.
14) Captain Kempster to Barnaby Scott, 1804, 1 letter.
15) Captain Kempster to Barnaby Scott, 1804, 1 letter.
16) Captain Kempster to Bridget Meredith [copy], 1815, 1 letter.
Genealogical Records
1) Lamh Derg Eirin / The Red Hand of Ireland, [1842?], 1 p. Printed pamphlet, endorsed by Joshua Colles Meredith, 1842.
2) From Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, published 1841, [transcribed ca. 1862?], 3 pp. Manuscript copy [by John Barry Meredith?] of published original for entry concerning Sir Joshua Colles Meredyth.
3) Copy affidavit of Stephen James Brown in the matter of the estate of Edward M. Ross et al., 1905, 4 pp.
4) Notes by John Barry Meredith on the genealogical account of Capt. Meredyth's grandfather, 1862, 2 pp.
5) Account of the birth of uncles and aunts of John Barry Meredyth, [ca. 1862?], 1 p.
6) Envelope containing: Fragment concerning descent of properties, n.d., 1 p.; seal, n.d.; clippings from Illustrated London News and unknown English paper, 1841-1850, 2 pp.; note by John Barry Meredith, [ca. 1862?], 1 p. These pieces have been sealed in a plastic sleeve. Seal cracked and very faintly visible. In his note, Meredith has recorded the provenance of the seal impression and of the newspaper clippings.
7) Genealogy of Sir Joshua Colles Meredyth, bt., [ca. 1837?], 1 p. In the hand of John Barry Meredith. Paper watermarked with year 1837.
8) Genealogy of Sir Barry Colles Meredith, bt., [after 1800], 1 p. Paper watermarked.
9) “Eythorne Hundred – Kent,” [ca. 1840s?], 5 pp. Handwritten copy of text concerning properties in Eythorne Hundred, Kent, including Leeds Abbey, the seat of Sir Richard Meredith, bt. Annotated by John Barry Meredith, [ca. 1862?], reading “this document in the handwriting of Sir Jos.” with his initials, JBM.
10) The Genealogy of the Meredith Family, [ca. 1845?], 30 pp. Contents give descent of family from fourth to nineteenth centuries, based on printed and other sources. Sewn binding, without covers, in folio format. Paper watermarked with Britannic figure and text “S. Evans and Co., 1845.”
2.
Petition by Sir Edward Turnor to the King [ie James II?] concerning the king's debt to his deceased father, Sir Edward Turnor, late Speaker of the House of Commons. – [between 1686 and 1688?]. – 1 letter : paper. – Manuscript. – Title based on contents of item.
Petition by Sir Edward Turnor, son and heir of the late Sir Edward Turnor, late Speaker of the House of Commons, who was charged by the will of his father with the payment of his debts and legacies, amounting to £14,000, to the King [ie James II?]. His father had lent much of that sum to the king, but Turnor had not yet received about £10,000 of the sum, despite requests and promises. Turnor sought to receive the forfeitures of recognizances, fines for contempt, breach of peace, fines and amerciaments at assizes and sessons of the peace, and other sums forfeited out of Norfolk, Essex, Cambridge, and Huntington and paid to the Exchequer, for a term of years until the debt was cleared. Not signed or dated.
Sir Edward Turnor, Speaker of the House of Commons, died in 1686.
3.
Letter by Joseph Fouché, Minister of the General Police of the French Empire, to the Prefect of the Départment of Vaucluse concerning the disposition of funds.– 6 Nivose An XIV [27 Dec. 1805]. – 1 letter : paper. – Manuscript. – French. – Title based on contents of item.
Letter by Joseph Fouché, Senator and Minister of the General Police of the French Empire, to the prefect of the Department of Vaucuse at Avignon, stating that he was informed by the Councillor of State charged with the 3rd Arrondissement of the General Police of the need to dispose of some funds to the prefect, to be spend as the monitoring of his Department requires. He gives a sum of 1000 francs and a mandate of the committee of receivers-general, No. 394, payable at his order 23 Jan. next [ie 1806] by the receiver-general of his department. Signed by Fouché. Dated at Paris, 6 Nivose An XIV [ie 27 Dec. 1805]. Dated in accordance with French republican calendar. In upper left corner, the same hand has written “Comptabilité – No. 1503.”
Transcription:
[recto]
Au prefet du Département de Vaucluse à Avignon.
Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat, Chargée du 3me arrondissement de la Police générale, m'a fait Connaître, Monsieur, le besoin que vous aviez de disposer de quelque fonds particulaire pour les dépenser [...] qu'exige la Surveillance de votre département. Je vous remets [...] une somme de Mille francs en un mandat du comité des Receveur Generaux, en date du 2 [de ce mois?]
[verso]
Coté No. 394 et payable a votre ordre le 23 Janvier prochain par le receveur général de votre département. Veuilles bien m'en accuser la Réception et m'adresser le Compte des fonds [...] a votre disposition [...]. Recevez, monsieur, l'assurance de mon sincere attachment.
[signed] Fouché
4.
Letters by Eliza Norris of Nonsuch near Devizes, Wiltshire to Mrs. Pennett, her cousin. – 1758-1764. – 4 letters : paper. – Manuscript. – Title based on contents of sub-collection.
Four letters by Eliza Norris of Nonsuch near Devizes, Wiltshire to Mrs. Pennett, the wife of Thomas Pennett. Mrs. Pennett was a cousin of Mr. Norris, Eliza's husband [not named in letters], who was High Sheriff [of Wiltshire?] for 1759. The Pennetts had some connection to Cumberland. The letters primarily comprise details concerning the Norris family. Mr. Norris, for example, survived the 1762 influenza epidemic. The Norrises had, by 1764, nine children, including John (born Jan. 1758), Billy and Nelly. Eliza also mentions two other cousins, Mr. Neate in London and Miss Halbert. The letters also contain current gossip, especially concerning the affairs of the family of Sir William Hanham, bt., of Deans Court, Dorset.
5.
Letters by Thomas Bosworth to Charles Hutton on the calculation of parallaxes. – 1772-1773. – 2 letters : paper. – Manuscript. – Title based on contents of sub-collection.
Two letters by Thomas Bosworth sent from Farcett, near Peterborough, Northamptonshire, to Charles Hutton, mathematician, at Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland. Bosworth proposed to correct an error in Article 11 of Hutton's Miscellanea Mathematica, introduced in calculations made, he believed, by Dr. Spenser Cowper, Dean of Durham. The first letter was dated 22 Aug. 1772 and enclosed Hutton's original paper sent to Bosworth [now lacking]. In his reply letter, Bosworth provided “an example of calculating the moon's parallax” as a possible replacement for Cowper's calcuations. In the second letter, dated 23 Jan. 1773, since Hutton had deemed his previous example unusable, Bosworth included a revised example, entitled “a new and universal rule for computing the parallactic angle,” again for possible inclusion under Article 11.
