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Aubert, Alexander, 1730-1805 -- Death and burial
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Letters from John Lloyd of Wigfair,

Forty-eight holograph letters, 1783-1815 and undated, from John Lloyd at Wygfair, in London, etc., to his sisters, of whom there were four (see J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees, p. 215), viz. Susanna and Phoebe, both of whom died unmarried, Dorothea, who married the Rev. Thomas Clough, and Mary [or Elizabeth], who married the Rev. J. C. Potter (later J. C. Conway). Some of the present letters are addressed to Miss Phoebe Lloyd or Miss S[usanna] Lloyd individually, some to the Misses Lloyd (beginning 'My dear sisters'), some to Miss Lloyd (but beginning 'My dear sisters') and some to Miss Lloyd (beginning 'My dear sister') but not specifying which. Most are addressed to Mold. They contain a considerable amount of personal news, news of friends and acquaintances, and accounts of social and other activities in London and at Wigfair, and refer more specifically to the illness of the writer's mother [Mrs. Dorothea Lloyd], the activities of London personalities (1783), the death and burial of the writer's mother [between whom and the writer there appears to have been an estrangement] (1801), a fever at Mold (1801), a hurricane which had blown down a large number of trees at Garthewin, Wigfair, etc., unroofed Henllan church and damaged [the churches] at Denbigh, Whitchurch and Bodfarry (1802), the illness of Miss Phoebe Lloyd (1802), detailed advice as to fumigation to counteract fever in the Mold area (1802), a visit in company with Sir Joseph Banks to Mr. [Thomas William] Coke [later viscount Coke and earl of Leicester of Holkham] at his 'noble Palace, Holkham in Norfolk', with remarks on the grandeur of the place and the munificence of the entertaining (1803), intelligence that the Brest fleet was putting to sea and that Lord Gardener [Alan Gardner, baron Gardner of Uttoxeter (Ireland), later baron Gardner of Uttoxeter, co. Stafford, who commanded the channel fleet at the time] was preparing to meet it (May 1805), the death of [? Alexander Aubert] at Wygfair (1805), a lecture by [ ] Crouch at the Royal Institution [in London] on early church music, and a performance of the Forty Thieves about which 'The Town is mad' (1806), the writer's relationship to the Wynnes of Coedcoch, bequests in the will of Mrs. Williams of Deganwyn, a claim by Robert Jones that he had discovered ore at ? Waenlas (1809), 'violent doings at the Election' and the creation of twenty seven burgesses by 'the Popish Party with noisy Griffith of Garn' at Denbigh (1812), the writer's 'grand day in the Temple Hall' as reader and presiding at the head of the Benchers' table (1813), and the illness of his sister (1814) [? Dorothea, who died in that year].

John Lloyd.

Letters to John Lloyd of Wigfair,

Sixty-four holograph letters and three formal notes from [Sir] Jos[eph] Banks, from Soho Square [London], from Spring Grove [Isleworth, co. Middlesex], from Revesby Abbey [Lincolnshire], etc., to John Lloyd at Hafodunos, at Soughton, Northop, at Wygfair, St. Asaph, etc., 1778-1814 and undated (personal and family news and news of acquaintances, and more specifically an invitation to a Royal Society club dinner (1778); Lord Mahon's book on electricity [Principles of Electricity, 1779] and his promise of another in which he would refute Mr. [Benjamin] Wilson's deductions, news of Lord Mulgrave and [Sir Charles] Blagden, and a request for a specimen of saxifraga umbrosa from Ireland (1780); a paper on new double stars to be read to the R[oyal] S[ociety] by [William] Herschel, the death of [? Dr. Solander] and a request for a specimen of Crataegus Aria from the cliffs near the top of Pen Man Mawr [co. Caernarvon] (1782); a balloon flight across the English Channel by [John] Jefferies and [François] Blanchard [this letter is dated January 1784 but this is probably a mistake for 1785, the flight having been made in January of that year], the resignation of the clerkship of the R[oyal] S[ociety] by Robertson and a contest for the post between Messrs. Coppard and Gilpin (1785); [William] Herschel's visit to Germany to take a telescope of his own making as a present to the University of Gottingen, Herschel's progress with his forty feet [telescope], the discovery of a new comet by Caroline, Herschel's sister, a 'bill intended by the manufacturers to restrain the growers of wool' and a meeting to be held in Denbighshire to consider the bill, the teaching of classics in England as compared with the continent (1786); the receipt of a box of plants from the Snowdon area, Danish and Roman antiquities found in the bed of the river Witham [co. Lincoln], the danger of wheat which was imported from America being infected by insects unknown in this country (1788); comments on Shetland sheep and a request for a specimen (1791); the political situation with comments on democrats, constitutionalists, the Whig club, etc., (1793); a visit from David Pennant, the ill treatment of recipient by a riotous mob at Denbigh, the presence of 'dangerous mobs in many counties' caused by 'the first Raising of the Militia', the price of corn, damage estimated at £ 750,000 by floods in Cambridgeshire, Lloyd's service to the country as a magistrate and the value of this office to the constitution, sheep rearing, the discovering of gold in Ireland (1795); the result of the [parliamentary] election in [co. Caernarvon] with mention of the contestants Sir Robert [Williams] and Lord Penrhyn, acknowledgement of receipt of copies of 'Shon Gwialen', the ill effects of apple insect, good wishes to recipient should he 'undertake the arduous task of becoming Knight of your shire', criticism of Thomas and David Pennant (1796); a request by Lloyd for a copy of the map which accompanied Dr. [Christopher] Packe's Ancographia sive Convallium Descriptio (1798); [Frederick] Hornemann's journey to Africa [on behalf of the African Association], the effects of prolonged drought, comments on Adam Smith's theory of 'perfect freedom in trade' (1800); the abundant crops and the price of grain (1801); the result of the [parliamentary] election in co. Kent, the West India docks in the Isle of Dogs and the Wapping Docks, the health of the members of the Royal Family whom the writer had seen at Weymouth (1802); the possibility of an invasion of England by Buonaparte (1803, 1805); Lloyd's wish to become a trustee of the [?British] Museum (1804); the death of [Alexander] Aubert at Lloyd's home, the draining and selling of land by the writer (1805); the writer's anger on seeing the spires of Lincoln minster pulled down, a request for Lloyd's help in procuring answers to a questionnaire concerning alleged damage to cathedral fabrics, comments on 'the Political Hurricane' which had taken the King out of the hands of a Whig administration, the political changes in England, wire worms, the anniversary of the Club, astronomical data (1807); the cultivation of cranberries, news of crops (1808); receipt of a Brazil coin and of tokens for his sister's [Sarah Sophia Banks] collection, Sir H. Englefield's circular letter and canvass of the Society of Antiquaries (1811)). 'Shon Gwialan' probably refers to the pamphlet entitled 'A Letter to the Right Reverend Dr. Warren on his conduct as Bishop of Bangor', published in 1796, in which the writer, 'Shon Gwialan', attacks the bishop of Bangor for alleged nepotism, etc. The identity of the writer has not been discovered.

Sir Joseph Banks.