File NLW MS 24144iiE. - Gwysaney letters and papers: Vol. II

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NLW MS 24144iiE.

Title

Gwysaney letters and papers: Vol. II

Date(s)

  • [1487x1503]-1900 (Creation)

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Extent and medium

68 ff. (many folios contain multiple items) ; 355 x 255 mm.

Re-bound in half green morocco with gold fillets at NLW, 1947, with additional items pasted in, some apparently on new leaves; 'GWYSANEY LETTERS AND PAPERS VOL. II' in gold on spine.

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Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, better-known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', were both members of Irish aristocratic families. Having quickly established a relationship following their meeting in 1768, the women escaped the scandalised animosity of their home circle by setting up home at Plasnewydd, a Gothic-style house situated near Llangollen, Denbighshire. For the next fifty years, they lived a secluded and often penurious existence, while nevertheless receiving such notable visitors as the landowner, traveller and writer Anne Lister and the poets Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby are both buried in the grounds of St Collen's Church, Llangollen, while Plasnewydd is now a museum dedicated to their lives.

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A volume containing some one hundred and two letters and other papers, [1487x1503]-1895, many relating to the Davies, Cooke and Davies-Cooke families of Gwysaney, Owston and Llanerch and relatives such as the Earl of Kingston, with other letters apparently collected as examples of autographs. Also included are items such as engravings, photographs and cuttings relating to some of the correspondents, 1788-1900; some items are accompanied by biographical notes, [19 cent., third ¼].
The papers include the Earl and Countess of Kingston's invitation to Queen Victoria's Coronation, 1838 (ff. 1-2), a sign manual of Henry VII, [1487x1503], thanking John Pillesdon [Puleston] (f. 5), two warrants of Henry VIII, 1538 (ff. 5 verso-6), an acquittance signed by Geo: Asapher: [George Griffith, Bishop of St Asaph], 1664 (f. 24) and two receipts relating to Théodore de Bèze and François Bonivard, 1554, 1575 (f. 53; French). Other correspondents include William, Duke of Clarence [later William IV], 1828 (f. 7), Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, 1805-1825 (ff. 9-11), Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, [1827x1857] (f. 13), Princess Elizabeth of Hesse Homberg, [1810x1827] (f. 15), Princess Sophia Matilda, [1810x1827] (f. 17), Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, 1808-1824 (ff. 18, 29), Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, 1809-1810 (ff. 20-21), J[ohn Egerton, 1st Earl of] Bridgewater, 1638 (f. 22), Cardinal Consalvi, Rome, 1818-1819 (ff. 25-27; letters and passports to Bryan Cooke, in Italian), George IV [two signatures only] (f. 28), Baron Atthalin, Aide de Camp to the Duc d’Orleans, 1820 (f. 30; French), F[rançois] d'Orléans, [prince de Joinville], 1843 (f. 32; French), General G. H. Dufour, Berne, 1851 (f. 33; French), E[dward] B[ulwer] L[ytton] (f. 34), [5th Duke of] Richmond, Goodwood, 1847 (f. 34), Pope Pius IX [signature only], [?1859] (f. 34), Spencer Perceval, Downing Street, 1810 (f. 35), Eleanor Butler and [Sarah] Ponsonby, [the Ladies of Llangollen], 1785, 1791 (ff. 35 verso-36), [René-Eustache, marquis d']Osmond, 1816-[1821] (ff. 37, 39 verso-40; French), [11th Duke of] Norfolk, [?1790s] (f. 38), W. E. Gladstone, 1852 (f. 38 verso), [Benjamin] Disraeli, Downing Street, 1868 (f. 39), [Viscount] Palmerston, 1810 (ff. 41 verso-42), [Viscount] Kingsborough, 1834 (f. 43), William Wilberforce, 1798, 1801 (ff. 43 verso-44), Warren Hastings, 1807 (f. 45), Thomas Telford, 1829 (f. 47), Sir John Sinclair, 1816 (f. 48), Francis Chantrey, 1820-1834 (ff. 48 verso-51), [Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of] Westminster, 1852 (f. 53 verso), Sir Robert Peel, [2nd bart], 1836 (f. 56 verso), George Canning [signature only], 1797 (f. 58 verso), M[artin] F[arquhar] Tupper, [1860] (f. 59 verso), W[illiam] Spence, 1850 (f. 60), [Professor] John Phillips, York, 1853 (f. 62), H[umphry] Repton, 1796 (f. 64), Jos[eph] Sabine, 1827, 1828 (f. 65), John Franks, Calcutta, 1832 (f. 66), R[amsay] R[ichard] Reinagle, 1828, 1829 (f. 67) and Gathorne Hardy, 1867 (f. 68). The main recipients include Captain Thomas Davies, 1638 (f. 22), Bryan Cooke, [?1790s]-1821 (ff. 25-27, 38, 40, 42, 43 verso-44, 46, 50 verso, 56 verso, 58, 64), Philip Davies Cooke, 1820-1852 (ff. 30, 34, 37, 38 verso, 48 verso-51, 53 verso, 55, 56 verso-57, 60 verso-62, 65, 67), and his father-in-law George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston, 1815-1838 (ff. 2, 7, 9-11, 18, 29, 35, 56, 57 verso, 63, 65).

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Usual copyright laws apply.

Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • Italian

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English, Italian, French.

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Finding aids

A few items in this volume (ff. 5-7, 22-23) are transcribed in NLW, Transcripts of some Gwysaney Letters and Papers (1947), a copy of which is available in the Library's reading room and at https://archives.library.wales/transcripts/Gwysaney_transcripts.pdf.

The Henry VII and Henry VIII documents (ff. 5-6) are recorded in Historic Manuscripts Commission, Sixth Report (London: HMSO, 1877), p. 421; several other letters in the volume are listed among the contents of 'the Owston Hall "Letter Book"' in ibid, p. 426.

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Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 15), filmed in 1947.

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Physical storage

  • Microform: NLW Film 15
  • Text: NLW MS 24144iiE.