Autograph Letter Signed ('A. E. Cockburn') to Thomas Cruttwell, solicitor, of Bath; together with Signed photograph of Cockburn, from the studio of Henry Dixon, Regent's Park, London.

Author: 
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-1880), 12th Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of England.
Publication details: 
Letter dated 5 April 1846; Castle Taunton. Photograph undated.
£180.00
SKU: 5604

Letter: four pages, folio. Good, with a little aging and staining to verso of second leaf of bifolium. In Cruttwell's absence Cockburn has taken it upon himself 'to settle Richardson & . Taylor has communicated the result of his interview with Hellings the previous evening. 'He informed me that he had seen certain letters written by the D[e]f[endan]ts to Mrs. Richardson, in which he solicited her to leave her husband, and to bring away with her money and goods belonging to the husband'. Taylor recommends that Hellings' offer of £50 be accepted. Cockburn has seen the letters, and 'they fully bear out Mr. Taylor's account. I thought the correspondence so discreditable to the Defendant, that, especially as he must necessarily have called witnesses andn so the Plaintiff's cause wd. have had a reply - I thought it very likely the Jury wd. give connsiderable damages - to say nothing of the disgrace [...]' Discusses Cruttwell's reluctance to have his 'name mixed up with the defence'. He is certain his opinion would have been shared by Cruttwell, had he 'seen these letters'. After consulting 'Mr. Phinn' he has reached a verdict of '50£ including the goods, the property in which is to remain in the Defendant'. In a postscript describes how the plaintiff's husband has 'not only denied her to bring away money & furniture but articles of jewellery such [as] a gold shirt pin of the husbands which he sd. would become him better'. The sepia photograph, roughly 9 x 5.5 cms, is of Cockburn's head and shoulders. Beneath the image he has written 'Yours truly | A. E. Cockburn'. Printed details of Dixon's studio on reverse, which bears traces of previous mounting. Also included is an attractive piece of paper with a blind-stamped decorative border (somewhat like a doily), within which, in a contemporary hand 'A letter written by Sir Alexander Cockburn Lord Chief Justice of England'.