1865

The title is 'Hanes alarus am 26 o golliers a gollasant eu bywydau yn pwll glo Bedwellty, gerllaw Tredegar, Dydd Gwener, Mehefin 16, 1865.' This may be translated as 'The woeful tale of 26 colliers who lost their lives in the Bedwellty coal mine, near Tredegar, Friday, 16 June 1865. 4pp 16mo (15.5 x 9 cm). Paginated [1]-4. Bifolium. Printer's slug at foot of last page. Disbound. A frail survival: aged and worn.

For the background to this letter see William Otto Henderson, 'The Lancashire Cotton Famine 1861-65' (1934) and Angela V. John, 'By the Sweat of their Brow' (2013). Between 14 April and 16 October 1862 Whittaker published a dozen letters on the 'Lancashire Distress' in the London Times, under the pseudonym of 'A Lancashire Lad'. Edwin Waugh, in his 'Home Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk During the Cotton Famine' (1867), describes Whittaker as 'one of the first writers whose appeals through the press drew serious attention to the great distress in Lancashire during the Cotton Famine.

The collection assembled by William Done Bushell (see Item Nine), later a senior master at Harrow School. All nine items clear and complete. On aged paper, discoloured by the glue used in mounting. The first eight are printed, and the last is in manuscript. ITEM ONE: 'Classical Tripos. | 1861.' 4to, 1 p. Names the examiners, and those of the students (with colleges), under columns for the first, second and third classes. ITEM TWO: Headed 'List of Honors at the Bachelor of Arts' Commencement, January 26, 1861.' 4to, 1 p.

Printed on one side of a piece of grey paper, 22.5 x 16 cm. Text clear and complete. In fair condition: lightly-aged and with remains of stub adhering to the blank reverse, on which a clean closed tear has been unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. Nine regulations are listed, from 'I. No Person will be nominated to a Cadetship in the Royal Navy, who shall be under 12 or above 14 years of age at the time of his first Examination.' to 'IX. After having completed twelve months' instruction, exclusive of vacations, in the Training Ship, a Cadet will have to undergo the final examination.