COUTTS

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Mrs Cowan’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts -’. Thirty lines of text. The ‘blind system’ appears to have been a form of education for the blind, possibly involving a precursor of braille. (An advertisement by ‘A Lady, who has the care of a Blind Child’ in the Medical Times, 25 March 1876, offers ‘First-class education given under the blind system.’).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The correspondence dates from the year 1901, Bligh having acceded to the earldom on the death of his elder brother Edward on 31 October 1900, and the material consists of what is probably the first set of banking instructions, mainly relating to his ‘accession account’, with recipients of payments ranging from the Dowager Countess to Rochester Golf Club. 10pp, foolscap 8vo; 2pp, 4to; 10pp, 12mo. The fifteen items range in size from foolscap 8vo to 12mo. Four items (letters to Coutts from Wadeson & Malleson) are typed and the rest are in manuscript.

The significance of the present item with regard to the Colenso Case - a turning point in the history of Victorian theology and ideas - is explained by the Baroness’s entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘Angela Burdett-Coutts's deep religious beliefs informed her early interest in colonial expansion. In 1847 she endowed the bishoprics of Cape Town, South Africa, and Adelaide, South Australia, both of which were strictly modelled on the English diocesan system. [...] She intended that her colonial bishoprics should remain dependent on the Anglican church in England.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of grey paper from mount adhering at head of second page. Folded once. Reads: 'The Baroness Burdett Coutts sends her kind compliments and thanks to Mr. Blunt and regrets that she is unable to avail herself of the kind proposal of his Father and Mother, as she has another engagement between the City and Chelsea, but her Ladyship hopes to be at the Rectory as near Six o'clock as possible'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, but with traces of glue on blank reverse of second leaf, which has a vertical closed tear the length of a fold line in blank space beneath signature. The male recipient is not named. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | Do not think me intrusive but I cannot resist offering you in writing the warm thanks of my heart for your Protest against that hateful thing known as Vivisection'. She has read with 'feelings of thankfulness the expression of your opinion which Mr Froude stated with his own to Mr Cross'.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of grey paper from mount adhering at head of second page. Folded once. Reads: 'The Baroness Burdett Coutts sends her kind compliments and thanks to Mr. Blunt and regrets that she is unable to avail herself of the kind proposal of his Father and Mother, as she has another engagement between the City and Chelsea, but her Ladyship hopes to be at the Rectory as near Six o'clock as possible'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, but with traces of glue on blank reverse of second leaf, which has a vertical closed tear the length of a fold line in blank space beneath signature. The male recipient is not named. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | Do not think me intrusive but I cannot resist offering you in writing the warm thanks of my heart for your Protest against that hateful thing known as Vivisection'. She has read with 'feelings of thankfulness the expression of your opinion which Mr Froude stated with his own to Mr Cross'.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse. Begins: 'Gentlemen! | As I am on my way to Edinburgh, from the United States, I shall be obliged by your informing me, here, whether you have remitted or otherways paid the balance due to me on last years account, due on 4th. June, current, rendered to Mr. Probert Cox'. He asks for payment to be made to Messrs Coutts, 'so that it may be at my command here'. He also requests the making up in a parcel of 'a copy of my Testimonials & “the Suppressed Documents”, if you have one'.

2pp, folio. On a single leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to inner edge of first page. Folded twice. Good firm signature of the king ('George R.') at top left of first page, which has a thin mourning border. Left hand margin of first page with embossed £1 10s tax stamp. Written out ('By His Majesty's Command') in a secretarial hand, and addressed 'To The Husband for taking up all Goods consigned from Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands on Account of the Duties of Four Pounds and one Half Pounds per Centum'.

2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. On behalf of 'the Executive Committee', he thanks him and 'the Sub Committee' for the letter 'reporting the conclusion of the arrangements for Reception of the Belgians at Wimbledon', and declares the arrangements satisfactory. The letter concludes with a resolution of the Executive Committee, requesting the Sub Committee 'to continue their labours in this department until after the Departure of the Belgians from Wimbledon'.

1p., 12mo. In good conditionl, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of stub along one edge. Reads: 'Lord Dudley Stuart presents his Compliments to the Editor of the Globe, and would feel greatly obliged by the insertion of the accompaning article in his Columns tomorrow (Saturday)'. The Association was founded in 1832 by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell and the German lawyer Adolphus Bach.

1p., 12mo. On aged and lightly-worn paper. It will give him great pleasure to wait upon Salaman and his sister, and he will certainly do so 'unless absolutely prevented' by the House of Commons, which he hopes will not be the case. The word 'Lord' has been added in a contemporary hand before Stuart's signature.

Letter: 1p., 12mo. In good condition. Written in a difficult hand, regarding 'Tickets' for a 'really remarkable Show'. Photograph: 9 x 6 cm. Sepia. In good condition, laid down on paper removed from album. Depicts Burdett-Coutts, in Victorian finery with bustle and veil, seated at a table, with gloved right hand pressed to her cheek (not found on Google images)..

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf 'To | John Hankey Esqr'. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper.

All four items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. All written in Murray's distinctive wavy hand. Letter One: 15 December 1898. 3pp., 12mo. He begins by asking Mann to 'send the proceeds for the enclosed cheque into the proper hands to discharge my debt for the pencils'. He 'had to run down by night mail on Sunday night & back on Monday night, to attend the funeral of my dear old friend James Muir who died after a very short illness'. He expresses sympathy for 'Poor Brough'.

12mo, 3 pp. On bifolium. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She has 'finished the brown drawing of elves, & birds singing', and, as she is going into the country for a few days, will leave it, 'in a portfolio', at Stratton St. She asks him to 'kindly take care of it', as he has been 'good enough to do with the others. It is, as you know, a very careful & highly-finished drawing'. She asks him to have 'the delicacy of the lines reproduced, & the drawing of the limbs of the little elves, etc. very carefully & exactly rendered, otherwise the drawing wd.

12mo, 3 pp. Text clear and complete. Worn and aged, with pinholes and unobtrusive repair to closed tears. The 'kindness' Wyld has 'always shewn to the Poles' makes Stuart sure that he will attend to his recommendation of 'Captain Thadeus Grubski, one of the Polish Refugees who bears a very high character'. By employing him Wyld would 'render an essential servie to a deserving man much in need of it, and confer a favor as well on this association in general', and on Stuart in particular.

4to, 1 p. 7 lines. Clear and complete. Fair on aged and lightly-creased paper. He is returning 'the leaf of your Peerage', which is 'quite correct in the part more immediately concerning me & in all other's [sic] as far as I have observed'. He makes a suggestion regarding Lord James Stuart'.

Square of paper, neatly torn from letter. Lightly-aged and creased. On one side firm signature ('Yrs truly | Dudley Coutts Stuart'), with docketting at foot ('Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart | "The friend of the Poles" -'). On reverse: '<...> a select Committee - A short time I obtained a return of a memorial presented him to the Court of Directors'.

12mo: 1 p. Somewjhhat grubby, but with text clear and entire. Caulfield 'has been misled in supposing Mr Coutts is inclined to collect Hogarth's or any other pictures as he has hardly ever had any taste or inclination for that Line.'

4to and 8vo. Somewhat grubby and creased, but in good condition otherwise. The six items, all addressed to Messrs Coutts & Company, are, in chronological order: ITEM 1, 5 manuscript pages, 4to, headed 'Duchy of Cornwall, | Buckingham Gate, S.W. | 1912.

Dimensions: 5 inches by 7 inches. Somewhat grubby and with ink stain at foot. Headed 'THE MASTERS OF FOX HOUNDS ASSOCIATION, | TATTERSALLS, ALBERT GATE, LONDON.' Standing order to Dalkeith's bank, Coutts & Co of 59 Strand, to make an annual payment on 1 May to the Herries Farquhar branch of Lloyds one pound, as his subscription to the association. Signed 'Dalkeith'. Docketed by the bank and pinned to a 'Tattersalls' letterhead, roughly 5 inches by 7 inches, carrying a note which reads 'With the Secretary of the M. F. H. A's compliments.

Unionist politician, husband from 1881 of the heiress to the banking fortune and noted Victorian philanthropist, Angela Georgiana, Baroness Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), whose name he adopted. One page, 12mo. No more than a dozen words. Bad handwriting. "Dear Sir / Could you send this note <?>". Signed "Burdett-Coutts".