HERTSLET

[ John Latchford and Thomas Meates, King's Messengers in the foreign service. ] Material relating to them and their families, mainly transcriptions by C. E. Meates, but with some originals. With other material including a memorandum by Lewis Hertslet

Author: 
John Latchford (1778-1833) and Thomas Meates (1768-1836), King's Messengers; Lewis Hertslet (1787-1870) of the Foreign Office [ The King's Messenger Service; C. E. Meates of the Pioneer Corps ]
Publication details: 
[ The King's Messenger Service, London. ] Original documents from the 1820s and 1830s from Paris, Brussels and the Hague;, and C. E. Meates's writing from the 1930s to 1960s.
£950.00

For an overview of the post of King's Messenger, see 'The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy', ed. Ward and Gooch, vol.3 (1923), which states that during the two men's time in the post (i.e. in 1822) 'the number of the corps was raised to thirty-eight. Eighteen of these were placed under the immediate orders of the Foreign Office for foreign service only. They were required to be British subjects, not over thirty-five years of age, good linguists and good horsemen; and the choosing of them rested in turn with each of the three Secretaries of State'.

Autograph Note Signed ('J H Gurney') to Messrs Hertslet & Scott, No 31 Norfolk Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
John Henry Gurney (1819-1819), banker and ornithologist
Publication details: 
31 July 1840; Norwich.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. With 1 cm vertical closed tear at foot of each leaf. Addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, which is docketed '31. July 1840. | Gurney & Co. that Mrs E. Lofty resides at Hethersett near Norwich -'. Reads 'Respected friends | We believe that the lady for whose address you enquire in yr favor of the 29th Inst resides at Hethersett near this city'. Gurney joined the family business at the age of seventeen.

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