[Charles Townshend, British politician behind the Townshend Acts.] Autograph Signature ('C Townshend') and seal, with signatures of Charles Bembridge, John Powell, Thomas Farraine, to document appointing Robert Digby deputy paymaster of Minorca.

1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to edge on reverse. Folded once. Signed 'C Townshend' with good impression of seal in red wax at bottom right. Nineteen-line document in a secretarial hand, with tax stamp at head. At foot, by two members of the Army Pay Office, Horse Guards: 'Sign'd, Sealed and delivered, (being first duly stamp'd) in the presence of | John Powell | Chas: Bembridge'. Begins: 'Know all Men by these Presents, That I, The Right Honourable Charles Townshend Esquire, Paymaster General of His Majesty's Forces, as well within Great Britain, as without, except in the Kingdom of Ireland, have authorized and empowered, and by these Presents do authorize and empower the Honble Robert Digby [blank] for me, and in every Name and Stead, to pay the Subsistence fo His Majesty's Forces, now, for the Time being, in His Majesty's Island of Minorca, and also the Contingencies & Pay of the Staff – Officers of the Garrison there […]'. Endorsed three times on reverse of leaf: 'Entered in the Office of William Aislabie Esqr Au[ditor] the 29th. of July 1765. | Tho: Farraine Depty: Au[ditor]'; 'Entred [sic] in the Office of the Right Honble. Lewis Lord Sondes Auditor the 2d. Of August 1765 | John Lloyd Dep. Audr.'; 'Entd: in the Paymt: Generals Office 10th: August 1765. | Chas. Bembridge'. For Digby see Correspondence of Edmund Burke, vol.7, letter to Lord Digby, 23 April 1782. After the surrender of New York in 1783, Digby organised the evacuation of around 1500 United Empire Loyalists to the small port of Conway, Nova Scotia, which grew to a town and was renamed Digby in 1787. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.