[Lord FitzHardinge, admiral and Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed to W. G. Romaine of the Admiralty, with regard to a petition brought by the shipbuilder John Clare.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. For the context, see the 1863 pamphlet ‘Clare versus the Queen’, in the slug to which John Clare (1820-1885) is described as ‘THE KING OF METAL SHIP BUILDERS’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with folds. Docketed ‘Fitzhardinge / Lord -’. Signed ‘Fitzhardinge’ (sic). In a difficult hand. Begins: ‘My Dear Romaine / I have to appear as a Witness on behalf of the Admiralty in the case of “Clare’s Petition of Right to the Queen” in which I am suitor.’ He denies the claim that he has ‘infringed Patents’ with regard to ‘Gun Boats’, ‘and I do not even remember having ever seen the Man or any body on his behalf’. He asks Romaine to help him refresh his memory with regard to communications ‘in which my name appears either at White Hall or Somerset House’: ‘at present I am prepared to swear total ignorance of the Man and his Gun Boats’. He ends by giving an address to which Romaine should write if ‘any thing can be traced to me’.