SANDHURST

['The most respected soldier of his time' after Wellington: Sir George Murray.] Autograph Letter in the third person, sending a copy of his ‘speech on the Catholic Relief Bill’.

Author: 
Sir George Murray (1772-1846), distinguished British soldier and Tory politician, Wellington’s quatermaster-general during the Peninsular War, Governor of Sandhurst [Catholic emancipation]
Publication details: 
5 April 1829. 5 Belgrave Square [London].
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he 'was after Wellington the most respected soldier of his time in Britain, whose opinion carried immense weight both at home and abroad and not only on military matters'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing at head. Reads: ‘Sir George Murray has to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wrights letter of the 4th.

[Royal Military College, Sandburst.] Printed handbill poem titled ‘The Staff College Drag Hunt Song. / By Major M. Churchill, 2/Northampton Regiment, / Master, S.C.D.H., 1885-86’.

Author: 
Major M. Churchill, 2nd Northampton Regiment, Master of the Staff College Drag Hunt, established 1869 [Royal Military College, Sandhurst; fox hunting; field sports]
Drag
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Royal Military College, Sandhurst; late 1880s.]
£180.00
Drag

The present item is excessively scarce: there is no record of it on either OCLC WorldCat or JISC. The Staff College Drag Hunt at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was established in 1869 as a private pack which drag-hunted twice a week in the area surrounding Camberley, and after more than a hundred and fifty years, the hunt still rides. 1p, 12mo. Text enclosed in rules with decorative corners. In fair condition, lightly worn and spotted, with traces of stub and mounting on blank reverse. Titled: ‘The Staff College Drag Hunt Song. / By Major M.

[Sir George Frampton.] Autograph Letter in the third person to the Lord Chamberlain [Viscount Sandhurst]

Author: 
Sir George Frampton [Sir George James Frampton], RA (1860-1928), sculptor [William Mansfield, 1st Viscount Sandhurst (1855-1921), Lord Chancellor to King George V]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 90 Carlton Hill, St John's Wood. 14 May 1919.
£45.00

1p., 4to. The letter has been torn into 15 pieces (perhaps by a regal hand?), and has been pieced together and laid down on paper backing. Frampton expresses his regret that 'His Majesty's gracious command to attend the Private View fo the Pictures at Buckingham Palace has only just reached him on his return home', and that he 'feels the keenest disappointment that he was unable to be present'.

[Royal Military College, Lanvers, Perthshire.] Printed circular letter from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, regarding cadets 'incurring Debts with Tradesmen'. Addressed in manuscript to H. G. Watson, concerning his ward D. R. Williamson.

Author: 
[Royal Military College, Sandhurst; H. G. Watson of Edinburgh; Cadet D. R. Williamson]
Publication details: 
Royal Military College [Sandhurst]. 9 June 1845.
£120.00

1p., 4to. On bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'H. G. Watson Esqr. | 13 St. Andrew's Square | Edinburgh', with three postmarks, and docketted 'Lawers | Military College 9 June 1845. | Tradesmens Bills'. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, with a few closed tears. The signature is illegible, but does not appear to be that of the Governor, General Sir George Scovell.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alphonse Esquiros'), in French, from Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros to a 'concitoyen', regarding applications for professorships at the military academies at Woolwich, Addiscombe and Sandhurst.

Author: 
Alphonse Esquiros [Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros] (1812-1876), French writer [Woolwich; Addiscombe; Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
6 St German's Villas, Lewisham. 2 April [no year].
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged and slightly-creased paper. He begins by apologising for the lateness of his response, caused by work which was supposed to be finished at the end of the previous month.

Copy of Typed Letter from Major Antony Brett-James to Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, recalling his wartime experiences with the 5th Indian Division Signals, while discussing 'what makes a good division'.

Author: 
Major Antony Brett-James (1920-84), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, lecturer at Sandhurst [Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks (1895-1985), commander of XXX Corps in the Second World War]
Publication details: 
82 Barnet Way, Mill Hill, NW7 [London]. 28 January 1953.
£56.00

3pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Brett-James in pencil at the head of the first page to 'Lt Gen Sir Brian Horrocks' and with one manuscript correction. The letter begins: 'I do want to say how interesting and worthwhile I found the broadcast discussion last Sunday evening about the factors which make a good division. All that was said was true and most stimulating, but there are a few points which I should like to add.

Twenty-two typed and manuscript accounts, receipts and notes assembled by the military historian and Sandhurst lecturer Eliot Antony Brett-James, while a student at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Author: 
[Major Eliot Antony Brett-James (1920-84), 5th Indian Division Royal Signals, lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge]
Publication details: 
Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. 1945 and 1947.
£320.00

An interesting collection of Cambridge ephemera, dating from a period of considerable economic and social turbulence. The twenty-two items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. They include six term accounts, with Brett-James's details typewritten on printed forms, signed by tutors D. Thomson and B. T. D. Smith. These accounts are itemised, with details of domestic charges. Affixed to all but one of these accounts are official College receipts signed by tutors. Also present is an Autograph Note to Brett-James from the College clerk R. S.

Typed Letter Signed ('Alistair') from the historian of France Alistair Horne to the Sandhurst lecturer Antony Brett-James, regarding the trouble he has put him to over 'the Macmillan speech'.

Author: 
Sir Alistair Horne [Sir Alistair Allan Horne] (b.1925), British historian of modern France [Major Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 24 Lansdowne Road, London W11. 21 September 1979.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightl-aged paper. A short letter, in which he thanks Brett-James for writing to him 'about the Macmillan speech': 'I really feel badly at having put you obviously to so much trouble'. He suggests that Brett-James sends him 'the tape' and lets him 'have it transcribed here, by my secretary'.

Typed Letter Signed ('S. W. Roskill') from the naval historian Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill to the Sandhurst lecturer Major Antony Brett-James, proposing two subjects for a lecture to the Napier Society.

Author: 
Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill [Captain S. W. Roskill, Royal Navy] (1903-1982), British naval officer and historian [Major Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Blounce, South Warnsborough, Basingstoke, Hertfordshire. 12 January 1966.
£80.00

1p., 4to. He is honoured to be asked to talk to the Napier Society (a military history society at Sandhurst), but is 'right in the middle of the Cambridge term', as a Fellow of Churchill College, and so must 'propose a subject which I have already talked about.' He suggests two topics: 'Trade Defence in World War II' and 'Some Reasons for Official History', in the last of which he tries 'to answer criticisms of that form of history and describe the sources I had used and the way I had worked when writing The War at Sea 1939-45'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Ballantrae') from Lord Ballantrae [Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae] to Antony Brett-James of Sandhurst, on topics including his editing of 'The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes' and his wife's death.

Author: 
Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson (1911-1980), Baron Ballantrae [Lord Ballantrae], military historian and Governor-General of New Zealand [Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, Auchairne, Ballantrae, Ayrshire. 29 March 1980.
£120.00

1p., 4to. 30 typed lines, with the last two lines in autograph. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Brett-James is addressed as 'Head of Department, War Studies & International Affairs, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst'.

Two Autograph drafts of a long poem by Arthur Benoni Evans (later Professor of Classics and History at Sandhurst), titled 'Lines [Verses] on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'. Both with corrections and emendations, and one signed 'A. B. Evans'.

Author: 
Arthur Benoni Evans (1781-1854), Professor of Classics and History in the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and headmaster of the free grammar school at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire
Publication details: 
Neither with date and place [one draft on paper watermarked 1816, and the other on paper watermarked 1818].
£200.00

Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the Prince Regent, died in 1817 at the age of 21. Many poems of mourning were published, but whether Evans's was among them is uncertain. Both drafts are in good condition, on aged paper; the first with short closed tears to the spine. DRAFT ONE (the earlier?): Title: 'Verse on the Death of the Princess Charlotte', altered from 'Threnodia Augustalis, Odes on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'.

Printed 'Regulations for the Admission of Gentlemen Cadets into the Royal Military College, near Bagshot. January 1st, 1852.' With one other printed item and four manuscript items relating to John Miller Dickson's attempt to join the British army.

Author: 
William Dickson; John Miller Dickson; General Henry Shadforth [Royal Military College, Bagshot; British army; military history]
Publication details: 
The printed 'Regulations' 1852; the other printed item is dated 1851; the four manuscript items between 1852 and 1854.
£125.00

The collection is in good condition, with occasional light creasing. The 'Regulations' ('ON HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE') consist of four pages printed on a folio bifolium. The other printed item, in facsimile handwriting, dated '15.11.51' (and dated in manuscript 'Horse Guards 1st.

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