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Townshend (Thomas, 1st Viscount Sydney) Papers: Finding Aid
mssTownshend
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney papers
Creator:
Sydney, Thomas Townshend, Viscount, 1733-1800
Identifier/Call Number: mssTownshend
Physical Description:
2.58 Linear Feet
(1 box, 3 volumes, 1 tan envelope)
Date (inclusive): 1765-1787
Abstract: Papers belonging to British Whig statesman Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
RESTRICTED: Volumes 2 and 3: Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The volumes were purchased from Charles J. Sawyer, Ltd., 1916-1918. Letters by George III (1784) and other items purchased
from Anderson Galleries, 1917-1919. Two items purchased from Maggs Bros., date unknown.
Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, British Whig statesman. Lord of the Treasury, 1765, Speaker of the House of Commons,
1766, member of the Privy Council, 1767, and Secretary of State for Home Affairs, War, and the Colonies, 1782. In the latter
capacity he guided the negotiations for the Treaty of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States.
Letters and documents relating to British and American relations. Includes autograph letters to Townshend from William Pitt,
the 1st Earl of Chatham, from 1774 to 1776, and George III, from 1782 to 1784; Henry McCulloh's "Several thoughts. on the
Stamp duty," 1765, and Silas Deane's "Observations and proposals relating to a Navigable Canal from Lake Champlain to the
St. Lawrence," from 1785 to 1787. "A Provisional Act for Settling Troubles in America," 1776 and "Memorandum of a Declaration
to Dr. Addington relating to American colonies," 1776, by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham; the minutes of a cabinet formed
in 1782 for the purpose of negotiating peace with the United States and letters from George III to Townshend, 1782 to 1783,
are bound in two volumes. The volumes also contain the original portrait of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, by William
Hoare, and Thomas Townshend's copies of "An Act to Enable His Majesty to conclude a Peace with the United States of America"
(London : Printed at Charles Eyere and William Straham, 1782) and "Provisional articles signed at Paris, the 30th of November,
1782 by the Commissioner of His Britannic Majesty, and the Commissioners of the United States of America" (London : Printed
by T. Harrison and S. Brooke, in Warwick-Lane, 1783).
Processed by Huntington Library staff. In May 2014, Brooke M. Black created a paper finding aid, and in 2022, updated and
created the electronic finding aid.
Arranged in the following series: 1. Unbound material; 2. Volumes.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: HM 810, HM 829, HM 920, HM 1480, HM 2041, HM 2081, HM 20694, HM 21228,
HM 22030, HM 22357, HM 22580, HM 22595, HM 23659-23679, HM 25753-25767, HM 80765-80766. Former call number: mssTownshend,
Thomas papers.
The Huntington Library also has the Townshend family papers (mssTD).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Canals -- New York (State)
Canals -- Vermont
Canals -- Québec (Province)
Great Britain -- Colonies -- America -- History -- 18th century
Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Sources
Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- United States
United States -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Peace
Drawings (visual works) -- Great Britain
Government records -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Treaties -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Minutes (administrative records) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Proposals -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Portraits -- Great Britain
Deane, Silas, 1737-1789
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820
Hoare, William, 1707-1792
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778
Great Britain
Great Britain (Title of work: Stamp Act (1765).)