Watmore Robert (1 results)
More imagesAn autograph register of Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords in 1811: signatures include Lord Byron, William Wilberforce and Spencer Percival
Byron, Lord; Wilberforce, William; Sheridan, Richard; Beckford, William; Percival, Spencer; Canning, George; Peel, Robert; Watmore, Robert
Language: English
Published by General Post Office 1811
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
- Manuscript
Seller: The Plantagenet King ABA : ILAB : PBFA, Birchington, United KingdomThe Plantagenet King ABA : ILAB : PBFA
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Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. BYRON, Lord; WILBERFORCE, William; SHERIDAN, Richard; BECKFORD, William; PERCIVAL, Spencer; CANNING, George; PEEL, Robert et all: Autograph Register of Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords compiled by Robert Watmore, Inspector of Franks at the General Post Office, conta…ining over 900 original signatures of the political elite of Regency Britain. Manuscript register compiled in 1811 and subsequently updated. Oblong small folio ledger, manuscript throughout in ruled columns, with alphabetical index tabs A-Z. Approximately 934 autograph signatures of Members of Parliament and peers, the latter distinguished in red ink, with columns recording name and autograph. Contemporary notes throughout recording deaths, succession of titles and other changes, including the entry for Spencer Perceval annotated "Shot May 11 1812". Original binding stamped with the royal arms. Extensive notes written on the last 3 or 4 pages about key positions, and post holders of the government. Overall very good, with corners rubbed and marks throughout, but a well bound and robust working manuscript book. A remarkable working document of the British state during the Napoleonic Wars, compiled by Robert Watmore, Inspector of Franks at the General Post Office. Under the parliamentary franking system members of both Houses were entitled to send letters free of postage provided the cover was signed; postal clerks therefore required reliable examples of authentic signatures in order to detect fraudulent use of the privilege. Watmore's manuscript was created as a practical reference tool for that purpose, systematically recording the signatures and residences of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords together with a register of offices entitled to frank correspondence. The volume contains approximately 934 autograph signatures, representing an exceptionally large proportion of the contemporary Parliament and forming an extraordinary collective autograph record of the governing class of Regency Britain. Among those represented are eight British prime ministers: Spencer Perceval, George Canning, Robert Peel, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne and George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen. Other notable figures include William Wilberforce and Henry Brougham of the abolition movement; the foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh; the naval commander and radical politician Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald; the reformer Sir Francis Burdett; the statesman William Huskisson; Prince Frederick, Duke of York; and Sir William Beresford. Literary and cultural figures include Lord Byron, who had taken his seat in the House of Lords in 1809 following his succession to the title; Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of The School for Scandal and long-serving Whig MP for Stafford; and William Beckford, the author of Vathek and celebrated builder of Fonthill Abbey, who sat in Parliament at various times and was a prominent figure of Regency literary and collecting culture. The manuscript was clearly a living administrative document, with numerous contemporary annotations recording deaths, elevation to the peerage and other changes, demonstrating that it remained in active use within the Post Office for the verification of parliamentary franking privileges. The entry for Spencer Perceval, then serving as Prime Minister, bears the contemporary note "Shot May 11 1812", referring to his assassination in the lobby of the House of Commons, the only British prime minister murdered. A rare survival: a near-comprehensive autograph register of the British Parliament in 1811. Signed by Author(s).
