John by Peel Robert, Signed (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. CHARLES ABBOTT (1762-1832), 1st Baron Tenterden, Lord Chief Justice of England. Autograph letter signed, Raphael Square, London, 9 June 1829. Single sheet, approx. 170 × 120 mm, written on one side only; folded as sent. chip to bottom left corner; light handling marks; ink clear and legible. Very good.  Letter addressed to a Brother Firth, perhaps a friend or fellow free mason, reporting that Abbott has not yet seen (future Prime Minister and Home Secretary) Robert Peel or (under secretary of the Home Office) John Cam Hobhouse, and conveying Peel's position that no assurances will be given on the matter raised until "the bill now pending in Parlt shall have passed into a law". Abbott adds that he will take the first suitable opportunity to raise the issue once the legislation is settled. Dated during the parliamentary session that saw the passage of Peel's reforms at the Home Office, including the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, which established the Metropolitan Police and reorganised policing in London under civil authority. The letter reflects the convention of withholding commitments while legislation was still before Parliament. A rare letter by the Lord Chief Justice in the year of major policing reforms. . Signed by Author(s).

2pp, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. Folded twice. Large heavily-smudged signature of the king ('George R.') at head of first page, which has the royal seal under paper in the left-hand margin. Signed at end of document ('By His Majesty's Command') by the Home Secretary and future Prime Minister: 'R Peel'. Thirty-four lines of text, in a secretarial hand, addressed 'To Our Trusty and Wellbeloved The High Sheriff of the County of Devon, and all others whom it may concern.' At bottom left of first page: 'Warrant for the removal of John Raddon to the Criminal Lunatic Asylum in St Georges Fields'. The text begins: 'Whereas John Raddon was at the Summer Assizes 1822, holden for the County of Devon tried upon a certain Indictment against him for maliciously Cutting and Maiming, and he was acquitted by a Jury duly taken in that behalf, who being thereunto required and specially found that he was Insane at the time of the Commission of such Offence, and did declare that he was acquitted by them on account of such Insanity, []'. Raddon was ordered 'to be kept in strict Custody in the Gaol at Exeter', but is now to be sent to the 'Building [] in St Georges Field[s] in the County of Surrey, situate on the site of Bethlem Hospital for the better Care and Custody of Insane Persons charged with or convicted of Criminal Offences'. 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'.

No Binding. Condition: Near Fine. 227x189mm. Single sheet, folded. Two sided. Dated November 17th 1839. Addressed to his brother John Peel, discussing matters of finance, personal investment and property ownership. A later discussion involves railway stock and bank shares. Difficult to transcribe, but a full write-up is available on request. Overall, this is a fine letter by Peel to his brother boldly signed. Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (1788-1850) was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834-1835, 1841-1846). He was one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party, and is regarded as the father of modern British policing. Signed by Author(s).