AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS REQUESTING A DRAWING FOR HIS "TREATISE ON NAVAL GUNNERY".

- Letter penned in black ink filling most of both sides of a sheet of cream paper, approximately 8 inches high by 6 inches wide, bordered in black. The letter is tipped onto a slightly larger piece of card stock. Signed "Howard Douglas". There is a tiny chip to the left edge of the black border. Folded twice for mailing. Very good Howard Douglas writes to Colonel John St. George [1812-1891], Director of Ordnance at the War Office, asking for the return of a drawing of a gun which he wants to include in his upcoming book ["Treatise on Naval Gunnery", fifth edition revised, published in 1860]. "I am anxious for the return of the drawing which I sent to you of the Armstrong Naval Gun on its carriage.The omission would deprive my work of a good deal of interest.I have stopped the Press waiting for your reply".General Sir Howard Douglas, 3rd Baronet [1776-1861] was a British military officer, and Member of Parliament for Liverpool from 1842-1847. After entering the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned Second Liutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1794, becoming Lieutenant a few months later. He served as Governor of New Brunswick from 1823-31 and had to deal with the Maine boundary dispute with the United States of 1828. He also founded Fredericton College, now known as the University of New Brunswick, and was its first Chancellor. From 1835 to 1840 he was Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands where he introduced a new code of laws known as "the Douglas code". The code infuriated the Greek Orthodox patriarchate in that it included innovations affecting family life, especially marriage and divorce. Abused or abandoned women could more easily obtain a divorce. Further, it legalized marriage between step-siblings and second cousins. Douglas was the author of several important military and naval treatises, including the "Treatise on Naval Gunnery" of which the fifth edition is referred to in this letter. It became a standard text book and was the first publication to draw attention to its subject. …