| Background: |
Jeffery Amherst was born into a prominent family with roots that went back for several centuries in Kent County, England. At the early age of twelve, he was taken into the army under the patronage of his father's neighbor, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, and later came to the notice of Major-General Ligonier, one of the outstanding generals in the British army at the time. He rose rapidly through the ranks, and, after service in Germany, where he was placed in charge of Hessian troops that had been taken into British pay in 1756, he was chosen to command the expedition against the French in the British attempt to capture Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. After the fall of Louisbourg, he was appointed commander-in-chief in America and went to New York where he made plans for a campaign to capture Quebec and Montreal. In 1759 Quebec fell to his subordinate, James Wolfe, and in 1760 Montreal surrendered to Amherst. His success in America brought him honours and appointments when he returned to England, and it was during this time that he constructed Montreal House, his new residence, at Riverhead, Kent.
Although he was asked twice by the king to take command in America during the Revolution, he never again came to this continent. In spite of his refusals, the king appointed him commander-in-chief, but his active title was general-on-the-staff, and he devoted his energies to administrative duties and home defence. Amherst was a successful commander, a solid rather than brilliant general, but one whose strengths lay in thoroughness, organization and preparation. |
| Contents: |
The Amherst manuscripts, formerly at Montreal House, Riverhead, Kent, are composed of several sections with a considerable amount of overlap in both chronology and subject matter between the sections and subsections.
The papers begin with a section called Family Papers. This is followed by a section of Correspondence which includes a time period from 1740 to 1918. Two small sections of Estate papers and Accounts precede the major portion of the papers, in both size and importance, entitled Official Papers. Included in this section are records of Sir Jeffery's European campaigns, 1740-1758; the American campaigns (during the French and Indian War), 1758-1763; career, semi-retirement, honours and military offices, 1764-1796; the American War of Independence, 1775-1782; miscellaneous military papers, 1771-1778; and his final command, 1789-1795. The last section of the Official Papers concerns the events during the period of Lt. General William A. Amherst's tenure as governor of St. John's, Newfoundland, and a few additional papers from other members of the Amherst family, many of whom had military connections. The last section of the Papers contains a miscellaneous mix of maps and plans of estates, cities and battles; letters; memoirs; prints; maps; books and pamphlets; sketches; and verse. Several items of significance concern the trial and court martial of Lord George Sackville in 1759 and 1760. |
