- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7P3L6R4A4
- Category:
- Great Britain
- Creator:
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords.
- Material Description:
- 3 microfilm textual records 35 mm
- Background:
The House of Lords Record Office has custody of the records of both Houses of the British Parliament, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This parliamentary archive is a major repository of manuscript material relating to America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reflecting Parliament and the nation's commercial and strategic interest in the colonies. The importance of the Anglo-French rivalry in North America is also reflected in the papers laid before the House.
On 12 March 1753, two large bundles of papers from the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade respecting the settlement of Nova Scotia, 1749-1752, were delivered to the House. This was followed on 20 February 1756, and again on 24 February 1756, by Papers with enclosures and translations from the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade relating to encroachments committed by the French in North America, 1748/49-1755.
- Contents:
The 20 February 1756 Papers laid before the House consist of extracts of letters, copies of letters, memorials, dispositions, and instructions, with translations from the French, relating to encroachments committed by the French in North America. The principal correspondents are four Secretaries of State: Duke of Bedford, Duke of Newcastle, Earl of Holderness, and Sir Thomas Robinson, along with the British representatives in France who were Colonel Yorke, Earl of Albemarle, and Commissaries Shirley and Mildmay.
In addition to the correspondence between the Secretaries of State and the British representatives in France, there are a number of other documents which should be noted and include: letter from Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to the Duke of Bedford, Boston, 18 June 1749; letter from Lieutenant Colonel Mascarene to the Duke of Bedford, Annapolis Royal, 2 June 1749; instructions by Governor Cornwallis to Major Charles Lawrence, 4 April 1750; letter from Governor Cornwallis to Major Lawrence at Grandpre, Halifax, 15 April 1750; journal of the proceedings of the detachment under the command of Major Charles Lawrence after entering Chignecto Basin, 26 April 1750; draft of a memorial proving His Majesty the King of Great Britain's right to Nova Scotia with its ancient limits, No.1 [1750]; draft of a memorial containing a statement of the evidence produced by the Commissaries to prove His Majesty's right to the lands, islands, countries, and places, comprised within the limits claimed by them as the bounds of Nova Scotia, with their arguments, No. 2 [1750]; letter from Governor Cornwallis to the Duke of Bedford, Halifax, 27 November 1750; memorial delivered to the Earl of Albemarle, 15 January 1751, concerning some French vessels taken by English ships on the seas of Nova Scotia, and a similar memorial concerning French vessels taken by English ships on the coast of New France, 12 January 1751; letter from Captain Rous, commander of His Majesty's sloop Albany, to Mr. Corbett, Chebucto Harbour, Nova Scotia, 31 October 1750; decree in the Court of Vice-Admiralty, Nova Scotia, against the French brigantine St. Francois, 1 November 1750; three letters from Colonel Johnson, Lieutenant Lindesay, Commissary of Oswego, and Mr. Stoddert, a trader there, giving an account of the designs of the French of Canada, July 1751; extracts from a register of Indian affairs at Albany, 16 August 1694; declaration of John Patten and Thomas Bourke, taken prisoner by the French in America and sent from Canada to France, 8 March 1752; A New Map of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton with Adjacent Parts of New England and Canada, 1755, with red and green markings that show British and French limits; remarks on the fort built by the French at Crown Point in America; a printed book entitled The Memorials of the English and French Commissaries Concerning the Limits of Nova Scotia or Acadia, London, 1755. It contains a New Map of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton etc. with red and yellow limits which are not the same as those shown in the map mentioned previously; and numerous other documents.
- Originals:
The original records are held by the House of Lords Record Office, London, then the Parliamentary Archives, now The National Archives, Kew.
- Finding Aids:
A handwritten List of Papers, providing for most the names of correspondents, type of document, ie. letter, memorial, etc., and date has been microfilmed at the beginning of the reel. This is also available in print and as a PDF. The Papers are arranged and numbered in a rough chronological order and the List of Papers follows the same order.
A microfilm shelf list, providing the reel and volume breakdowns, is available online; see Electronic Finding Aid section.
The Loyalist Collection only holds a portion of the Papers in the House of Lords. For a complete listing of papers, with the same data included as on the film, and an introduction, see American Papers in the House of Lords Record Office: A Guide. This calendar was edited by Walter Minchinton of the University of Exeter and Peter Harper of the University of Keele, and published in 1983 by Microform Limited. For material relevant to documents on this microfilm, see pp 216-234 in the Guide, under the item no. 1.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- PH Return Papers French Encroachment in America Shelf List.pdf List-of-Papers_Papers-Dealing-with-French-Encroachment-America_House-of-Lords.pdf
- Notes:
The Papers have received a different numbering system in the Guide from that used in the List of Papers, but this does not affect access to the Papers.
For the second part of this collection: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Return. Papers Dealing with French Encroachment in America, see HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7P3L6R4A5.