Letters from
Henry Desborough of Manor House, Beckenham, Kent.
Dated 7th June
1842
Re an
appointment for the son of Mrs Bedford sister of Sir Robert Sales (noted for his
distinguished services in India). Son experienced in the Tea Act as a clerk.
--------------copy ordered for H Desborough Esq.
ADD 40580 f 271
- 274 include
Binbrook Dec 5th
1845
Sir,
I have received
in common I presume with the rest of the clergy of England a circular from a
dignatory of our church on the apprehended scarcity of human food. As the
writer of this ---------------
This is a long
diatribe to Sir Robert Peel re food production in Lincolnshire.
ADD 40586 f 330
J T Huntley to
Sir Robert Peel
A long letter re
farming in Lincolnshire Wolds and the repeal of the Corn Laws - great demand
for occupation of land - seems to be
creeping for the “position”.
He begs talk of drainage
projects and increases in yield from 17 bushels per acre to 25 in
Huntingdonshire.
ADD 40581 f 113
- Peel Papers.
Binbrooke
Rectory
Dec 15th 1845
Sir,
It will be in
your recollection that in the course of last Spring Mr Hodgson introduced me to
your notice as an applicant for a position of your patronage. Although your
reply did not convey to Mr Hodgson any right to presume that his request would
be complied with yet the dissolution of your own administration is the certain
extinction of my own hopes.
The active part
which I took against Lord John Russell in his contest for Huntingdonshire
together with the slender services I rendered Lord Lyndhurst and Mr Goulburn at
Cambridge have already exposed me to the hostility of their political opportunists,
so that had I any over which I have to solicit for a ?? favour of your
successors I am sure it would be desired. These considerations induce me though
reluctantly to prefer a second application to you.
Presuming the
many substantial changes have made a vacancy in the church at Canterbury which
will be filled by your nominee I venture to ask the preferment for myself.
I am well aware
that on your retirement from office you may be anxious to provide for some
private friend or at all events for one with superior pretensions than myself
and therefore I cannot feel disappointment by your refusal to grant my suit and
I have only to add my hope that you will forgive the liberty of this intrusion.
I have the
honour to Sir your very obedient servant John Thomas Huntley.
15th Dec 45 Rev
J T Huntley.
ADD 35795 f 23
Binbrooke,
Market Rasen
June 21st 1852
My Lord
The apology I
offer for a direct application to your Lordship without soliciting an introduction
from someone of your friends rests upon an appearance given me that no such
preferred to your Lordship which may be sustained without prejudice to the
public service is ever dismissed by you without consideration and it is upon
this representation that I venture to solicit a share of your Lordship’s
patronage.
I have a son and
extra clerk in the establishment over which your lordship presided to which
situation he was appointed by Lord Lonsdale, and at the time his Lordship
retired from the Post Office my son stood second if not first on the private
list for promotion. He has now served eight years, with I believe the entire
approbation of his services and if upon enquiry his testimonial should so turn
out I respectfully and humbly ask your Lordship to confer on him a fellowship
which I am told is now vacant in the money order department so that he may
obtain that which but for ministerial change he would probably have possessed.
Although My Lord
I come not before you with an introduction, yet I am not without notices, which
might carry with them a recommendation. I have a letter addressed to me in 1828
by the then Lord Hardwick thanking me for a correspondence in which we were
mutually engaged. In later times I have also the thanks and sanction of one
with whom your Lordship was politically associated who frequently applied to me
for statistical information and he none other than the late Lord George
Brutwick. To refer to living men I have had the honour of holding the scarf of
your colleague The Earl of Sandwich for more than 30 years over which period I
have been honoured by his Lordship with many acts of friendship. My two nephews
are also I believe well known to your Lordship as the strenuous supporters of
Lord Derby viz; Mr Hodgson Hinde a distinguished former huzzar and his brother
Mr Hodgson, one of the whips in division.
For my self I
have uniformly advocated for 40 years, both within the sphere of my intercourse
and in connectivia with the periodical press those principals, which are proposed
by the present administration. Till railway change rendered valueless my
patrimony I neither asked nor sought a service. The appointment kindly given me
by Lord Lonsdale is all I ever had for I hold this preferment by exchange. At
the time Sir Robert Peel sacrificed his party I was on his list for preferment
and now that I come, a suitor before your Lordship it is that, at the close of
life I may see an ample provision for my son than I feel I am able from my own
resources to provide.
I have the honour
to be, My Lord your Lordships very obedient servant
J T Huntley.
The Right
Honourable The Earl of Hardwicke.
WRITTEN
ON THE REAR OF THIS LETTER:-
1019
The
Rev’d J T Huntley
R D
Hodgson Esq.
Sic Mr
Huntley now
Extra
Clerk 3cs Office Lon
a collector
to Lon Dist.
Ans’d
an official minute
has
been issued on the subject
of
his letter etc
PD
June
24 / 52
MS 2974
ADD 35801 f 291
Binbrooke
Oct 4th 1852
My Lord
Some months ago I
preferred an application to your Lordship to appoint my son to a vacant
situation in the Post Office and though I was an unsuccessful candidate the
grounds on which your Lordship decided compelled me cheerfully to meet the
refusal.
Neither should I
now discharge my duty if I did not avail myself of this opportunity to tender
my acknowledgements for the courtesy in which my suit was received.
As your Lordship
had intimated your intention to promote my son I again venture to ask for a
situation in the secretary’s department of the Post Office at present vacant
and I trust it may be compatible with your Lordships arrangements and the
public service thus to have him placed on the permanent staff.
I have the
honour to be My Lord your Lordships very obedient servant
J T Huntley
ON
THE REAR OF THIS LETTER
The
Rev’d J T Huntley - gist of reply unable to comply
Ans’d
accordingly PD 9th October 1852