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Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick, 1800-1855, comprising a miscellany of correspondence (including drafts of copies of outgoing letters), with notes, engineering drawings, etc. Many of the notes and calculations are written in Rastrick's private cipher. Major correspondents include the London shipping iron merchants Henckell and Du Buisson; the 2nd Earl of Powis; John (later Sir John) Gladstone [father of W E Gladstone]; the lawyer, estate manager and politician James Loch and [?his son] George Loch; and Rastrick's sons and employees. Topics covered include the canal and railway interests of Rastrick and the other correspondents, as well as the iron industry. Most of the letters were dispatched to or from London or the industrial areas of South Wales and the West Midlands.

Estimates in John Urpeth Rastrick's and another hand, usually endorsed and corrected by Rastrick, Dec 1843-Jul 1844.

Letter from Charles Alexander Saunders of 17 Cornhill, London [to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer to the Great Western Railway], 28 Sep 1833. Requesting on behalf of the committee [of the Great Western Railway] that [Brunel's] surveyors should 'furnish as full a list of the land owners in the line of our railway as possible ... with any general information they can furnish as to the opinions and wishes either of them - or of the occupiers of property ... There are several points of great interest about the railway depending at this moment and your opinion will be required on them ... The negotiations with the influential landowners near London should be quickly proceeded with, as we cannot be blind to the obstacles of a competition with a company asking only for £200,000 or £250,000 of subscription against our own demand in millions ...'

Autograph, with signature. Marked 'private'.

Letter from Robert Stephenson of 24 Great George Street, [London] to Edward Ackroyd, 28 Jun 1845. Concerning the importance of good gradients and the 'engineering of the West Yorkshire [railways]'.