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Letter from Arthur Young to the Rt Hon Lord Sheffield [1st Earl of Sheffield], Sheffield Place, East Grinstead, Sussex, [Aug 1790]. Refers to Young's last journey to France and Italy in 1789. The Duc de Liancourt entertained him in Paris for three weeks; he wishes to buy "some capital Sussex oxen" for Liancourt and enquires whether Lord Sheffield has any "of the first rate". States that France is absolutely ruined in point of trade and manufactures. Mentions a conversation with Lord Hawkesbury [Charles Jenkinson] 'on ye new corn bill wch appar. will be a governt. one - & so not too good for ye L Int. [landed interest]".

Autograph, with signature. Written on the blank pages of a printed questionnaire asking for information from corn growers in relation to the Corn Laws, for use in Young's 'Annal of Agriculture'; answers to the questions are filled in in MS.

Information regarding the value of the trade of Britain and Ireland, 1698-1765.

Letter from Magnús Stephensen of Copenhagen to His Excellency the Rt Hon Sir Joseph Banks, 17 Oct 1807. Referring to Banks's visit to Iceland and complaining of the severe effects of war [i.e the Napoleonic Wars] on the trade of that country. 'For it is altogether unavoidable for this Island to escape hunger if it is only to hold out one single winter without being supplied with provisions.'

Written in another hand and signed by Stephensen.

Letters of attorney given by holders of South Sea stock in Amsterdam, The Hague and Geneva to London merchants respecting their stock, 1731-1739.

Letter from Victor de Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau to 'mon cher Monsieur duchesne', 25 Jun 1775. Asking him for his good offices on behalf of 'un pauvre provençal', who was in Paris 'pour une affaire à la terray qui ruineroit tout le commerce'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Samuel Plimsoll of 28 Park Lane, London to [?a newspaper editor], 26 Feb 1890. Complaining of frequent allegations that: 'I seek to subject English ship-owners to restrictions and regulations from which foreigners are exempted.' He has obtained evidence from the Board of Trade to show that foreign ships are not thus privileged.

Autograph, with signature.

3 letter from Richard Pery of London to Richard and John Wisse (or Wise), merchants, of Totnes, Devon, 1621. Concerning the sale of wine and related payments.

All letters are autograph, with signatures and seals.

Letter from Sir Robert Peel of Whitehall to Andrew Rankin, Esq of Glasgow, 10 May 1843. Acknowledging receipt of a letter regarding the removal of import duties on cotton wool.

Written in another hand and signed by Peel. With the original sealed envelope bearing Peel's coat of arms.

Letter from John Stuart Mill of Blackheath, [Kent] to an unidentified recipient, [1860]. Referring to a proposed article on the Anglo-French Treaty [of Commerce (1860)]. 'I never write well unless I feel moved to write on the particular subject, which on this subject I do not'.

Autograph, with signature. Written on black-edged paper.

This handwritten volume is concerned with the freedom of trade which has caused the disappearance and bankruptcy of many small businesses. Bruyard also alludes to the fact that the only reason French manufactures are still exported is due to the war in which England presently is engaged and which absorbs a lot of attention and financial resources. The author claims that once the English have their hands free, the French will soon find out that they have little resources in comparison with the English. In the inner margin of the first page is a note stating 'Remis à M. de Montaran, le 9 Xbre (December) 1782.'

(1) Letter from William Manning of 14 New Street, Spring Gardens, [Westminster] to Thomas Tyrell, Esq, 29 Nov 1800. Concerning proposals for the regulation of a new coal market. Asking whether Tyrell sees any difficulty in it being managed by the Lord Mayor of London and whether the Corporation interferes with any market in the City. The building in Mark Lane is open to all on market days, but the Coal Exchange is open to subscribers only; the first buyers do not exceed about one hundred.

(2) Letter from William Manning of Totteridge, Hertfordshire to Thomas Tyrell, Esq, 4 Apr 1801. Discussing the fees to be incurred in passing the Coal Bill through the two Houses of Parliament [ordered Mar 1801; order for second reading discharged 12 May 1801], and the means of paying them. Asks Tyrell to show the letter to Mr Stracey, 19 Fludyer Street, and to confer with him about it.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures, and headed 'private'.

Letter from Louis XIV to M Le Bret, President of the Court of Parliament at Aix[-en-Provence], 3 Sep 1704. Address: Versailles, [France]. Informs him that letters patent are being sent to the Court of which he is president, directing that effect be given to certain Articles of Agreement concerning the furtherance of trade and the reform of certain abuses in the Levant.

Written in another hand and signed by the King. Countersigned by Louis Phélypeaux, Marquis de la Vrillière, Secretary of State.

Letter from John King of Whitehall to William Fawkener, Esq, 9 Nov 1799. Covering letter stating that the Duke of Portland [Home Secretary] had referred a petition on Irish oat and bean exports to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland [Charles Cornwallis]. Enclosing a copy [missing] of Cornwallis's letter on the subject, sent 'for the information of the Lords of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council'.

[Written in another hand and] signed by John King. Endorsed: 'Letter from Mr. King transmitting Copy Letter from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, upon the subject of the petition of the proprietors of mail coaches, praying that the exportation of oats and beans from Ireland may be allowed in favour of Great Britain only'; endorsement dated 20 Nov 1799.

Papers of John Holroyd regarding imports and exports of Ireland, 1764-1783.

Letter from J M Hyde of 4 Westcome Park, Blackheath, Kent to J Briggs, 22 Mar 1873. Thanking him for a letter which 'gives me a notion of the v[er]y extreme ideas of a decided oponent [sic] to the dictum of Home Industry being of any national importance - I will send you a copy of a letter addressed by me to Mr [Adolphe] Thiers, it contains the view I hold on the subject of the onesided system of competition, - onesided free trade has introduced ...'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from William Huskisson of Eastham, [Worcestershire] to [? Charles] Grant [? afterwards Baron Glenelg], 9 Dec 1825. Referring to 'our commerical Convention with the Hans Towns'.

Autograph, with signature.

Papers of John Baker Holroyd, 1789-1830.

Letter, May 1 1802 addressed to the Rt Hon William Wickham, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whitehall. 'Lord Sheffield has caused the tracts sent herewith relative to Ireland to be bound together with the wish they may be usefull (sic) in respect to reference to Mr. Wickham. The first gives details of the state, manufactures & commerce of Ireland to the year 1785. The speech on union continues those details to the present times and the observations on the export of wool to Ireland shews the state of the woollen manufacture in both countries'. Autograph, unsigned.

Letter from Lancelot Hobson of Athens, Greece to Mr John Wise, merchant, of London, 1685. '... tis some yeares since you have not been pleased to make reply unto divers addressed you'; urging that friends should make 'further tryall of trade heere since tis now ye most open scale of [text missing] whither are brought to be shipped all ye good of Morea and Thessally [text missing] might be purchase against English commodities ...'. Goods mentioned include corn, cheese, wool, valonia [acorns used for dyeing fabric and tanning leather], silk, wax, tin, pepper, Brazil wood, indigo, oils, soap, aniseed and buffalo hides.

Begun on 24 Feb 1685 written in one hand and completed in another hand on 18 Ap 1685; the second hand appears to be Hobson's own.

The archive consists of a bound volume of printed articles by Marjorie Hayward in the Commercial Bulletin of South Africa (1928-1930); promotional materials for ICI (1930-1939); reports, publications, correspondence, memoranda and working papers written for the Ministry of Labour related to woman power during the Second World War (1942-1944); memoranda, notes and working papers of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women 1953 and report produced for the Ministry of Labour's use (1953); reports and correspondence on women's employment (1940-1953); notes for proposed by Hayward on women power in the Second World War (1960-1); printed materials on women at war, the Civil Service and women's employment (1943-1950); press cuttings (1910-1963); publicity material (1970s), photographs (1923-1968).

3 letters from Henry George Grey (3rd Earl Grey) of Howick, [Northumberland] to J L Ricardo MP, 16 Jun-4 Jul 1855. Dealing mainly with a free trade agreement between Barbados and Canada, and a proposed loan to Turkey.

Autograph, with signature. With 1 envelope.

A volume giving information on the quantity and value of goods imported and exported to and from England, 1696-1701. The volume has the book plate of John Holroyd, Earl of Sheffield.

'A memoriall concerning the free-trade now tolerated between France and Holland', addressed to Sidney Godolphin.

Letter from Jean-Baptiste Colbert of Versailles, [France] to M Daguesseau, 1 Jan 1683. Promoting the manufacturers of Saptes and Clermont in France, and their exports to the Levant.

With autograph signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden to R C Chawner, Esq of Wall, near Lichfield, [Staffordshire], 9 Apr [1844]. Asking him to give a 'free trade address from the boards of Covent Garden.'

Autograph, with signature. With the original envelope, bearing the seal of the National Anti-Corn Law League.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to Mr [?George] Moffatt, 23 Dec 1845. 'Not a word passed between [Earl] Grey and me upon any other subject than corn - I called on him solely for the purpose of urging the Whigs to stick to our principle, and to explain that the League could not swerve a hairs breadth from its path of Total and Immediate to suit any party. This is all that passed - [Viscount] Palmerstons name was of course never mentioned or referred to ... The Whigs are lower than ever by this exhibition of impracticableness at a moment when every other question ought to have been suspended at least till they had dealt some-how or other with that food crisis which alone called them into place and alone warranted them in assuming a power which otherwise they did not possess. At such a time to squabble over seats at the Council board! If I had been Lord John [Russell], history should have rather said of me that I had sent into the parish vestryroom for a dozen select men of the parish to form my cabinet, until I could in my place in Parlt. birng on the total repeal of the corn law, than that I had allowed any two or even twelve men to stop me in my course when once pledged to such an undertaking'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to F Buloz, Esq, Paris, 19 Dec 1845. Answering Buloz's request for a collection of the National Anti-Corn Law League's publications for an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Cobden explains that 'no complete collection of [tracts, articles, pamphlets and advertisements] has been preserved - Nor has there been any history of the League written in England.' He promises to give full information and 'copies of all our publications which are preserved' to a visitor 'if recommended by you'. He recommends Bastiat's Cobden et la Ligue [printed by Senlis, Paris, 1845]. 'I may also add the Monsr Fonteyrand ... paid us a visit here a few weeks ago to whom I explained the machinery of our organisation ... I am not sure that he would feel at liberty to assist in furnishing an article for your publication - But he is more competent than any other person in France to do it correctly - At all events, I wish you would see him ... and say that I shall be obliged if he will allow you to have access to the publications which I gave him and afford you all facilities in his power for preparing a description of the League ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Richard Cobden to Mrs Drummond, 16 Shamrock Place, Edinburgh, 12 May 1845. Thanking her for a present to his young daughter. Referring to [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, who 'is now I fear a little under the shade, in consequence of his Maynooth vote, with some of his constitutents', and to the bazaar given by the National Anti-Corn Law League at Covent Garden.

Autograph, with signature. With the original envelope (with a decorative border in the form of wheat ears), bearing the seal of the National Anti-Corn Law League.

Letter from Sir Josiah Child of Streatham to the Hon. Sir Thomas Cooke, Governor of the East India Company, 28 Dec 1692. Recommending 'Bearer' [unidentified], who is willing 'to returne to Bombay a leift. In the meane time he is willing to be knowne to his Masters of which you are nowe ye Cheif'.

Autograph, with signature.

A manuscript volume containing a collection of papers made by George Chalmers chiefly relating to Ireland including notes and transcripts relating to royal activity in Ireland from the time of King Henry II, tables of imports and exports for Ireland made in the late seventeenth or eighteenth century, a letter by Sir Peter Pett dated Dec 1678, and letters to Chalmers from General Charles Vallancey, Apr 1791, and Francis Douce, [1808]. On one paper, giving the exports of Ireland for 1641, 1665 and 1669, Chalmers has written 'This paper is worth more than its weight in gold'.

Letter from W G Burns of Derby to Colonel [Thomas Perronet] Thompson, 23 Feb 1846. 'As I think it [a] pity you should be ignorant [of] the nature of the arguments [u]rged against free trade principles I send you a specimen of [w]hat a clerical opponent can [d]o ...'

Autograph, with signature. Written on the dorse of the title page and the end fly leaf of a pamphlet [by Henry Robert Crewe] The repeal of the Corn Laws (1846).

Letter from John Burnett of the Board of Trade to Professor H S Foxwell, 11 Nov 1889. 'There can be little doubt that there were trade combinations in existing [sic] very early in the eighteenth century'.

Autograph, with signature.