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Letter from Sir Benjamin Thompson of Munich to Lord Sheffield [John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield], 3 Oct 1796. Describing how he took control of Munich on the approach of the contending Austrian and French armies: 'No foreign Troops have entered the Town and we have received no insult of any kind from either of the Armies by which we have been surrounded. And though we have seen several very sharp actions within musquet shot of our Walls yet not a shot has been levelled at us, nor have we lost a man.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Sir Benjamin Thompson of Munich to Lord Sheffield [John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield], 18 Nov 1791. Describing the condition and people of Bavaria. Speaking of the Elector's troops: '... I know of no Troops that are so well and so comfortably clothed as ours, both for Summer and Winter ...'. Giving details of the crops, minerals and commerce of Bavaria. 'It would be difficult,'he writes, 'to convey to your Lordship an adequate idea of the Ignorance, Superstition and corruption which pervade and darken every part of this neglected Country.' Says that the clergy and nobility hold a monopoly of the beer in Bavaria: '... which is the great source of their riches, and on that account Drunkenness must be encouraged.'

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from P K Seaman of HMS Wolverine, docked at St Helena, to his father, 1 Jun 1851. '... I have already told you that we have caught 3 slavers ...'.

Autograph, with signature. 4 sketches of vessels captured by the Wolverine are pasted to the second leaf of the letter.

Poem by John Edward Masefield, 1965. Verses entitled Lines for the 1965 HMS Victory Calendar, produced to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ship's launch.

Autograph.

Papers of Sir Derek Dodson, 1935-1986, relating to his service in Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Greece and Italy, comprising papers including message books, notes, reports and correspondence related to service in the Allied Military Mission to Greece, Sep 1943-Mar 1945; messages, notes, and diary relating to service with partisans in Italy, Apr-May 1945; photographs of Dodson; maps of Greece, Italy and France; report by the Salonika Bureau, 'The Macedonian Autonomy Movement in North West Greece: its setting and recent histor', Oct 1945.

Manuscripts and documents relating to Westmorland, including: Book containing transcript by John Gibson of the Customs, Services and Royalties belonging to the Mannors, Lordships and Townshipps in the Richmond lands within the Barony of Kendal, 1574 (230pp) (1689); Transcriptions of documents relating to Westmorland between 1639 and 1720, possibly the Reverend James Wilson, with enclosed note (January 1904); Illustration and text concerning the Heppe or, Shap Monastery, Westmorland (c1773); Two deeds relating to the land of Lady Fford in Westmorland between Thomas Shepherd of Kirkland, Robert Shepherd of Maitland and Thomas Rowlandson of Kirby, Kendall (first deed), and Charles Benson of Kirkby, Kendall and Thomas Shepherd (second deed) (18 May 1693 and 3 July 1711); Printed test of a 17th century farmhold deed for Maggs How, Kentmere between John Ayrey, Hughe Ayrey and Robert Gilpin (26 November 1623); Deed relating to land in Westmorland between John Price of Dublin, Sir John Lowther and Robert Durkett of Kirekby, Kendall (26 June 1685); Two court summons for John Burn, Battalion Clerk and Clerk of meetings of the militia for neglecting to return a militia for his township (October 1791); Plan of the proposed navigable canal from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Eccleston in the County of Lancaster to Kendal in Westmorland, surveyed by Robert Whitworth (1772); Two Endowed Charities returns for the County of Westmorland (15 July 1868 and 5 September 1895).

Papers principally relating to operations of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy, Greece, the Aegean and the Balkans, 1941-1945, including: SOE training manuals, and various SOE memoranda relating to the 'Rhine mine', poisons, inland waterways, and the 'New Zionists', 1941-1944; memoranda and directives on SOE infiltration of Italy and the recruitment of Italian agents, the production of propaganda for use in Italy, transcripts of subversive propaganda broadcasts to the Italian people via Radio Jerusalem, letters from Stefano Terra, regarding the activities of the anti-fascist group Giustizia e Libertà, 1940-1943; diary of Capt R Guy Turrall during his SOE sabotage mission to Crete, 1941-1942; papers concerning SOE Operations BASILIC and ERRATIC (infiltration of Scarpanto and Rhodes), 1943; papers concerning propaganda operations in conjunction with the Political Warfare Executive, particularly Operations KREIPE and KRIMSCHILD, May 1944, to demoralize German troops on Crete; reports, 1943-1945, relating to SOE activities on Crete, including reports on the kidnapping by SOE of German Maj Gen Heinrich Kreipe; appreciations of SOE activities in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, 1943; correspondence of Headquarters Force 133 (SOE Cairo, Egypt) in regard to promotion, welfare, training, transfers and postings of personnel, including confidential reports on individual staff, 1944-1945; diary of Maj John Mulgan, British Liaison Officer in Greece, 1944; correspondence relating to the winding up of SOE organisation in Greece, 1944-1945; various other papers, comprising correspondence with Anne René Pleven, 1939-1941, on the German bombing of London and the reaction of the French people to German occupation and the Vichy government; report on René Pleven, French Minister of Defence, concerning Pleven's attitude to the French political situation, policy towards Indo-China and the French High Command, 1949; papers relating to the reorganisation of Lyons Silks Ltd, French Silhouettes and Arnold Securities, 1949-1950; newspaper article on German penetration of the SOE network in the Netherlands, 1942-1944, dated 1953.

Letter from Sir Edward Codrington of Eaton Square, London to the Rt Hon J W Croker, 2 Jun 1830. Urging the claims to 'head money' of the officers, seamen and marines who fought in the Battle of Navarino (20 Oct1827) [the claims had been refused on the grounds that there had been no prior declaration of war]. An offer of £800 a year pension for life had been made to Admiral Codrington through the Duke of Wellington; 'Your Grace must excuse me ... I cannot receive such a thing while my poor fellows who fought under me at Navarino have had no head money'.

Autograph, with signature. The first sheet is endorsed: 'This copy is throughout in the handwriting of my father Admiral Sir Edward Codrington. W J Codrington, 110 Eaton Square.'

Exemption from lodging courtiers and soldiers, Domingo del Campo, 31 Dec 1656.

This collection contains a single manuscript volume, the 'Naval Surgeons Casebook'. The volume begins with details of cases, symptoms and cures of Nathaniel Bedford's patients at St George's hospital during 1781. The rest of the volume contains descriptions of cases, sickness, and treatments during his travels whilst a ship's surgeon in the West Indies during 1781-1783.

Letter from Sir Joseph Banks of Soho Square, London to an unknown recipient, 12 Aug 1815. Relating to 'the undertaking now in hand for exploring the rapid Currents of the Zaira'. Reference is made to the mutiny of the Bounty, 'which began by turning the Commander adrift and ended in the Peopling of Pitcairn's Island. A less economical Outfit succeeded and the business was happily effected. Hence I deduce that in all matters of Naval Equipment it is better to adopt a Plan of sufficient extent at first than to do it after a failure, which if attributable to parsimony will in a Country like this meet with censure.' He advocates the use of a steamboat, 'a Fort impregnable to Native Armies and capable of sending out a subordinate Expedition'. This letter appears to be either a copy or a draft letter made by an amanuensis.

91 copies of photographs relating to Lewis Arnott's service with Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), North West Frontier, India, 1917-1919, including: captioned images of the Afghan delegation to peace talks with Britain, 1919; British forces in camp and on marches (including one dated 3 Nov 1915); views of Peshawar; fortifications; ammunition; artillery; motor cars; pack animals; gardens; daily life for soldiers and local people. Also 69 copies of informal snapshot photographs relating to the service of John Henry Cooper Arnott (brother) with Royal Engineers, Plymouth, World War One, including groups of unidentified soldiers and views of coastline.

Administrative records, patient records, nursing records.