HAM/1/20/228
Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
71, Queen Street
28th- Decr. 1808
My Dear Sister,
Every kind wish from
all my family is much at the Service
of You and Yours. May You neither be
frozen, nor frost bitten, but, happily
preserved through the Winter to revive
in the Spring &c. &c. &c.
Now, to busineʃs. You must
answer me accurately & speedily -- A Friend
of mine is preparing a Peerage of Scotland,
from the Union to the present Time.[1] He
is not satisfied with the information he
has been able to collect, relative to the
Marriages & Births of your Grandfather
Lord Archibald Hamiltons Descendants. I have under=
taken to squeeze out of You, what I can, & there
fore, don't be lazy, but gratify my friend.
It appears, that Lord Archibald was
twice married, Who was his first Wife? Had they
any Children? His second Wife was a Daughter
of James Earl of Abercorn.[2] What Children had he
by her? When were they born, & when did they die?
of what profeʃsion were the Sons? Who did they
marry? What iʃsue had they? Who did his
Daughters marry? What Iʃsue had they?
After answering these Queries,
if You are in a condescending humour,
You may add whatever more You
chuse, and, I can aʃsure You, my friend
will be most grateful for your good=
neʃs. He is deaf & dumb; but, very quick in
comprehending what is said to him, and
has been instructed so well, as to be able to
utter Sounds, like speaking, which I under=
stand tolerably well.
Do You know that Lady
Emily Murray is to be married, next
month, to a rich & very amiable Mr-
Drummond. He made his Money in China.
I never saw him, but he appears to be
universally approved of. Adieu, My Dear
Sister.
Ever Your faithful Friend
& Affecte- Brother
Napier
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. John Philip Wood (1813) Peerage of Scotland, Edinburgh.
2. Lord Archibald Hamilton was married three times. His third wife, Jane Hamilton (1704-1753) was the daughter of the Earl of Abercorn, and the grandmother of Mary Hamilton. Lord Archibald's first wife was Anne Carey (d. 1709), and his second wife Anne Hamilton (d. 1719); no children are recorded from the first two marriages.
Normalised Text
71, Queen Street
28th- December 1808
My Dear Sister,
Every kind wish from
all my family is much at the Service
of You and Yours. May You neither be
frozen, nor frost bitten, but, happily
preserved through the Winter to revive
in the Spring &c. &c. &c.
Now, to business. You must
answer me accurately & speedily -- A Friend
of mine is preparing a Peerage of Scotland,
from the Union to the present Time. He
is not satisfied with the information he
has been able to collect, relative to the
Marriages & Births of your Grandfather
Lord Archibald Hamiltons Descendants. I have undertaken
to squeeze out of You, what I can, & therefore
, don't be lazy, but gratify my friend.
It appears, that Lord Archibald was
twice married, Who was his first Wife? Had they
any Children? His second Wife was a Daughter
of James Earl of Abercorn. What Children had he
by her? When were they born, & when did they die?
of what profession were the Sons? Who did they
marry? What issue had they? Who did his
Daughters marry? What Issue had they?
After answering these Queries,
if You are in a condescending humour,
You may add whatever more You
choose, and, I can assure You, my friend
will be most grateful for your goodness
. He is deaf & dumb; but, very quick in
comprehending what is said to him, and
has been instructed so well, as to be able to
utter Sounds, like speaking, which I understand
tolerably well.
Do You know that Lady
Emily Murray is to be married, next
month, to a rich & very amiable Mr-
Drummond. He made his Money in China.
I never saw him, but he appears to be
universally approved of. Adieu, My Dear
Sister.
Ever Your faithful Friend
& Affectionate Brother
Napier
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/20/228
Correspondence Details
Sender: Francis Scott Napier, 8th Lord
Place sent: Edinburgh
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 28 December 1808
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes on
behalf of a friend [John Philip Wood (1762-1838) civil servant and
antiquary] who is writing a history of the peerage in Scotland [Sir Robert
Douglas,
The Peerage of Scotland,
containing an historical and genealogical account, to the present
generation
, 2nd edition, revised by J. P. Wood (Edinburgh, 1813)]
and wants to know as much information on Hamilton's grandfather, Lord
Archibald Hamilton, as she can provide him with. He wishes to know who his
first wife was, and if they had any children. His second wife was the
daughter of the Earl of Abercorn and he wishes to know what children they
had together and so on. He notes that his friend is deaf and dumb 'but is
very quick in comprehending what is said to him'.
Dated at Queen Street [Edinburgh].
Length: 1 sheet, 304 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).
All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.
Acknowledgements: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 17 December 2021)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 16 March 2022