Mount Stuart Collection

Date range: 1776-1783

Medium: Manuscript

Four volumes of consular correspondence and papers of John Stuart (1744-1814), Viscount Mount Stuart, later 1st Marquess of Bute, who was appointed envoy to Turin in 1779.

The first three volumes contain some 660 letters from consuls, vice-consuls and agents at Nice, Leghorn, Genoa and elsewhere in Southern Europe, addressed to Mount Stuart as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Turin, 1779-1783, and to the chargés d'affaires there. Enclosures include intelligence reports from ports in France and Spain. The fourth volume contains official copies of memorials, correspondence and reports forwarded with his despatches, together with treaties and political documents. Among them are letters and papers relating to the capture of Fort St Philip, Minorca, 1781-82.

The collection is important for the history of the Duchy of Savoy and for British diplomatic and commercial relations with Savoy and other South European states.

Further information:

Catalogue available online via ELGAR.

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library