Collection search - Thomas Bell fonds [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Thomas Bell fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1758-1759.

Reference:

R5402-0-1-E, MG18-L6

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

100107

Context of this record:

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Thomas Bell fonds
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Record information – Details
Date(s):

1758-1759.

Place of creation:

Various places

Extent:

2 cm of textual records (147 pages).

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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This fonds consists of three bound volumes of transcriptions made at some point between 1909 and 1935. The first volume, entitled "My Journal of the Gaspée Expedition & other matters" of 1758, contains a manuscript copy of Thomas Bell's journal, both text and sketches (transcript, pages 1-49). The title page to the second volume provides a listing of contents for all three volumes and identifies the originals as having been purchased in 1909 by Beckles Willson from the grandson of Rev. F. Burnaby, Rector of Greenwich (and friend to the Wolfe family). Its contents (all typescript copies) extend beyond the text of Bell's journal of the 1759 campaign (pages 1-37) to a photograph of an unidentified portrait (presumably of Thomas Bell) and a half-dozen documents relating to the campaign (bearing alpha-numeric page references, bringing the extent to 53 pages). The third volume contains a manuscript copy of the text of James Wolfe's journal for 13 May-16 August 1759, transcribed from the copy Bell made before he delivered the original to Wolfe's mother (43 pages), prefaced by a photograph of Bell's note to that effect, taken from the manuscript now found in the Northcliffe Collection (see MG 18, M, series 3, volume 24, notebook 6).

Provenance:

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Bell, Thomas, flourished 1750-1764

Biography/Administrative history:

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Bell, Thomas, flourished 1750-1764 : Thomas Bell (fl. 1750-1760) had risen to the rank of Captain in the British Army by the time he joined the campaign against Louisbourg. He served as secretary and aide-de-camp to General James Wolfe and escorted the latter's body back to England. Details of his subsequent military career have proven elusive.

Finding aid:

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(No finding aid)

Additional information:

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General note:

The precise date of acquisition remains uncertain: volume 2 bears the accession registry number 1938-702 while volume 3 was date-stamped in February 1935 (accession number 34547). However, the title page for volume 2 implies that a W J Wiltshire of London had possession of the lot.

Related material:

Bell's original journals, and his copy of Wolfe's journal, written in pocket-size notebooks, passed from the hands of Beckles Willson to Sir Leicester Harmsworth, who in turn presented them to the Public Archives of Canada as part of the Northcliffe Collection (see MG 18, M, series 3, volume 24, notebooks 1-6; available on microfilm reel C-370). For photocopies of two other versions of Wolfe's journal, see MG 18, L 5, volume 5.
Subject heading:

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Québec Campaign, 1759

Canada 1755-1763 (Guerre de Sept Ans)

Louisbourg (N.S.) Siege, 1758

Louisbourg (N.-É.) 1758 (Siège)

Canada Seven Years' War, 1755-1763

Québec (Québec) 1759 (Siège)

Nova Scotia To 1784

Nouvelle-Écosse Jusqu'à 1784

Québec (Province)
Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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MG18-L6
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG18 L 6] 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

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