Collection search - Francis Place petition [textual record]

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Francis Place petition [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Item

Date:

1831.

Reference:

R16733-0-1-E, MG21-Add.MSS.-27859, Volume number: 27859

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

104605

Context of this record:

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Francis Place petition
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Record information – Details
Date(s):

1831.

Place of creation:

United Kingdom

Extent:

8 p. of textual records : transcripts.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Item is a petition of Alexander Humphrys-Alexander (1783-1859), self-styled Earl of Stirling, to the House of Commons, 1831, asking for recognition of his rights in Nova Scotia as the true heir of Sir William Alexander (ca. 1577-1640), 1st Earl of Stirling. (Transcript, 8 pages). (For further material on this unsuccessful claim, see MG 11, C.O. 217/160 and 172, as well as MG 21, Add. MSS. 14034, 19049 and Egerton MSS. 2395.)

Provenance:

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Place, Francis, 1771-1854

Additional name(s):

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Depicted: Stirling, Alexander Humphrys-Alexander, Earl of, 1783-1859

Biography/Administrative history:

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Place, Francis, 1771-1854 : Radical reformer.

Francis Place (1771-1854) was born on 3 November 1771. He was the son of Simon Place, a bailiff to the Marshalsea court and keeper of a 'sponging house' in Drury Lane, London. Francis Place became a maker of leather breeches, but the decay of that trade made it hard for him to obtain work. While work was scarce, he studied industriously to educate himself and became secretary to the clubs of several trades, including his own. In 1799 he and a partner opened a tailor's shop. About a year later, he opened his own tailor's shop, which prospered. The valuable library which he accumulated became the meeting place of the radical political reformers of his time, while he himself was a notable source of inspiration and support to them. He died at Hammersmith on 1 January 1854.

Stirling, Alexander Humphrys-Alexander, Earl of, 1783-1859 : Alexander Humphrys-Alexander was born 21 June 1783 at Birmingham. Between 1803 and 1814 he, with his father, was a prisoner-of-war at Verdun and in Paris. In 1812 he married Forunata Bartoletti, daughter of Giovanni Bartoletti of Naples. On 8 March 1824 he assumed by Royal license the surname of Alexander, after that of Humphrys, and thereafter styled himself Earl of Stirling. Making claim to this Earldom, he voted in the election of Scottish Peers 1825, 1830 and 1831. His claim to the title was under (an alleged) charter of Novodamus, 7 Dec 1639, whereby, failing heirs male of the body of the grantee, the peerage was to go to the eldest heir female (without division) of the last of such heirs male, and to the heirs male of the bodies of such heirs female respectively.

Humphrys-Alexander was indicted for forgery, 18 March 1839, and the charter on which he based his claim was pronounced a forgery, but that he was himself the forger was pronounced "not proven". He died, 4 May 1859, at Washington, U.S.A. "The Stirling Obsession." 18 August 1999.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Paper) Finding Aid No. 599 provides a descriptive list of the material in Volume M. 371. Comments on the material in that volume are to be found in the copying proposals of the first Dominion Archivist, Douglas Brymner, in his Report on Public Archives of 1881, p. 23. MSS599 (90: Open)

Additional information:

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General note:

Documents created in: London, England.

Custodial history:

Additional Manuscript 27859 is a collection of papers relating to Canada included in the papers of Francis Place (1771-1854), which were acquired by the British Library in 1868. At some time between 1881 and 1948, probably ca. 1919, the National Archives of Canada transcribed a small excerpt (ff. 22-30) that related to the Stirling peerage claim.

Location of originals note:

Originals with the British Library, London, England.
Subject heading:

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Petition, Right of - Nova Scotia, 1831 Alexander Humphrys-Alexander, 1831

Sir William Alexander, [1831]
Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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MG21-Add.MSS.-27859
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG21 Add. Mss.-27859] 27859

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Date modified:: 2024-07-24