This series brings together three order books containing copies of orders, instructions, notices and other official documents issued by James Wolfe during his military service in Britain and North America, as well as similar documents issued by his contemporaries. These volumes appear to have been compiled by junior officers and admirers. Whether the texts were drawn from the famous publication of "General Wolfe's Instructions to Young Officers" (London: J. Millan, 1768; second edition 1780) or from manuscript order books compiled by Wolfe's fellow officers remains to be investigated.
The quarto-size order book bearing the spine title "General Wolfe's Orders" (volume 8, file 1; 119 pages) retains its original binding, while the fly leaf was inscribed twice with the name and rank of its putative compiler: J. Moore, ensign, 51st Regiment, Minorca, 21 June 1777. The text of Wolfe's famous Instructions is followed by various orders he issued between 1748 and 1759, though many lack the date and place of issue. Page numbers and portions of some text were lost to incautions trimming of the pages when the volume was originally bound. The volume was received in Manuscript Division in 1923.
The folio-size order book (volume 8, file 2; 55 pages) bearing the misleading spine title "Orders given by Wolfe, 1759" brings together a 51-page compendium of orders, instructions, proclamations and letters dated between 1727 and 1777, chiefly relating to campaigns in North America, and a 4-page unsigned, undated assemblage of commentary on military activities. It begins with "Index" [page 1] summarizing the contents for pages 2-50; the text on the verso of the Index appears to have been added later in a different hand. The contents include orders by Wolfe and his contemporaries, 1755-1766, and by John Burgoyne, 1777. The volume was formerly designated "M 413" in the M Series, that number indicating it was acquired about 1905.
Two further orders book, containing orders and instructions, circa 1748-1759 and an account of General Monckton, 1762, is found on microfilm, reel A-575. Microfilmed in 1962 from the original then in the Royal United Service Institution, England, but later transferred to the National Army Museum (see MS 6807), England. Note that the National Army Museum holds a further volume (MS 6707) which contains Wolfe's orders at Halifax, 30 April 1759.
