Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester: Papers
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
Kew, Richmond TW9 4DU
Contact information: phone number
0044 020 8876 3444
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
Reference number
PRO 30/55
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester: Papers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
Date(s)
1747/1788
Language(s)
eng
Extent
107 volumes
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises records of British Army Headquarters in America from 1775 to 1783, including the official notes of General Thomas Gage (1718/19-87), Sir William Howe (1729-1814), Sir Henry Clinton (1730-95), and Sir Guy Carleton (1724-1808) as successive commanders in chief. These documents provide details on Loyalists who were banished, proscribed and had their property confiscated after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War. These particular papers were retained by Sir Guy Carleton, the last British Commander-in-Chief in New York, upon his retirement. They include an appeal presented by Isaac Touro, hazzan of Newport and New York congregations, to the British authorities for aid on December 12, 1782. Touro was a Loyalist. After the Battle of Yorktown, he decided to move to Kingston in Jamaica and petitioned Carleton for funds to finance his voyage. Jacob Rader Marcus published a transcription of this document (1959).
Archival history
These papers were given to the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1804 by John Symmons of Paddington, who had received them from Maurice Morgann. As secretary to Carleton, Morgann was responsible for their original arrangement. They are called the Carleton or, occasionally, the Dorchester Papers, as Carleton later became First Baron Dorchester. The papers were acquired by A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1929 and sold to John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1930. They were stored, re-arranged and rebound in the New York Public Library and were presented by Mr. Rockefeller to "Colonial Williamsburg" in 1935. On October 20, 1957, at the White House, Queen Elizabeth II received this noteworthy collection of papers from President Eisenhower as a gift from "Colonial Williamsburg".
Administrative / Biographical history
Guy Carleton was born on September 3, 1724, in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland. In 1742, he was commissioned an ensign in the British army, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1757. Two years later, he took part in the expedition against Quebec as quartermaster general under General James Wolfe. After two years as lieutenant governor of the province of Quebec, Carleton became governor (1768–78). His conciliatory policy toward the French Canadian landowners and clergy was confirmed by the British Parliament’s enactment of the Quebec Act of 1774, which, though it postponed the advent of representative government in Quebec, later formed the basis for the French Canadians’ political and religious rights.
After helping to repel the Continental Army’s invasion of Canada (1775–76), Carleton had a disagreement with the secretary of state for the colonies and retired. In 1782, he was appointed commander in chief of British forces in North America. As governor in chief of British North America (1786–96), he promoted the Constitution Act of 1791, which helped develop representative institutions in Canada when the French Revolution threatened governments elsewhere. He retired to private life in England in 1796. He had been knighted in 1779 and created a baron of Dorchester in 1786. Carleton died on November 10, 1808, in Stubbings, Berkshire, England.
After helping to repel the Continental Army’s invasion of Canada (1775–76), Carleton had a disagreement with the secretary of state for the colonies and retired. In 1782, he was appointed commander in chief of British forces in North America. As governor in chief of British North America (1786–96), he promoted the Constitution Act of 1791, which helped develop representative institutions in Canada when the French Revolution threatened governments elsewhere. He retired to private life in England in 1796. He had been knighted in 1779 and created a baron of Dorchester in 1786. Carleton died on November 10, 1808, in Stubbings, Berkshire, England.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The Carleton Papers are bound in 107 volumes, each one containing a consecutive run of papers. The volumes are arranged chronologically.
Links to finding aids
Existence and location of copies
Copies of these documents are included in the Stevens Transcripts (with the reference Additional MSS 42,257-42,496, to which there is a slip index) in the British Library, Manuscript Collections.
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Published primary sources
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