Atholl Papers Bundle AP_123

Ref	Date	Brief Description
AP_123_1	23.12.1790	Capt. C.Small to Duke with condolances on the death of the Duchess.
AP_123_2	2.1.1791	Capt. C.Small to Duke Lt.Gov. Shaw has arrived and been sworn in. The opposition are already after him but are unlikely to make much impression, Taubman hes offered him the Nunnery until his health,which has suffered from his passage over,will permit him to go to Castletown. He suggests that the Duke should sail from Kirkcubright rather than Whithorn,and a boat for the Island may always be found there. He trusts he will come straight to Port e Chee where lodgings are prepared for him and his company.
AP_123_3	18.4.1791	Capt. C.Small to Duke (from Bishopscourt) The new Lt.Gov. (Shaw) has already fallen out with Gov. Smith
AP_123_4	28.6.1793	Capt. C.Small to Duke It had been arranged thet Ld. Henry Murray was to go to “the small house lately occupied by Mr. Bacon's family at Newtown" leaving Port e Chee furnished for the use of the Duke. Now, however, he has decided to give up Port-e-Chee altogether and take his furniture away from it. The house is thus "utterly dismantled" but two beds will be put in it and one for two servants,while any guests the Duke may bring with him will be found beds in Douglas,while Mungo "who is really a very promising young man" may go to private lodgings. All linen,however,the Duke must bring with him,as well as a cook and provisons as all there is in the house is four hams and four loaves of sugar. These,with two fat bullocks and ten fat wethers ‘ia the whole stock of Your Grace's provisions." There is not a chicken left at Port-e-Chee "but how this has happened is more than I can say."
AP_123_5	29.9.1793	Capt. C.Small to Duke General. The writer is “to begin holding the Baron Courts on Tuesday". Suggestions for obtaining control of the mail service,the search for coal is going on.
AP_123_6	28.1.1794	Capt. C.Small to Duke It must appear odd to the Postmaster-General thet news of important events in England should have to come by way of a casual fishing boat sailing from Dublin against a contrary wind,while in Whitehaven,where the wind was favourable,the drunken Master with his drunken crew are parading the streets while his ill found and unmanagable packet is lying in the harbour.
AP_123_7	25.2.1794	Capt. C.Small to Duke Interesting details as to the methods employed to get recruits for the Fencibles and also the Taubman family's ways of getting jobs for their friends. He asks assistance to obtain "the Fishery Fees" due to himself and Scott for which they ...amount to £407.6.6.
AP_123_8	1.4.1794	J.Summers to C.Small ref to mining at Bradda Head and the arrival of smelters.
AP_123_9	2.5.1794	C.Small to Duke saying he has bought Ballaleece for £1,200. (as far as I can make out.N.M)
AP_123_10	3.9.1794	C.Small to Duke He has arranged to lease from "Mr. Gawn, on the Duke's behalf,that portion of his estate which may run any risk of damage from the smelting mill. And as the new smelter is expected soon he hopes to get ahead without interruption. Lead is being sold at Naples at about £23. Suggests an appointment in the Customs which will "keep Gov. Smelt?? in check until such time as you may have it in your power to send him about his business. His oppression of the poor people is beyond description.He has set all authority at defience (This does not seem to make sense.Perhaps the name I have read as Gov.Smelt is another one. In fact it must be,for Smelt had not arrived at that date. N.M.)
AP_123_11	25.12.1795	Duke to C.Small re remittances from the Island.
AP_123_12	25.1.1806	C.Small to Duke enclosing a memorial with regard to his salary as Ordnance Storekeeper.
AP_123_13	25.1.1805	Memorial of Chas. Small, Ordnance Storekeeper to the Board of Ordnance. Shows him to have been appointed on 3rd.March 1803 at £133.6.0 per annum salery and allowances. Gives instances of the cost of living and asks for an increase.
AP_123_14	24.2.1804	C.Small to Duke Reporting that he had received no reply to the above and enclosing a report (not here N.M.) on the fortifications of the Island.
AP_123_15	8.5.1806	C.Small to Duke He has received orders to send to the Board a statement of their property in the Island and he will have to include Peel Castle in this. He suggests that the Duke should apply for a lease of it at a nominal rental in the same way as Lt.Gov.Smelt has recemtly obtained a lease of one of the towers of Castle Rushen "which projects towards the Market Place" for the purpose of converting it into a public market.
AP_123_16	n.d.	C.Small to Duke (Part only,the end missing N.M.)re the appointment of various Revenue officers and the purchase of Ballavoddan.
AP_123_17	n.d.	C.Small to Duke (Part only.First and last pages missing. N.M.) concerns financial matters between Lord George Murray, Bishop Crigan and the Duchess. in which Lord Henry Murray and Mr.Bacon seem to be in some way concerned. Mentions that the Bishop's eldest son is chaplain in H.M.S. "Adamant" and would like to become Chaplain to the Duke. The Bishop would also like an Ensigncy in the Fencibles for his son-in-law John Norman. For the other vacant ensigncy a nephew of "old Quayle" by name Dr. Quillin is being recommended. .He is "a drunken, good-for-nothing vagabond". In addition Major Taubman would like “one of his little boys" appointed.
AP_123_18	n.d.	C.Small to Duke Trivial.
AP_123_19	n.d.	C.Small to Duke Mentions his seven years service as Agent for the Duke during which he managed his "politics" which involved keeping open house,superintended the mines and half a dozen farms. All this entailed expense for it was seldom that he slept two nights consectutively in his own bed. Despite this, however,the Duke has dismissed him for some reason he cannot understand and he is now ruined,having given up the Army in which he might have expected to become a Lt.Col. He explains some of his actions. How. he had let Lough House to Mr. Farrer,a wealthy man who would be sure to spend a large sum on improving it,but was likely soon to tire of the Island and leave,when the house would revert to the Duke worth much more than when it was let.
AP_123_20	n.d.	C.Small to Duke Memoranda made by C.Small regarding the Duke's affairs in the I.O.M. 1.Imports prior to 1765 were greater than those shown Quayle C.R. and Bridson,Capt.of Douglas,keeping the import duty collected for themselves, They also kept back and divided amongst themselves the charges. made for the issue of exit permits. As a consequence Bridson is reported to have died worth £20,000 and Quayle,who is still alive, is said to be worth a third more 2. Quayle C.R. when Agent to the Duke before the Revestment prosecuted Banks of the Howe for killing a hare upon his own property and got him fined and imprisoned Now, Quayle disputes that the game belongs to the Duke 3.The Lt.Gov. Dawson, gives evidence of his antagonism to the Duke. 4. Mr.Taubman tried to build a house in the middle of the Douglas/Peel highroad and Dawson gave no support to those who tried to stop him. Taubman has also caused a bridge to be built across the head of Douglas harbour and built houses on the land above the bridge,so that this land when required for an extension of the harbour - as it probably will be - may be sold at a higher price. 5. The prospects of the Liverpool merchants in the West African trade transferring their base from Liverpool to Douglas should be investigated, 6. Mr. Quayle's conduct with regard to the information he gave to the Government and which was used by them in calculating the sum offered to the Duke, should be examined. 7. Also his conduct in taking possession of when they died by which he obtained,and retained, papers which would have afforded valuable evidence to the Duke. 8.Caesar Parr (?) a member of the Keys refused to appoint a Moar to collect the Lord's rent.The next step will be that "old Taubman and his crew" will be refusing to pay Lord's Rent or to submit to any law or government whatever. 9. A ship being wrecked the Duke's Agents laid claim to it,but "old Taubman" had the impudence to appear in Court, though he was not concerned in the matter,and oppose the Duke's claim so that Dawson Lt.Gov. was influenced thereby. 10.Taubman and Quayle have,by unfair means, obtained a lease of Hango Hill from Bishop Richmond for 30 years at £100 per annum,a third of its value,and will not give it up although it is the support of a Charity School, so that "these worthy Patriots,who wish to make the ignorant believe that they would sacrafice life and property for the good of their Country,will not even sacrafice the paltry profits arising from a Charity" 11.The duty on hemp imported to the Island was doubled by Mr.Lutwidge in order to discourage the making of rope in the Island as Lutwidge and Wilson had shares in ropeworks at Whitehaven,and so the ropeworks in the Island have fallen into decay. 12.It is said that a light upon the Calf is much needed and that merchants on the surrounding coasts would willingly pay dues to support one, 13.Mr.Heywood and Deemster Moore are the only people who can give a true acct. of the Duke's Manorial Rights. 14.When a landed estate is to be sold it is not customary to value it on that of ten or twenty years ago,but rather at what it may be after careful improvement in twenty or thirty years, The Govt. however when buying from the Duke have worked on the exactly opposite basis. And if a private shopkeeper in Edinburgh can make a profit of 20% on the issue of a copper coinage, what should be the value of the right to issue a Sovereign coinage.




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