FITZWILLIAM (MILTON) BURKE

This collection came to William, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam of Northborough, as legatee of the residing legatee of Edmund Burke (d. 1797) and was previously stored at Milton, near Peterborough, the seat since 1857 of the younger branch of the Fitzwilliam family. A great many other Burke papers now in the Sheffield Archives came from Wentworth Woodhouse, the seat of the elder branch of the Fitzwilliam family, and it is obvious that the two groups are complementary. How it came about that one tin box was left at Milton and the rest at Wentworth Woodhouse is not known but it must have been before 1857 when the property was split into two after the death of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam. The Milton section was apparently cursorily examined by Sir Philip Magnus and by Dixon Wecter prior to the collection's deposit and then subsequently examined by Canon Robert Murray and a start made on numbering and cataloguing the documents. Careful study has shown that the order in which the records were then numbered was largely artificial, some attempt having been made at some time in the past to group the papers into a chronological series of letters and into groups of draft speeches; traces of earlier arrangements have also been discovered (see Patrick King's manuscript notes) as well as typed transcripts (see X677) of a great many of the letters, including a few of originals no longer extant. Consequently, the letters and papers have been numbered in the order in which they were then taken into the Record Office, a policy made the more necessary owing to the difficulty of assigning a date to a great many of the draft speech notes and quite a number of the letters.

Initially the collection was one tin box comprising of thirty-six bundles of papers but this has subsequently grown to forty-four bundles of papers: the additional eight bundles having been added mainly from other parts of the Fitzwilliam of Milton collection. The original thirty-six bundles contain correspondence, Burke family personal and legal papers (notably those of Richard Burke senior) and notes for and drafts of speeches, etc, written by Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke corresponded with a large number of people but there are few significant quantities of letters for any one individual excepting the following: the Chevalier and Abbé Francois-Marie de La Bintinaye; Jean Francois de La Marche, Bishop of St-Pol-de-Leon; Pierre-Gaëton Dupont; Henry Dundas; and Richard Champion (the latter also corresponds with other members of the Burke family). There is also some Burke family correspondence including a number of letters by Richard Burke junior. The small number of family papers mostly consist of Richard Burke senior's papers relating to revenue and customs including a copy of the case against him as Collector of Customs, Grenada, 1785.

Edmund Burke's numerous political interests and commitments are well reflected in his notes for and drafts of speeches. Amongst these the most commonly represented are: elections and parliamentary matters; Catholicism; the French Revolution and his concern regarding French émigrés; foreign trade; Irish affairs; foreign affairs (including Africa, America, Canada and the West Indies); the Office of Paymaster General; the impeachment of Warren Hastings and the East India Company.

The eight bundles added to the collection were extracted mainly from other parts of the Fitzwilliam of Milton collection. Bundle F(M) A.xxxvii includes indices to transcripts of Burke letters held by the Record Office (including those within X677) as well as a few translations and transcriptions of letters within this collection and others elsewhere. Bundle F(M) A.xxxviii contains a number of miscellaneous letters and papers while bundles F(M) A.xxxix-xxxiv contain the letters and papers (mostly for the 1780s) of Richard Burke junior and the Rev. Walker King as receiver generals of land revenue.

The most authoritative and comprehensive guide to Edmund Burke's correspondence - whether contained within this collection or elsewhere - is the ten volume The Correspondence of Edmund Burke (CUP, 1958-1978) as edited by Thomas W. Copeland. A copy of this is available within the Record Office. We also hold copies of microfilms of Burke material contained within Politics in the Age of Revolution. Part I: The Papers of Edmund Burke. The Record Office has available the following additional finding aids: a classified index of the Burke papers (by correspondent and some subject matters); a chronological list of correspondence; and a table cross referencing F(M) A numbers with previous numbering systems. Finally, some of this collection has been microfilmed and is available on request.

Please be aware that some documents are not in our custody and only copies are available. Any enquiries regarding the originals should be made in writing to the County Archivist.

Accession: 1946