State Paper Office: State Papers Ireland, Elizabeth I to George III

SP 63

1558-1782

State Papers relating to Ireland dating from the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558 until 1782 when the Home Office was created. They are mostly letters to and from the Secretaries of State, including many from the Lords Lieutenant, and a number of royal letters. The series includes a few letter books of the Secretaries of State (1661-1690); a collection of historical notes and documents (largely materials for a history of Waterford) compiled by Dr Meredith Hanmer, an Irish antiquary; papers relating to adventurers for land in Ireland, 1642 to 1659 (ie receipts for subscriptions for the support of the Parliamentary cause in return for promises of lands in Ireland, and papers relative to claims arising therefrom); Colonel John Blaquière's registers of correspondence as Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant (1772-1776); and petitions concerning the relocation of the Customs House in Dublin (1774 and 1781).

The papers were rearranged and rebound into a chronological sequence by the State Paper Office in the nineteenth century, preparatory to the publication of its calendars. This chronological rearrangement was carried so far that enclosures, in order that they might be placed in correct date order, were often separated from their accompanying letter. The arrangement, however, has remained largely unchanged since the publication of the list for the series in 1914.

The 'Philadelphia Papers' transcripts of state and private papers, mainly of Sir Arthur Chichester (Lord Deputy 1605-1616), are of particular importance as the original documents no longer survive.

For Record Commission transcripts see PRO 31/8

Large documents are in:

SP 65

SP 66

Public Record(s)

English

480 volume(s)

Available in digital format

Topics

Litigation

Ireland

Some of the volumes were once in private hands (eg the Conway Papers, and Blaquière's registers, which were purchased in 1848).

By the eighteenth century it was established practice for the Lord Lieutenant's secretary to send 'public' despatches (formal acknowledgements and requests, papers concerning routine military matters, etc) to the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, which was responsible for Irish affairs, and for the Lord Lieutenant himself to send 'private' despatches, often in his own handwriting, to the Secretary of State on policy and political issues, sometimes endorsed as 'secret and confidential' or 'most secret'.

On financial matters, however, the Lord Lieutenant corresponded directly with the First Lord of the Treasury and this correspondence is not included in the series, although letters to the Treasury often duplicated those to the Southern Department.