Folios 101-102. Earl of Cholmondeley to [Newcastle]. Thanking him for information...

Folios 101-102. Earl of Cholmondeley to [Newcastle]. Thanking him for information about preparations to prevent French invasion along Kent and Sussex coast. Large fleet now cruising British Channel. Letters seized by Henry Bracken sent to Stafford [Staffordshire]. Provisions may need shipping to army in Scotland; 'Great quantitys' of hay, corn, cheese, butter, biscuits and salted beef available around Chester [Cheshire]. Baron Mainwaring requests permission to sell horses of Patison and another prisoner, committed for charges of high treason. Dated at Chester. Enclosure:

1. Folio 103-104. Henry Bracken to [Cholmondeley]. Seized 'Foot post' from rebel [Jacobite] army containing 49 letters. Mr Richmond, clergyman, sent them to Chester. Six rebel prisoners in Lancaster Castle were released when rebels returned from Derby, becasue Justices of the Peace and gaoler refused to remove prisoners from town. Gaoler told Duke of Perth that Bracken wanted to move prisoners; rebels plundered his house and took his wife prisoner, but she escaped. Said to be 500 rebels holding Carlisle [Cumberland] town and castle; Duke of Cumberland erecting a firing battery. Cumberland is quartered at Mr Lawry's in Blackell [Blackwell, Cumberland]. Dated at Lancaster [Lancashire], 29 December 1745.