Garnons Collection; Airey Papers

The papers listed below form part of a collection deposited at the County Record Office by Sir Richard Cotterell Bart. They relate to the affairs of members of the Airey family.

The list is divided into several sections. The first concerns the records of General Sir George Airey (1761 - 1833) particularly for the period of his career spent as deputy adjutant general and military secretary to General Fraser. He married the Hon. Catherine Talbot, daughter of Lord Talbot de Malahide. Her brother Col. Thomas Talbot became the famous colonist of Upper Canada and was for many years closely associated with his nephew Richard Airey whom at one time he thought to make heir to his Canadian estates. Further sections of the list reflect Talbot's Canadian career and Richard Airey's Canadian interests.

Richard later Sir Richard and then General Lord Airey, had a distinguished military career. He became military secretary to Lord Hardinge the Commander-in-Chief, and shortly after the outbreak of the Crimean War was appointed quarter-master-general to the expedition to the Crimea. He served in this capacity until November 1855 and for this period of his career a packet of letters written to him by Lord Hardinge throws a good deal of light on the Crimean Campaign. The last sections of the list describe a few papers dealing with Lord Airey's later military career.

Most of the correspondence was found arranged in packets and of these, for the most part, summary descriptions only have been given. Fuller abstracts have, however, been prepared for some of the material relating to Col. Talbot, and the Crimeam correspondence has been catalogued in full detail in what is virtually a typescript copy of the original correspondence.