Item NLW MS 24045F, ff. 6-9. - Elihu Burritt letters to Henry Richard

Identity area

Reference code

NLW MS 24045F, ff. 6-9.

Title

Elihu Burritt letters to Henry Richard

Date(s)

  • 1846-1862 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

4 ff. (ff. 7-8 originally folded as two leaves)

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

Henry Richard (1812-1888), politician, also known as the 'Apostle of Peace', was born in Tregaron and was apprenticed as a draper before being ordained as a minister in 1835 and thereafter serving all his working life at the Independent chapel in the Old Kent Road, London. Richard was concerned throughout his life with the peace question and in 1848 was appointed secretary of the Peace Society. In 1868 he was elected as Liberal member of parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and strove to uphold Welsh and Nonconformist causes while, through his writing, he sought to present a portrait of Wales and her history to English readers.

Henry's father, Ebenezer Richard (1781-1837), Calvinistic Methodist minister, was born in Tre-fin, Pembrokeshire. One of the principal organisers of his denomination, it was he who helped draw up the Calvinistic Methodist confession of faith in 1823. He was also the chief supporter of the Sunday school movement in South Wales and, in all, served the Methodist cause for sixty years.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers; London; Purchase; December 2014.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Three letters, May 1861-December 1862, from Elihu Burritt, New Britain, Connecticut, to his friend and fellow peace campaigner Henry Richard [in London]. Burritt describes the effects of the American Civil War on the peace movement in America and on Burritt's own position, and gives details of his arrangements to leave New Britain in late 1862 (ff. 7-9).
In the final letter, 1 December 1862, Burritt thanks Richard for sending £15 to pay for his passage to England. He was due to sail from New York on the 13 December 1862; he returned to Birmingham to live from 1863 to 1869 (f. 9). Also included is a letter, 9 December 1846, from Burritt, Birmingham, to 'Dear Friend Featherstone' (f. 6).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

English.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Folio 8 torn along fold.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

For three further letters from Burritt to Richard, 1856-1876, see NLW MS 5503C, items 19-21; for other letters of Elihu Burritt see NLW MS 10577C, pp. [257]-[261]. Other papers are New Britain (CT), Central Connecticut State University, Elihu Burritt Library, Burritt Collection; and Swarthmore (PA), Swarthmore College Peace Collection DG 096.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

Preferred citation: NLW MS 24045F, ff. 6-9.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls006803253

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

Related genres

Related places

Physical storage

  • Text: NLW MS 24045F, ff. 6-9; $q - Folio 8 torn along fold.