A manuscript document signed by Lord Sydney, directing that an unidentified petition be referred to the Lord Advocate of Scotland

SYDNEY, Thomas Townshend, Viscount (1733-1800, British Home Secretary who gave his name to the city of Sydney)

Beschreibung

A strip of paper (approximately 87 × 197 mm, possibly cut from a larger document); Whitehall, 27 November 1784. Left-hand margin torn away, with slight loss to the text; traces of prior mounting to the verso (and near the left-hand edge of the recto, but well clear of the large, bold signature on the right); in good condition. As Baron Sydney he 'was British Home Secretary in the Pitt Government, given responsibility for devising a plan to settle convicts at Botany Bay. He chose Arthur Phillip as governor; on 26 January 1788, Phillip named Sydney Cove in honour of Sydney and the settlement became known as Sydney Town. Sydney was recognized as the "Originator of the Plan of Colonization for New South Wales" by David Collins, who dedicated his "Account of the English Colony in New South Wales" in these terms. Collins wrote that Sydney's "benevolent Mind" had led him "to conceive this Method of redeeming many Lives that might be forfeit to the offended Laws; but which, being preserved under salutary Regulations, might afterward become useful to Society"' (National Portrait Gallery of Australia). Provenance: Collection of The Hon Barry Jones AC. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 115620

Bibliografische Details

Titel: A manuscript document signed by Lord Sydney,...

Zustand: Good

Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers