[SYDNEY] An important letter to Thomas Smyth’s banker in London, regarding a substantial payment he made to David Collins, signed by Collins on the verso.

A$3,500 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Signed

Autograph letter signed by Thomas Smyth, dated Sydney, 19 March 1795, addressed to his banker in London, John Madden Esq.; manuscript in ink on a single sheet of laid paper, 227 x 183 mm; endorsed and signed on the verso by David Collins; fine. First Fleeter and Provost Marshal Smyth makes a substantial payment to David Collins. An attractive and significant letter, in which the First Fleeter Thomas Smyth authorises payment to the NSW Judge-Advocate David Collins of the substantial sum of £48. Collins, in turn, confirms the arrangement in a note of his own to his London-based banker on the reverse of the sheet, confidently signing his name in full: the fact that Collins has also annotated and signed the letter is a most attractive addition as original manuscript material relating to this major figure of Australian history is much sought after. Dated in Sydney in March 1795, the letter sheds some light on the conditions prevailing under the military rule of Lieutenant-Governor Paterson, a period of social unease as Paterson continued to privilege an influential military clique through the profligate dispersal of land. Not only are original manuscripts relating to this era scarce, especially in private hands, but the present letter is also more significant as an extremely rare example of any letter by Smyth, an Irish-born sergeant in the Marines who is now best remembered for his key role, as a member of the Loyal Association, in the dispersal and punishment of the convict upri

• Binding: Hardcover

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