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Papers about St Helena and Ascension Island, 1922-1934

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Shelfmark: MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 344/4
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Materials collected by Harper in preparation for writing a book. Contains:

  1. (fols. 1-18) folder entitled 'St Helena, etc. Miscellaneous', containing notes on the early history of the island, including excerpts from the letter books and reports of the East India Company, n.d.
  2. (fols. 19-33) excerpts from Bruce's Annals of the East India Company 1600 - 1707-8. 3 vols., 1810, about the discovery of St Helena by the Portuguese in 1502, the London East India Company's possession of the island in 1651, and the Royal Charter of 1661, which conferred on the Company the right to use the island as 'a Port of refreshment for ships engaged in the India trade'. The excerpts are chiefly from correspondence between the Court and the Governors of the island, about its defence and administration, n.d.
  3. (fols. 34-40) three accounts of Fernando Lopez, a Portuguese renegade who became the first inhabitant of St Helena, where he lived alone from 1515 until his death in 1546. The accounts are taken from the Commentaries of Alfonso Albuquerque, Volume 3 (Hakluyt Society); The Portuguese in India (Danvers); and The Rise of the Portuguese Power in India (Whiteway). A further excerpt, from The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia (Hakluyt), concerns Bermudez, Patriarch of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), who lived on the island for one year, 1557-1558, n.d.

(fols. 41-143) Undated excerpts from various works, describing or referencing St Helena and/or Ascension:

  1. (fols. 41-42) Principal Navigation Voyages Traffiques and Discoveries as of the English Nation. Vol. VI
  2. (fol. 43) Calendar of State Papers, Spanish 1587-1653; 1531-1553
  3. (fols. 44-48) Hakluyt's Voyages, Volume XI
  4. (fols. 49-60) Voyage of Linschoten, Volumes II, VI, and X (Hakluyt Society)
  5. (fols. 61-73) Voyage of Pyrard de Laval (Hakluyt Society)
  6. (fols. 74-77) Dampier's Voyages, edited by John Masefield
  7. (fols. 78-84) Pinkerton's Voyages, Volume XI
  8. (fols. 85-86) Roggewein, Volume XI: Account of St Helena and Ascension. Apr 1723
  9. (fols. 87-88) Captain Cook's First Voyage, 1771
  10. (fol. 89) Captain Cook's Second Voyage, 1774
  11. (fols. 90-91) Guthrie's Geographical Grammar 1775, 9th edition
  12. (fols. 92-97) Oriental Memories, by Dr James Forbes, F.R.S., Volume II
  13. (fols. 98-99) Brook’s Gazetteer, 1786, 6th edition
  14. (fol. 100) Anderson's History of Commerce, Volume II
  15. (fols. 101-104) A Description of the Island of St Helena, 1805 (in the Bodleian Library, f. i)
  16. (fols. 105-109) T.H. Brook’s History of the Island of St Helena, 1st edition 1808, 2nd edition 1824
  17. (fols. 110-111) Diary of W.J. Burch ell (East India Company's Naturalist, 1809)
  18. (fol. 112) Pinkerton's Modern Geography, 1811
  19. (fols. 113-117) Lisburn’s Oriental Commerce, Volume III, 1813
  20. (fol. 118) The First Napoleon by the Earl of Kerry (Lord Landowner), 1925
  21. (fols. 119-122) Journal of a Visit to South Africa in 1815 and 1816, by the Reverend C.L. Latrobe, Chapters XXIV-XXVI
  22. (fols. 123-129) Asiatic Journal, Jul 1926
  23. (fols. 135-142) Commissioner's Report on conditions in St Helena, 1854
  24. (fol. 143) extract from a private diary of a Surgeon on one of H.M. ships. This diary is in the possession of Mr Warren at St Helena
  25. (fols. 144-146) notes in Harper's hand about Ascension, including the export of turtles and import of malefactors, n.d.
  26. (fols. 147-148) excerpt in Portuguese about Fernando Lopez (see above, fols. 34-40) by Castanet (Castellated?), Lib III, Ch. xiii. There is also a note on tortoises, quoted from Mr. Littleton, Nature, 23 Aug 1883, p. 308, n.d.
  27. (fols. 149-150) notes from the African Pilot, about Ascension, turtles, rainfall, insects, and the early history of St Helena, 1922
  28. (fol. 151) cuttings from the Argus (Australia), linking the island of St Helena with the settlement of the same name in Victoria where Major Anthony Beale, former Paymaster-General to the East India Company's forces, retired after the Company resigned its interests in the island in 1834, 15 May 1926
  29. (fols. 152-161) letters from Dr Thomas Morten, Jamestown, to Harper, about the fauna and flora of St Helena, with particular reference to the manatee (sea-cow), 30 Jan-1 Mar 1930
  30. (fols. 162-163) letter in French from Georges [?], Long wood Old House, inviting Harper to become a member of the Socio eds Amos de Painterliness, 6 Aug 1932
  31. (fols. 164-188) papers concerning a broadcast given by Harper from London on 23 Apr entitled 'The St Helena Centenary', including correspondence with the Colonial Office (Harold T. Allen and R.V. Vernon) and the BBC (C.G. Graves and Cecil Madden), and draft and final copies of the script, 16 Feb-28 May 1934.

Dates

  • Creation: 1922-1934

Extent

188 Leaves

Language of Materials

  • English
  • Portuguese
  • French

Shelfmark

MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 344/4

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston
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Weston Library
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