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Papers of Sir Robert Burnett David Morier (1826-1893)

Provenance

The papers of Sir Robert Morier passed to his only daughter Victoria (Mrs Rosslyn Wemyss, afterwards Lady Wester Wemyss), and to her daughter the Hon. Mrs. F H Cunnack, who presented them to Balliol College in 1965 and 1973.

The papers have been used extensively by Mrs Rosslyn Wemyss, Memoirs and Letters of Sir Robert Morier 1826 to 1876, 2 volumes, London, Edward Arnold, 1911, and by Dr. Agatha Ramm, Sir Robert Morier, Envoy and Ambassador in the Age of Imperialism, 1876-1893, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973.

The Royal Commission On Historical Manuscripts inspected the papers in 1984 and found them then to be largely unsorted. They divided them broadly into diplomatic correspondence and papers; general correspondence; diaries, journals and notebooks; family correspondence; and miscellaneous material including printed and typescript material. Once finished the collection comprised 78 boxes and 15 volumes. The boxes were numbered 1-78 and the volumes lettered A-O.

In addition to Morier's own papers, there were found to be also many letters from him to his parents and his wife, to the 15th Earl and Countess of Derby, Benjamin Jowett and Sir Louis Mallet.

Arrangement

Whilst the following catalogue provides a more detailed listing of the contents of all 78 boxes and 15 volumes, the arrangement of the collection has not been altered in any way. The list below provides a thematic structure for the whole collection.

• Correspondence and papers relating to Morier's diplomatic career.
  • Austria and Germany 1853-76: 1-5, 12B, 52, 54-5, 65, 73, F-G, J.
  • Portugal 1876-81: 3, 6-12, 15, 17-20, A-B, H-O.
  • Spain 1881-4: 12-18, 55, K-O.
  • Russia 1884-93: 14-15, 20-6, 52, 55, 71, C-E.
  • Bazaine Incident 1888-9: 27-31, 40.
• General correspondence. 3, 32-49, 60-1, 65, 68, 74-5.
• Diaries, journals and notebooks. 24, 50-5, 69-70.
• Family correspondence. 15, 32, 56-67.
• Literary and personal papers. 1-2, 15, 32, 49, 54, 58, 69, 71-3, 76.
• Typescript copies of correspondence made by Mrs Rosslyn Wemyss, and draft chapters of her Memoirs and Letters of Sir Robert Morier 1826-1876 5, 8-9, 16, 24A, 46A, 48, 54-5, 64-5, 73-8.

Abbreviations used in the List

For abbreviations relating to Robert Burnet Morier and his family in general refer to "A Catalogue of the Morier Papers (c. 1780-1916)", catalogued by James Armstrong 1990.

ALS autograph letter(s) signed (in the hand of the author)

AMS autograph manuscript

b/w black and white

c. circa

Col. Colonel

H M Her Majesty's

H R H His/ Her Royal Highness

nd no date

TS typescript

- Katrina Wilson, Modern MSS Asst, 1994