Item of the month: Letter from Sarah Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey, to Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey – 8th January 1827

A post by Collections Assistant Jennifer Leach

This letter is one of 152 letters held in our collections written from the Countess of Jersey to Earl Grey. In 1827 Earl Grey was a prominent member of the Whig party but had just resigned his leadership to Lord Lansdowne, partly due to how at odds he was with the Prince Regent. However, in just three years he would become Prime Minister. The Countess was an influential member of the London social elite as she was not only a member of the aristocracy and extremely wealthy independently of her husband but also a patron of Almack’s, the most exclusive social club in London.

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Item of the month: Ye Peakrel, a Winster Christmas hodgepodge, 1878

A post by Collections Assistant Jennifer Leach

Content note: Historic material will reflect the language of the original creators. Voices, objects and images from the past can display attitudes, opinions and relate to events which may be viewed as biased and offensive in today’s society.

As Christmas is fast approaching, this month’s item shows how a family in 1878 brought some festive cheer to those around them. This is a humorous newsletter “Imprinted at Winster Hall, in the County of Derbyshire, at the private press of Llwellynn Jewitt, F.S.A”, sold for the princely sum of “Nowt!” for private distribution. The newsletter states that only 25 copies were printed so perhaps these were to amuse friends, family or neighbours in the Christmas season.

Continue reading “Item of the month: Ye Peakrel, a Winster Christmas hodgepodge, 1878”

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