Reference
R3/75
Title
Letter from Turton to John Temple
Reads- Mr. Willoughby's demands by order of the Duke make my wife and I uneasy. We cannot afford the money. We have had a lawsuit to pay for, and now we have this fresh trouble to deal with. I cannot dispute His Graces claim, but we are quite ignorant of the clauses in Mr. Petty's building lease. We have never seen the lease. Payment of rectorial dues to the Rector of Covent Garden - we can't do it. We have had two decrees in Chancery to our favour but have not yet obtained any money. The Chancery Solicitor has stript me of my goods and chattels, got possesion of my estate, and won't tell me how matters stand. I still own just a few houses. Details of these houses, the people who rented them and repairs done to them. "As my present circumstances are so bad, not only depriv'd of my property, but also of my Liberty; and as my profession restrains me from any civil imployment to get Bread for my Family, which are too young to provide for themselves, My eldest son being scarce able to see his way through his cataracts, and my youngest being mangled by Surgeons through the Kings Evil, under all these calamitous afflictions if His Grace the Duke of Bedford should proceed to great severity, myself, wife and the six children must perish".
Please represent our case to Mr. Willoughby. Please remind him that my wife Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Richard Petty who was a faithful steward to the Duke of Bedford's Great Grandfather and Father, and that she has honestly and punctually paid the Dukes rent for many years past.
Date free text
23 Dec 1740
Production date
From: 1740 To: 1740
Level of description
item