Beautiful 1774 entire and a remarkable slice of social history. Sent 251 years ago this week.

Sent from Liverpool by one Richard Rowlinson, clerk to Mr Rowe. He will almost certainly be William Rowe, a lawyer out of John Street. To Thomas Plumbe c/o Mrs Tempest in Nottingham.

Who was he? Captain Thomas Plumbe of the Royal Lancashire Militia. From Aughton. We don’t know what he looked like but we do know what he wore on duty. The uniform pictured belonged to him and is understood to be the OLDEST KNOWN COMPLETE BRITISH MILITARY UNIFORM remaining! Preserved for posterity and on display in a museum.

http://www.kingsownmuseum.com/plumbea.htm

Mrs Tempest would be a relative (sister or mother maybe) of his wife Elizabeth.

The Tempest family - landed recusants (catholic dissenters) - hailed originally from Yorkshire where they built Tong Hall. Once he married into the family Plumbe bought the hall. And from the contents of the letter he also owned land in Liverpool or Bootle that was at centre of a disputed plan to supply Liverpool with water, which had been in the works since 1710 and eventually came good in the early 19th Century. As the letter notes, Lord Derby was among those to object to the plan.

Lots of rabbit holes to go down here

Transcript below.

BIN £150

Postage special UK tracked elsewhere FOC

PP or BT