The Minto Papers

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The Minto Papers
Housed at National Library of Scotland
Size (no. of items)2000 +

The Minto Papers is a collection of family, estate and political manuscripts related to the family of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto and his descendants. The collection has in it over 2000 manuscript volumes. The bulk of the collection was initially purchased in 1958 by the National Library of Scotland (NLS), with later additions to the collection made by purchase and donation. The collection is stored at the NLS main building on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Contents

History

Gilbert Eliot, 1st Earl of Minto Gilbert Eliot, 1st Earl of Minto by James Atkinson.jpg
Gilbert Eliot, 1st Earl of Minto

The founder of the family, Sir Gilbert Elliot, 1st Baronet of Minto (1651 - 1718), was born to Margaret Hay and her husband, Gavin Elliot of Midlem Mill, in Scotland. Elliot was initially a writer, though he began assisting in legal cases and helped William Vietch and the Earl of Argyll escape charges in 1679 and 1691 respectively. He was forced to go into exile in Europe due to the treasonous nature of his role, though he was pardoned by King James VII and returned to Scotland in 1687, where he was admitted to the faculty of Advocates. He later was knighted (in 1682) and became a baronet in 1700. He was appointed as a Lord of Session as Lord Minto in 1705, and added Minto to his property in 1703.

Elliot was succeeded by his son, Sir Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Baronet of Minto (1693 - 1766), and his son after him, Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet of Minto, who was both a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and an active politician at Westminster. Sir Gilbert Elliot, 4th Baronet (and, later, 1st Earl) (1751 - 1814), was appointed Governor-General of British India in 1807 and as Earl of Minto in 1813. His eldest son, Gilbert-Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto (1782 - 1859) served as a Cabinet Minister in the Whig Ministries of Grey, Melbourne and Russell. William Hugh, 3rd Earl of Minto (1814 - 1891) was a member of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. His son, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (1845 - 1914) was made Governor-General of Canada in 1898 and Viceroy of British India in 1905. [1]

The Minto Papers document the activities of the members of the Elliot family, and are a valuable source of study for most aspects of Scottish affairs in the 18th and 19th centuries, including: the local history of Roxburghshire; general British politics; war and diplomacy in Europe; Italian affairs of the 19th century; Canadian affairs in the late 19th century; and the British raj. Previously some letters of David Hume were a part of the collection, though these have moved to Oxford's Bodleian Library.

Scope and Contents

The Minto Papers are made up of 2188 volumes and span over the course of three centuries, telling not only the story of the Eliot family, but also providing important historical knowledge and context. The collection is extensive and as such has been catalogued by subject. There are seven subjects which divide the papers: Family papers; Correspondence; Financial Records; Legal documents; Administrative records; Proceedings and reports; and Estate records. [2]

Included in the Minto Papers are multiple volumes on minutes and proceedings, various correspondence to and from family members, papers concerning retrenchment and mutiny, speeches, press cuttings, and microfilms, as well as many other miscellaneous documents. [3]

There are several other collections of documents related to the Elliot family which complement the Minto Papers, namely the papers of Countess Mary Elliot, kept the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, [4] and the records on the Boston Tea Party compiled by a member of the family, Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet of Minto, (1722 - 1777), at Harvard University's Houghton Library. [5] There are also some related items in the Osborn Collection at Yale University and in the National Maritime Museum in London.

See also

Related Research Articles

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto Scottish politician

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto,, known as Sir Gilbert Elliott, 4th Baronet until 1797, and The Lord Minto from 1797 to 1814, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1776 and 1795. He was viceroy of the short-lived Anglo-Corsican Kingdom from 1793 to 1796 and went on to become Governor-General of India between July 1807 and 1813.

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto British peer and politician (1845–1914)

Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto,, known as Viscount Melgund by courtesy from 1859 to 1891, was a British peer and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the eighth since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, the country's 17th.

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Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto,, styled as Viscount Melgund between 1813 and 1814, was a British diplomat and Whig politician.

Earl of Minto

Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 7th Earl of Minto.

National Library of Scotland Legal deposit library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland (NLS) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom, it is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).

Minto may refer to:

The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature. The club was established in 1823 and printed 116 volumes before being dissolved in 1861.

(Gilbert) Timothy Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 7th Earl of Minto, styled Viscount Melgund between 1975 and 2005, is the chief executive of British stationery company Paperchase. He is the son of the late Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 6th Earl of Minto and his first wife, Lady Caroline Child Villiers. The Earl resides in England, but has continuing links with Scotland, as his parents did.

Clan Eliott Scottish clan

Clan Eliott is a Border Reiver Scottish clan.

Hugh Elliot

Hugh Elliot was a British diplomat and then a colonial governor.

Gilbert Edward George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 6th Earl of Minto,, styled Viscount Melgund until 1975, was a Scottish peer.

William Hugh Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto, was a British Whig politician. He was the eldest son of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto.

Arthur Elliot (politician) British journalist and politician

Arthur Ralph Douglas Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, known as Arthur Elliot, was a British journalist and Liberal Unionist politician.

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Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet, of Minto

Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet, was born at Minto, Roxburghshire, and was a Scottish statesman, philosopher and poet.

Victor Gilbert Lasiston Garnet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 5th Earl of Minto was a member of the British nobility. He was the son of Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto and Lady Mary Caroline Grey. He married Marion Cook, daughter of George William Cook, on 19 January 1921. He died in 1975.

Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound may refer to:

The John Murray Archive

The John Murray Archive is a collection of 234 years' worth of manuscripts, private letters, and business papers from various notable, mostly British, authors including correspondence between Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, and letters of Jane Austen and Charles Darwin. The Archive consists of over a million items, valued at more than £100 million, and is kept at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The India Papers collection is an archive containing roughly 4,200 bound volumes dated from the post-Mutiny reorganisation of the Indian government up until Indian Independence in 1947 and is essentially a collection of almost all things relating to British India. There are large sections devoted to the state's medical history, human rights, military history, education, industry and trade, travel, politics, religion, arts, and various other subjects. Notable documents in the archive include important documentation concerning eye-witness accounts of the Partition riots and the police reports on Gandhi's political meetings. The rare collection is held at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in Edinburgh, Scotland. Only one other collection of similar size and content can be found in the UK, the India Office Records, which are held at the British Library in London. The India Papers are complemented further by more the substantial collections in India and in the United States.

References

  1. Francis Scott Elliot, George (1897). The Border Elliots and the Family of Minto. David Douglas.
  2. "Catalogue of Archives and Manuscripts Collections | National Library of Scotland | NLSMSS | Correspondence and papers of the Elliot family of Minto". manuscripts.nls.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  3. "Kevin Halliwell : Textualities" . Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  4. "Collection: Papers of Mary Elliot, Countess of Minto | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  5. "Collection: Gilbert Elliot Minto tea party papers | HOLLIS for". hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2 September 2020.