Irlande

Caroline of Ansbach signing as Regent 'Guardian of the Kingdom' to her husband King George II. Autograph Signature 'Carolina R. C. R.' i.e. 'Regina Custos Regni' to warrant also signed by Sir William Strickland Secretary at War.

rif. 21436 — 'Given at the Court at Kensington this 23d. Day of June 1732. In the Sixth Year of His Majesty's Reign.'. The Oxford DNB explains the context of the document: 'During his four absences in Hanover in 1729 1732 1735 and 1736–7 George II left her as regent entrusted with “all domestic matters”. Foreign affairs were dealt with by the king and the secretaries of state one of whom accompanied him to Germany but other affairs were left “entirely to the Queen with the advice of the Lords of the Council”'. 2pp foolscap 8vo. On bifolium the verso of the second leaf of which is endorsed: 'Warrant for placing upon Half Pay Captain Stanhope Yarborough'. In good condition lightly aged and worn with short closed cut at head of first leaf and thin strip of paper from mount adhering at edge of second leaf and four crease lines from the folding of the document into a packet. The thirty-nine lines of the document's text are in a secretarial hand with the queen's signature 'Carolina R. C. R.' written boldly beneath the heading: 'By Her Majesty the Queen Guardian of the Kingdom &c.' The warrant instructs the Paymaster General Henry Pelham to place 'Captain Stanhope Yarborough and Captain Claude de Lavabre Two Reduc'd Officers of the Irish Establishment' on half pay of five shillings a day each 'which is the amount of the Half Pay of a Lieutent. Colonel of Dragoons' it having been 'humbly represented unto Us' that the half pay of 'Brigadier General John Moyle the Reduced Lieutenant Colonel of Brigadier General Newton's late Regiment of Dragoons' is 'equal to that of Two Reduced Captains of Foot'. From the distinguished autograph collection of Richard Hunter son of Ida Macalpine whose collection of 7000 books relating to psychiatry is in Cambridge University Library. Macalpine and Hunter had a particular interest in the illness of King George III and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' 1969 suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'. 'Given at the Court at Kensington this 23d. Day of June 1732. In the Sixth Year of His Majesty's Reign.' unknown