John Backhouse papers, 1740-1956

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Summary

Creator:
Backhouse, John, 1784-1845
Abstract:
Merchant and British Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Business and personal correspondence of the Backhouse family, principally of John Backhouse. Material for the 18th and early 19th centuries reflects the family's mercantile operations, including efforts to collect pre-Revolutionary debts in America. Other papers relate to Backhouse's career as Commissioner and Receiver General of the Excise Office and Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, his service as private secretary to George Canning, his service with the diplomatic corps, his art collection, and his mercantile associates in Amsterdam and Hamburg. Other subjects include the Board of Control under Canning, and the British consulates at Canton and Amoy. Family correspondence contains numerous references to the Foreign Office and to relations with Circassia, France, Greece, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. Letters and diaries of Backhouse's son, George, and his wife include references to the slave trade and describe their life in Havana while he was commissary judge there. There are also thirteen Cabinet circulars (1835-1837) from the British Foreign Office and marked for return to either Backhouse or Strangways. These abstracts of intelligence were based on confidential reports received from the British ambassadors in Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Constantinople, and Petersburg, and relate chiefly to French, Russian, and Spanish politics.
Extent:
12 Linear Feet (30 boxes; 1 oversize folder)
4,480 Items
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00062

Background

Scope and content:

Business and personal correspondence of the Backhouse family, principally of John Backhouse. Material for the 18th and early 19th centuries reflects the family's mercantile operations, including efforts to collect pre-Revolutionary debts in America. Other papers relate to Backhouse's career as Commissioner and Receiver General of the Excise Office and Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, his service as private secretary to George Canning, his service with the diplomatic corps, his art collection, and his mercantile associates in Amsterdam and Hamburg. Other subjects include the Board of Control under Canning, and the British consulates at Canton and Amoy. Family correspondence contains numerous references to the Foreign Office and to relations with Circassia, France, Greece, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. Letters and diaries of Backhouse's son, George, and his wife include references to the slave trade and describe their life in Havana while he was commissary judge there.

There are also thirteen Cabinet circulars (1835-1837) from the British Foreign Office and marked for return to either Backhouse or Strangways. These abstracts of intelligence were based on confidential reports received from the British ambassadors in Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Constantinople, and Petersburg, and relate chiefly to French, Russian, and Spanish politics.

Biographical / historical:

Merchant and British Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Acquisition information:
The John Backhouse Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1968.
Processing information:

Processed by Rubenstein Library Staff

Encoded by Abraham Lee, January 2010

Accessions were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], John Backhouse Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1vs33