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The Legas-Remnant Letters, by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2009 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 29, article, p.14, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506576] Download PDF
Abstract:The correspondence forms part of a collection of papers, in the Guildhall Library, London, which relate to the trust set up under the will of William Harrison, a London merchant, ironmonger and iron founder. Harrison died on 3 January 1744/5 and, by his will, he placed his estate in trust for his two sons, Andrews and John. The trustees were his business partner, John Legas, a Sussex-based iron founder, and Samuel Remnant, a London merchant. As will be seen, much of the partners' business was with the Board of Ordnance, so it is unfortunate that for the whole of the period from 1721 to 1748 inclusive, in which all but eight letters of the correspondence were written, the Minutes of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance, which would have provided a great deal of complementary information for the period, have not survived.
The period covered by the letters was a time of considerable activity for the gun foundries of the Weald. The declaration of hostilities against Spain in 1739, following the incident of 'Jenkin's Ear', and the subsequent war over the disputed Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 until 1748, was fought on many fronts. Although initially confined to continental Europe, the increase in naval operations against the Spanish, and particularly the French, together with the continued competition for trading interests in America, the Caribbean, India and elsewhere, ensured a vigorous market for ordnance.
The letters complement those written by the Fuller family during the same period (Crossley & Saville, 1991), and many of the themes, as well as the individuals, that figure in those letters also feature in the present correspondence. Because of their purpose the Legas-Remnant letters inevitably provide a narrower perspective than those of the Fullers whose interests included their estates in Sussex and Jamaica and their political activities.
The period covered by the letters was a time of considerable activity for the gun foundries of the Weald. The declaration of hostilities against Spain in 1739, following the incident of 'Jenkin's Ear', and the subsequent war over the disputed Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 until 1748, was fought on many fronts. Although initially confined to continental Europe, the increase in naval operations against the Spanish, and particularly the French, together with the continued competition for trading interests in America, the Caribbean, India and elsewhere, ensured a vigorous market for ordnance.
The letters complement those written by the Fuller family during the same period (Crossley & Saville, 1991), and many of the themes, as well as the individuals, that figure in those letters also feature in the present correspondence. Because of their purpose the Legas-Remnant letters inevitably provide a narrower perspective than those of the Fullers whose interests included their estates in Sussex and Jamaica and their political activities.