This is a long explanatory letter justifying Mr Harmon’s complaint about the delay in the payment of his debt.It is written on really heavy cream paper with watermark G PATCH 1801 with the seated Britannia in an oval on the right hand side.
It has three postmarks, the Jermyn Street double frame London Receiving House the type in use from 1790 to 1838; the charge mark 9 which has been amended to 1/6, double the basic rate because of the weight of the letter, and then the double ring evening duty circular date stamp of JY 10 1805.
 
This is the transcript.
Jermyn Street no.38 London
July the 10th, 1805
Sir,
I this morning was favoured with your letter, respecting my demand upon the estate of the late Mr. Broadhurst, and am happy to find, that the executors took that demand into their consideration at Xmas 1804; though I have been requesting them so to do ever since November 1798.
You tell me Sir, that the executors at that meeting thought 200£ would be an ample remuneration, upon what principle that computation is made I know not; but sure I am that I did not undertake the settlement of Mr Broadhurst&rsquo:s business with Lord Donegall upon those terms, nor was I to be paid for it, by a bill of pounds shillings and pence. Mr. Broadhurst knew the difficulties that I had to encounter, and therefore he voluntarily offered to give me 500£ if I conducted him through that concern without any suit. I was to make no bill, nor even to have that sum, but upon those conditions, and these were the terms upon which I expressly undertook it, and after 4 years and an half incessant labour and attendances I succeeded, and fulfilled my part of the engagement.
He then continues with a lot more information about how the whole business was conducted.
The late Mr Broadhurst knew the terms he made with me and approved them. Many of my family have also been apprised of it by Mr Broadhurst, and this 500£ ought to have been paid to me when that demand was settled. Had Sir Chas Talbot been living I should have referred the Executors to him that he might have informed them, that I had fairly earned that sum: but he being dead I can only refer them to Mr Manley who acted as his Agent and who I should think would say, that I was justly and truly entitled to it; even if no contract had been made.
The day the business was settled and Mr Broadhurst was paid his money he dined with Mr Martindale in Park St. He told him that Sir Chas Talbot had recommended him to give me for my trouble and attention to his interest, and he informed him that the mode in which I had managed the business had made him so extremely happy, that he intended to do that and much more for me, but he added I don’t yet consider myself as out of the boat unless my friend Mr Martin could be got through his difficulties and therefore I must get his debt from Lord Donegall. I became concerned for him in the settlement of that business which was a very complicated concern, and in which Mr Broadhurst was implicated, so much so that everything that I had before done had liked to have been overturned and it was with the greatest difficulty I brought it to a close but not until Xmas 1797.
I had refused paying Mr Broadhurst any interest upon my bond for two years before his death, conceiving that I was well entitled to have that security returned by him to me, for services that I had rendered to him, and his family whose character I had saved and whose property I had protected.
The letter continues on to sides two and three.
I certainly should have demanded my bond then, but as he had frequently informed me and my wife, that he had left a considerable legacy by his will to my son, to whom he stood godfather, and had likewise left one to me; I was foolish enough to believe him, and suffered this matter to remain unsettled till I had finished Martin’s business which I only accomplished at Xmas 1797.
Mr Broadhurst died in the July following, and Mr. Upton in his letter to me of the 5th of that month informs me of his death, and says
““recollecting what I once mentioned to you (this was his having left me a legacy), he thinks it necessary to inform me that on the 18th of March he executed his last will, and that my name was then omitted, which stood in the former will”.
Note : he then explains what the situation is now, and that his complaint has not been dealt with fairly.
This sir, is the short history of my case, and I have no objection to it’s being inserted in the Derby Mercury with my last letter to Mr. Upton. For when he twelve months ago hinted to me a payment of 200 gns I rejected it, and you ought to have been apprised that I had done so, relying as I did, and now do, upon the promise Mr Broadhurst made me and having fulfilled my part of the engagement. Mr Broadhurst always spoke of it to my family, he continually mentioned it to Mr Martindale, he never came to Town but he was always saying “Why don’t Harman get Martins business settled that I may pay him my 500£.
I therefore confess that I feel myself extremely ill used, and why, I know not because I communicated what I have here stated to Mr Upton so long since as Nov 1798, who as a professional man ought not to have left my demand so long unsettled.
I have expressed my self warmly in my letters to him, because I thought, and have by your letter more reasons than ever for thinking he had been the cause of my debt not being discharged.
This last illustration shows how poorly the letter was opened, but particularly to show the very fancy signature and flourish at the end of the letter.
Had Mr Upton written to me or called upon Mr Manly and enquired into the transaction, which he promised he would do in his letter of the 11 June 1802, I think he would have found that I was fairly and justly entitled to the sum I have demanded and which I have been demanding for these last six years, and that independent of any contract.
Therefore under these circumstances Sir, you will excuse me in not accepting your offer of 200£ and I must request that no more time be lost in settling my debt as delivered into the Exetrs.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obt servant
S. Harman.
I beg my best compts to your sister, whom we were in hopes of seeing in Town in the month of March last.
From the great detail Mr Harmon has put into this letter, it really does seem as if he has a fair complaint, and it has dragged on for years.
I was unable to find out anything about either the writer himself, or Henry Hadley the surgeon of Derby, but there is information about Lord Donegall and Sir Charles Talbot, but no record of this complaint or of the resolution.
|