This is a very short letter,written by George Inglis, addressed to Messrs J Cockburn & Campbell, 32 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh N.B. (the N.B. stood for North Britain, rather than Scotland).
has four postal markings :
1) a Warwick date stamp of Aug 3 1832
2 TOO LATE stamp applied in Warwick to show it had missed that day’s mail to Edinburgh.
3) a receiving datestamp from Edinburgh of Aug 6 1832 with identifying letter G and E for evening mail
4) the charge in manuscript, 1/1-1/2 (one shilling, one penny and the Additional halfpenny Scottish mail tax). This charge would have been put on in Edinburgh so that the cost would be recovered from Cockburn & Campbell before they delivered the letter.
It is written on very thick cream paper with a good watermark of an elongated crown, no initials, no date This is the type of crown watermark used by paper producers on page size Imperial and also Demy.
So now to the contents of the letter
College Warwick Aug 3rd 1832
Sirs,
Please to send me two dozen of Sercial in Pints & two doz of Lisbon. Having mislaid your last letter I have to request you to write the amount of the Wine before sent together with that of the present order.
I am Sirs,
Your very obedt. Servt.
Geo. Innes.
This is the kind of fascinating letter which leads to all kinds of questions.
Is/was there a College in Warwick now or in 1832?
What position did George Innes hold ?
Were Cockburn & Campbell well known wine merchants at the time?
What were the two products that he ordered?
I contacted the Warwick County Record office, and was given the following extremely helpful information from the County Archivist
Quote
As regards the College in Warwick, this is a reference to the grammar school which was founded after the dissolution of St Mary’s College in 1545 and was housed from about 1700 until 1879 in the former residence of the vicars choral of the college. The school still exists as Warwick School (a minor public school), and is situated on the Myton Road in Warwick.
George Innes was head master of the school from 1792 until his death at the age of 82 in 1842.
So he was 72 when he wrote this letter. It seems strange that he would order wine from Edinburgh, which is a long journey to Warwick.
Unquote
In 2019 I found information on the internet about the wine Sercial,(information and image of bottles), which looked dusty enough to be ordered by George Innes in 1832.
Sercial is the name of a white grape grown in Portugal, especially on the island of Madeira. It has given the name to the dryest of the four classic varieties of Madeira fortified wine; and that Lisbon is a type of port wine.
I also found information about the company which has published two books on their history. Unfortunately, the company was dissolved voluntarily in January 2019, having been in business since 1831. As I have had this letter since 1998, I should have sorted it out sooner, as they may well have liked to see an actual letter addressed to their business only a year after it had been founded.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.