Letters from the Past

"Election at Leith, 1839"

This letter is written by Archer & Mcann in Leith, dated 23 April 1839, and concerns the election for Leith burghs. It is marked by the writer “Pd” in the top left corner. There are three legible postal markings :- the manuscript charge mark of 1, signifying the cost of one penny; the LEITH circular date stamp with LEITH at the top, then PAID then the date 23 ? AP and the year underneath, 1839 very faint and not completely stamped ; impressed over over that date stamp is the double circle date stamp applied in Edinburgh, PAID AP 24 1839 with the letter E, identifying the handstamp. On the reverse the recipient has noted “Leith 23d Ap 1839 Mr Mcfie Leith Election”. The contents of the letter are interesting Leith 23 April 1839 Dear Sir Mr Rutherfurd intends to address the Electors of the Leith District in the Trinity House on Thursday first at 12 Oc noon preparatory to which a Meeting of his friends will be held in the Committee Room at 11 Oc at which you are particularly requested to attend. We are Dear Sir Yours truly Archer & McCann. One of the reasons why this letter is interesting to me, is that it enclosed another single sheet letter, and yet it escaped the double postage rate which was in force in England at that time. As it was in the Edinburgh Penny Post area, perhaps the double cost would not have applied in Scotland. The enclosed letter is addressed to John McFie Esq 27 Regent Terrace, and this is the transcription: 4 Oclock Wednesday My dear Sir, Mr Rutherfurd is to be down tomorrow Thursday to address his constituents in the Trinity House at 11 Oclock I wish much you could attend and meet our Leith friends in the side room I am my dear sir Yours truly Adam White. Notes :- 1) I checked on the internet for information about this politician, and this is an extract from the information on Wikipedia the free encyclopedia :- Andrew Rutherfurd, Lord Rutherfurd, PC, FRSE (born Andrew Greenfield; 21 June 1791 died 13 December 1854) was a Scottish advocate, judge and politician.In the 1830s he is listed as an advocate living at 9, St Colme Street, on the Moray Estate in Edinburgh's west end. He was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland from 1837, becoming Lord Advocate in 1839 and Member of Parliament for Leith burghs in the same year. He resigned office in September 1841 on William Peel’s accession to power. He was appointed Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1844. He played an active part in parliamentary proceedings relating to Scotland, and proposed the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. He was reappointed Lord Advocate in 1846, and was responsible for legislation amending the law of entail in Scotland in 1848. He served on the Royal Commission on the British Museum (1847–49). He had a successful career in politics. Notes: 2) As an additional point of interest, I knew that in 1832 the English Parliament had passed a reform bill to sort out the rules concerning elections in England and Wales, and wondered if the same thing had applied to Scotland. I checked and found that there was a similar Act for Scotland. This is relevant information, which also came from Wikipedia. The Scottish Reform Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Scotland. The act was passed at approximately the same time as the Reform Act 1832, which applied to England and Wales. The chief architects of the Act were Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn. It was subsequently given the official short title of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832. Prior to the Act, Scotland's electorate was only 0.2% of the population compared to 4% in England. The Scottish electorate overnight soared from 5,000 to 65,000, or 13% of the adult men, and was no longer a private preserve for a few very rich families. Because of this change in the electoral system, it would have been important for Mr. Rutherfurd to meet his prospective electors to persuade them to vote for him. Our letter shows that he was taking his election campaign seriously and was going to meet with his constituents in Leith, and his record shows that he was successfully elected in 1839 for Leith burghs.

References :

‘Great Britain Post Roads Post Towns and Postal Rates 1635-1839’

Wikipedia as cited in article