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Charles William Paterson Papers: Finding Aid
mssHM 76748-76787
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Title: Charles William Paterson Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1777-approximately 1858
Bulk dates: 1793-1798
Collection Number: mssHM 76748-76787
Creator:
Paterson, Charles William, 1756-1841.
Extent: 43 pieces. 1 box.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This small collection contains papers of British Naval officer Charles William Paterson (1756-1841),
who became Admiral of the White in 1837. The twin cores of this collection are six letters from Paterson in 1793-1794 to family
during his naval
service chiefly in the Mediterranean, and the Navy Board's various administrative letters to Paterson in 1798.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Charles William Paterson Papers, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased from Richard Ford Manuscripts Ltd., London, September 2011.
Charles William Paterson (1756-1841), British naval officer and ultimately Admiral of the White, began his career in North
American waters serving under Admiral Lord Howe during the
Revolutionary War. He was appointed to the store-ship Gorgon in 1793 and served under Lord Hood at Toulon Bay, was promoted
post captain in January 1794,
commanded the Ariadne and the
Melpomene in the Mediterranean, and returned to England in 1795. In 1798 he was appointed to the
Admiral de Vries
and supervised its repair and refitting at the Chatham naval dockyard. From 1800 to 1802 Paterson commanded the
Montagu and then the
San Fiorenzo
in the English Channel, and later in the war served at Portchester Castle and Spithead. He was promoted Vice Admiral in
1819, and Admiral of the White in 1837.
Paterson married Jane Ellen Yeats in March 1801; they had at least one son, George Yeats Paterson, also an officer in the
Royal Navy. Charles William Paterson died, probably at his home near Portsmouth, in March 1841.
The twin cores of this small collection consist of (1) six letters from Captain
Paterson to his uncle Charles William Tonyn (d. 1805, rector of Radnage in
Buckinghamshire) and to his grandmother, written chiefly from the Mediterranean in
1793-1794, mentioning in passing the French Royalist uprising at Toulon in November
1793, Sir william Sidney Smith's attack on the French naval fleet and arsenal in the
Inner Harbor at Toulon, and Paterson's own concerns for his family, patronage, and
promotion, and (2) the Navy Board's various letters to Paterson concerning the
personnel, supplies, and refitting of the ship Admiral de Vries at Chatham Yard in
1798. Other than a brief testimonial and a list of his promotions, there is
virtually nothing about Paterson's earlier service in North America or his
activities during the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
- George Grenville, Marquess of Buckingham letter to "Sir," an unidentified job printer, refusing to pay for an order placed fraudulently, 1795, November 15. (Call number: mssHM 71380)
The collection is arranged in chronological order.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Buckingham, George
Nugent Temple Grenville, Marquess of, 1753-1813.
Paterson, Charles
William, 1756-1841.
Smith, W. Sidney
(William Sidney), Sir, 1764-1840.
Stockdale, John
1749?-1814.
Admiral de Vries
(Ship)
Chatham dockyard (Great
Britain)
Gorgon
(Ship)
Great Britain. Board
of Ordnance.
Great Britain.
Commissioners for Sick and Wounded Seamen.
Great Britain. Navy
Board.
Great Britain. Royal
Navy -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.
Great Britain.
Victualling Office.
Navy- yards and naval stations -- Great
Britain -- History -- 18th century.
France -- History --
1789-1815 -- Sources.
Great Britain --
History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Toulon
(France)
Business letters -- Great Britain --
18th century.
Cartes-de-visite (card photographs) --
Great Britain.
Letters (correspondence) -- Great
Britain -- 18th century.
Visiting cards -- Great Britain --
19th century.
Collier, George, Sir, 1738-1795,
correspondent
Tonyn, Charles William, d. 1805,
recipient.
Sheerness dockyard (Great Britain),
correspondent.