[Early Victorian railways.] Seven items on the topic, including six Autograph Letters Signed by William Green, John Gregson, Jonathan Binns, Oswald Gilkes, Augustus Maitland, William Shuttleworth, to John Diston Powles, Sir Joseph Fowler and others.

Seven items, all in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Housed in an elegant and sturdy custom-built brown buckram folder, with thick boards, flaps and red leather label, with 'Letters on Railways' stamped in gilt on the spine. The first item is a transcription of a set of accounts by Edward Pease, and the other six items are letters, whose authors are: William Green, John Gregson, Jonathan Binns, Oswald Gilkes, Augustus Maitland, William Shuttleworth. The recipients of the six letters are: John Diston Powles, John Gregson, Sir Joseph Fowler, the Directors of the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, James Hunter, Charles Manby. The letters concern and refer to: Robert Stephenson, George Parker Bidder, Sir William Fairbairn, William Booth, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, the Durham and Sunderland Railway Company, the Lancaster and Preston Railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, the Dundee and Arbroath Railway Company. The items are listed in the following description in chronological order. ONE. Transcription of a document by Edward Peace (1767-1868; ODNB), Darlington woollen manufacturer and railway promoter. Headed: 'Copy of Statement delivered by Edd Pease to the Treasurer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Compy. of Sums advanced by E. P.' 1p., 12mo. Docketed on reverse: 'Particulars of payment P Edward. Pease on a/c of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company'. Consisting of 21 entries, dating from 15 December 1819 ('Postage 1/9: - 7d: Parcel to Lonn. 4/2 [total 6s 6d]') to June 4 1821 (four entries: 'Room Cleaning 3/- Rumford for horses 20/- [total £1 3s 0d] | Postage Duty 2/3 Swansea ½ Lancaster 1/11 [total 5s 6d] | Carrge of Bars 9/5 Postage 1/9 Do 3/9 [total £0 15s 0d] | <?> Sums to Levett [possibly the 'Arthur Levitt' in a previous entry] & <?>.' Two possible entries for Robert Stephenson: on 23 December 1819, '[Postage] R Stevenson 2/7'; and on 27 March 1821, 'Stevenson ½'. TWO. Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm Green') from William Green of 33 Clements Lane, London, to the speculator John Diston Powles (1787-1867; ODNB) of Messrs Herring, Graham & Powles, Freeman's Court, Cornhill, London. 33 Clement's Lane; 16 November 1824. 1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed (with broken black wax seal) on reverse of second leaf of bifolium to 'J: D: Powles Esqre | Freeman's Court', and docketed 'W Green | Nov. 16. 24 | Liverpool Rail Road'. (Green is possibly the following individual, mentioned in Bradshaw's Railway Gazette, 1846: 'William Green, Esq., Hull, Director of the York, Hull, and East and West Yorkshire Junction and Hull and Swansea Railways'.) Green writes that he is sending Powles 'the directions of the Committee [of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway] to me'. These he gives as follows: 'Resolved - That the Secretary be directed to call upon the Editors of the Times & Morning Chronicle for the purpose of inserting the Paragraph in one of them received from Mr. Booth [Henry Booth (1789-1869; ODNB), the company's secretary] - & also to obtain their Comments generally in favor of the proposed Rail Road & likewise to arrange the terms for advertizing the Prospectus &c. | For the same purpose to apply to the Editors of the John Bull, New Times and other Papers mentioned in the Letters from Liverpool.' THREE. Autograph Letter Signed from the barrister John Gregson (1805-1879) of Burdon and Murton, Durham, to his namesake John Gregson (1793-1860) of 18 Bedford Row, London, Member of Parliament for Saltash between 1830 and 1831. Durham; 6 November 1836. 2pp., 4to. Bifolium. He cannot send 'a copy of our advertisement by the Mail of this Evening', as 'we cannot get the Survey laid before the Directors until Tuesday'. He describes 'one part of our plan', which will be 'to have a Branch from near Shincliffe Bridge to pass thro' Houghall, cross the Darlington Turnpike a little to the North of Harewell Hall, cross the River Browney near to Langley and so into Brandon, Braceforth &c. and perhaps in the end to tap [last word underlined twice] the projected South Durham Line near to Willington, which it is believed will bring the West Country Coal to Sunderland in preference to any of the other places of Shipment'. He asks for 'authority, from those competent to give it, to survey thro' the Brandon, Brancepeth, & other Russell Estates [belonging to William Russell of Brancepeth, whose agent the recipient was] if it shall be necessary, and perhaps a Letter from you to Colonel Mills will answer our present purpose.' He concludes: 'I hope to hear from you tomorrow morning with the Serjeant's Opinion, so that I may have it at the Directors' Meeting on Tuesday'. FOUR. Autograph Letter Signed ('Jonn. Binns') from Jonathan Binns (1785-1871), surveyor, to the engineer Sir Joseph Fowler (1817-1898). Ulverston; 11 February 1839. 3pp., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf, with broken red wax seal. The letter begins: 'My Dear Friend | As Sundays only are fine Days there is some hazard of your finishing in time and as no time is to be lost I intend when I reach home this afternoon to write to Sir William [Scottish engineer Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874), consultant to Robert Stephenson] who is about 20 miles south of Lancaster at present to know if he can come and assist with the levels. I am taking this liberty at a risk of being thought too meddling or of you not requiring assistance - However if you do not require it no great harm will be done.' Fairbairn 'may possibly be on his way now, as I wrote to him to assist us in the survey, but he could not come for a few days.' Binns may see Fairbairn at Lancaster. 'He has had much practice in levelling for railways and would be of use to you I think'. As it is 'Mr R's wish', he will write to him from Lancaster, and will 'mention about my Sons assisting'. He does not expect there to be any objection to the proposal, but if his son cannot come, 'probably Myers may be induced to forego his engagements for a short time'. If Fowler should 'want employt.', he 'might make a tracing of the plan for the Solr. which would <?> the business in place of it's [sic] having to be cut forward to Calder Bridge for that purpose & back again!' Postscript: 'I have seen Mr who has <?> not got the reference quite complete even on the Lancaster side, he complains of the want of a surveyor to discover the fields & the line, he says it occupies him more than double the time it would do if he had one with him.' FIVE. Autograph Letter Signed from Oswald Gilkes (c.1812-1855), 'To the Directors of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company'. Darlington; 7 November 1839. 1p., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf. He writes that he had 'intended to offer myself as a tenant for your shops at Shildon, but understanding that you have concluded to take them into your own hands & will therefore want no fresh tenant; and supposing that you will require some person to fill the office of a Manager or Confidential accountant, I venture to offer my services for that situation.' By 1848 Gilkes was the company's secretary. SIX. Letter in a clerk's hand, on behalf of, Augustus Maitland (1800-1855), Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh, and signed ('A. Maitland') by him, to James Hunter, Writer to the Signet, Dundee. Edinburgh; 21 March 1842. 4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with red wax seal and four Penny Reds, to 'James Hunter Esqre. | Writer | Dundee'. Docketed: 'Regarding the Submission, Mr Hunter with the D & A. Railway Company'. A long detailed letter discussing points arising from the 'D[ra]ft Decreet Arbitral and D[ra]ft Disposition', with reference to Messrs. Shiell and Small, Mr. Hawe, Mr Dalziel. The crux appears to be 'whether Mr. Hunter did purchase the small piece of property at Carnoustie from George Watson in 1837, and whether Watson had sold the Railway Co[mpan]y a portion of the said property'. Maitland includes a transcription of a letter from Messrs. Shiell & Small, Writers to the Signet, Dundee, to 'Mr. Hawe | 19 Melville St. [Edinburgh]', dated from Dundee, 18 March 1842, the most important section of which reads: 'There is a small piece of property at Carnoustie which Mr. Hunter purchased from George Watson in 1837, but as Watson had sold the Railway Company a portion of the property Mr. Hunter requires to implement his Bargain; and the Company are ready to pay the price, on Mr. Hunter granting a Conveyance, which we think he ought to be ordained to do in the Decreet Arbitral.' A copy is also included of a letter from Hawe to Maitland, dated 19 March 1842, asking Maitland to 'consider the trifling changes proposed by' Shiell and Small. SEVEN. Autograph Letter Signed from the town clerk of Liverpool William Shuttleworth to the engineer Charles Manby (1804-1884; ODNB), London agent for Robert Stephenson & Co. 2pp., 12mo. On letterhead of the Town Hall, Liverpool; 19 October 1859. Regarding the funeral of Robert Stephenson he writes that he 'would gladly have put myself to any amount of personal inconvenience to have had the opportunity of paying the last mark of respect to the Memory of Robert Stephenson, & I wrote to Mr Bidder [Stephenson's employee the engineer and calculating prodigy George Parker Bidder (1806-1878; ODNB)] begging to be informed when & where the funeral would take place', but he now finds he has 'public business which requires my personal attendance here on Friday next', and this will prevent him from attending, so he is returning the ticket which Manby has sent him.