IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0064 MID
Held at: National Maritime Museum
Title: Middleton, Charles, Admiral, 1st Baron Barham (1726-1813)
Date(s): [1778-1806]
Level of description: Collection
Extent:
Name of creator(s): Middleton | Charles | 1726-1813 | Admiral | 1st Baron Barham
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Charles Middleton entered the navy as a captain's servant in 1741, was promoted a lieutenant in 1745 and post captain in 1758. In 1778 he became Comptroller of the Navy, a position he held until 1790. He was created a baronet in 1781 and, though holding a civil post, a rear-admiral in 1787, being made a vice-admiral in 1793 and admiral in 1795. In 1794-5 he was senior sea lord to Lord Spencer and in 1805-6, First Lord of the Admiralty. Between 1804 and 1807 he headed the Commission for revising and digesting the civil affairs of the navy, being made a peer in May 1805 on accepting the appointment as First Lord.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Charles Middleton. They consist of his private correspondence and his administrative papers. The latter cover the range of Admiralty and Navy Board subjects of business between 1778 and 1806. Originally Middleton arranged them all either by writer or alphabetically by subject; Sir John Knox Laughton may also have contributed to the arrangement. In so far as letters and administrative papers were largely separate, this arrangement has been retained, though extended and carried throughout the collection. Additional letters and papers, obviously added by John Deas Thompson, have been formed into a distinct section. A further group of papers were purchased from Lord Gainsborough via Christie's in 1994. Where possible these have been integrated into the existing catalogue sequence, from MID/1-MID/14. Further correspondence has been added in a new section, MID/15.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
Finding aids:
Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The papers were purchased form Maggs Bros, Sotheby's. Francis Edwards, Charles B Lee and The Right Honourable the Earl of Gainsborough between 1966 and 1979.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Edited by Sarah Drewery, Sep 2011.
Date(s) of descriptions: 2010-08-26