MARSDEN, William (1754-1836)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA Marsden
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: MARSDEN, William (1754-1836)
Date(s)	: c1580-1805
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 4 boxes (including 2 outsize), 1 volume
Name of creator(s)	: Marsden | William | 1754-1836 | orientalist and numismatist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born at Verval, county Wicklow, Ireland, 1754; classically educated at schools in Dublin; obtained an appointment from the East India Company and left Gravesend, 1770; reached Bencoolen, Sumatra, 1771; served in Sumatra first as a sub-secretary and afterwards as principal secretary to the government; learnt Malayan; departed for England, 1779; became acquainted with Sir Joseph Banks, 1780; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1783; later became its treasurer and vice-president, often presiding during Banks' illness; elected fellow of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, 1784; Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, 1785; an original member of the Royal Irish Academy, 1785; invested his savings and with his brother John established an East India agency business in Gower Street, London, 1785; honorary degree of DCL, Oxford, 1786; member and treasurer of the Royal Society Club, 1787; accepted the post of second secretary of the admiralty, 1795; member of the Literary Club, 1799; promoted to first secretary of the admiralty, 1804; resigned, 1807; suffered from apoplexy, 1833; died from an apoplectic attack, 1836; buried at the cemetery at Kensal Green, London. Publications include: The History of Sumatra (London, 1783, and later editions); Dictionary of the Malayan Language (London, 1812); The Travels of Marco Polo (1818), translated from the Italian; Numismata Orientalia (London, 1823-5); Bibliotheca Marsdeniana Philologica et Orientalis: a Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts (London, 1827). His autobiography was edited and published by his widow Elizabeth as A Brief Memoir of ... William Marsden (London, 1838).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscripts collected by William Marsden, including letters and other material, 1627-1668, relating to Portuguese Catholic missionaries in India, some from Ajmir and Agra, and Tibet; martyrology of Portuguese missionaries in India and other parts of Asia, [17th century]; manuscript entitled 'Principio do dereito q. tem el Rey de Portugal da Ilha de Goa...1595', bound with 'Livro tresladado dos contos de Goa de todos os ordenados q. Sua Magestade da na India...', both 1658, also with cipher used presumably by the Jesuits, 'Cifra da Compa. q. devem ter todos os superiores...'; texts, grammars and vocabularies, [17th-18th centuries], including Welsh; Icelandic; Kannada; Tamil fragments, some on palmyra leaves; Javanese text; Tagalog fragments; 'Bocabulario Tagalo', [c1580]; 'Vocabulario de la lengua Iloca'; manuscript letter from C T de Murr to William Marsden, 24 Feb 1797, regarding the Bibliotheca glottica universalis, with accompanying typescript transcription; Ionian (Greek) newspaper concerning King George III, 1805.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Kannada, Tamil, Javanese, Tagalog, Iloca, Greek

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive Services, King's College London.

Finding aids:

Notes on some manuscripts available in the reading room, King's College London Archives. Bibliotheca Marsdeniana Philologica et Orientalis: a Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts (London, 1827) listed Marsden's collection, but only some manuscripts went to King's College London.

Archival Information

Archival history:

William Marsden collected manuscripts and books reflecting his interests in the Orient and in languages. Malay documents in the Light Letters (Ref: MS 40320), part of the collection given by Marsden to King's College London in 1835, were transferred to the School of Oriental Studies (later the School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, shortly after its foundation in 1916, to be followed by a substantial part of his library in 1918.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Marsden presented manuscripts and books to King's College London in 1835.

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London Archives holds information about Marsden's collection (Ref: KAL/AD6/F50-1). Some printed material from his library, including rare items, remains in Special Collections at King's College Library.

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, holds Malay documents in the Light Letters (Ref: MS 40320) which were part of the collection formed by William Marsden. British Library, Manuscript Collections, holds some of his manuscripts (Ref: Add MSS 9852-61, 6878-9), and material relating to Marsden himself, including letters, 1797-1806, to Lord Bridport (Ref: Add MSS 35198-201); letters, 1807-1831, to Thomas Grenville (Ref: Add MSS 41857-59); correspondence, 1797-1805, with Lord Nelson (Ref: Add MSS 34902-36). British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, holds letters, 1809-1826, to Sir Thomas Raffles (Ref: MSS Eur D 742) and natural history drawings. Marsden presented his collection of Oriental and Indian coins to the British Museum in 1834. University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, holds early printed dictionaries and grammars relating to Slavonic languages from Marsden's library.

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Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: brief description in King's College London Manuscripts and Private Papers: A Select Guide (1982); Dictionary of National Biography; National Register of Archives; King's College Library online catalogue; British Library manuscripts online catalogue; AIM25 description of the Light Letters (MS 40320) at SOAS; website of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London; C R Boxer, More about the Marsden Manuscripts in the British Museum, from the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Apr 1949.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jan 2001