Papers of George Earl Macartney/ Letters to Sir Robert Murray Keith

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): D/2433

Title: Papers of George Earl Macartney/ Letters to Sir Robert Murray Keith

Date(s): 1766 - 1777

Level of description: Fonds

Extent and medium of the unit of description: Ca.200 items

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer: George Earl Macartney

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: George Macartney, Earl Macartney (1737-1806) was one of the foremost British diplomats and proconsuls of his day. His distinguished career took him to Russia, the West Indies, India, China, Italy and South Africa - and even back to his native Ireland. In the century between c.1850 and c.1950, his papers have been dispersed in as many directions: some to the scenes of his diplomatic and proconsular activity, and still more to the United States. Fortunately, almost all his papers of relevance to Ireland - both to the one Irish office which he held and to his Co. Antrim estate - have remained in or been returned to his native Ulster, and are now most of them in PRONI. Of the highly fragmented archive, PRONI holds c.3, 000 documents (counting individual letters in letter-books as single items) and other institutions all over the world c.15, 000-20,000 documents (on the same basis). PRONI's holdings documenting Macartney's Co. Antrim estate affairs and of his period of office as Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1769-1772, are almost complete and are certainly fuller than those of any other individual or institution. But PRONI also holds almost all the Macartney archive documenting Macartney's abortive mission to Louis XVIII at Verona in 1795-1796, and a significant part of the archive documenting his career in India in the 1780s (notably his campaign late in 1780 to be elected Governor of Madras). PRONI has copied a great many Macartney papers in other institutions, and also took the lead in sponsoring the only modern Life of Macartney - Peter Roebuck (ed.), Macartney of Lisanoure, 1737-1806 (Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 1983); reprinted 1989 as Public Service and Private Fortune: The Life of Lord Macartney, 1737-1806. A full description of this collection can be found on the PRONI websiteGeorge Earl Macartney

Records of note include the bundle of letters to Sir Robert Murray Keith. The Letters relate to the affairs in Jamaica, which Keith's brother, Sir Basil, was Lieutenant -Governor until his death in 1777. They also cover the impact of the American War of Independence and to diplomatic aspects of this struggle.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Restricted access

Conditions governing reproduction: @Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note: This record was indexed June 2002 MR

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: 26/03/02

Interest: Caribbean

Specific group:

Subjects

Diplomacy

Politics

Colonial countries

Personal/Corporate names

Macartney, George, Earl

Places

India

Jamaica