Catalogue description MANNERS SUTTON PAPERS

Papers of Charles Manners Sutton (1755-1828), Archbishop of Canterbury, formerly (1792-1805) Bishop of Norwich.

They are as follows:

Letter from William Gearing, minister [Rector] of Christ Church in or near Southwark, to William Lloyd, Bishop of Norwich, 30 July 1687, offering to send his manuscript collections concerning the diocese of Norwich and other historical writings, and complaining of insanitary conditions in Southwark (f.1).

Address from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops of the Province of Canterbury to George III (king of England) on his accession, [1760]. Draft in the hand of Archbishop Thomas Secker (ff.3-4v).

Ireland: appointment of Primate, 1794, ff. 6-21:

Letter from Archbishop Secker to Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, Secretary of State, from Lambeth, 13 April 1763, transmitting a copy of a congratulatory address to the King on the occasion of the peace (copy) (f.5).

Letter from George Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln, and (1820) Winchester, from Downing Street, 16 October 1794, seeking his views on the Primacy of Ireland should an English bishop be appointed. The income is seven or eight thousand a year, but £14,000 is needed to take possession (f.6).

Letter from Thomas Manners Sutton, 1st Baron Manners (1807), from Lincoln's Inn, 30 October 1794, giving an account of a conversation with the Lord Chancellor about the Primacy of Ireland - 'an Irish Bishop has the means of providing for and enriching his family which do not occur in England, and many families have been made by ecclesiastical preferment' (f.8).

Letter from the same, 3 November 1794, reporting a further conversation with the Lord Chancellor on the same subject and a proposed interview with Pitt (f.10).

Letter from John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from Dublin Castle, 1 December 1794, expressing satisfaction that Manners Sutton has been recommended for the Primacy (f.12).

Letter from William Henry Fremantle, resident secretary in London of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from Fludyer Street, 5 December 1794, concerning the announcement in Ireland of the appointment (f.14).

Letter from Mary Isabella, widow of John Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, from Woolaston, 11 December 1794, offering congratulations on the Primacy, and recommending petitions from (f.16v.) James Stopford, a clergyman, and (f.17) Thomas Burgh, who managed the late Primate's concerns (f.16).

Letter from George Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln (and Winchester, 1820), from Buckden Palace, 12 December 1794, inquiring whether the Primacy has been offered (f.18).

Letter from William Bennet, Bishop of Cloyne, from Dublin, 12 December 1794, advising him to weigh his expectations in England against the uncertainty of Ireland, where the lower classes are eager to join the French. 'If the war continues we can hardly be savd by any thing less than a miracle'. Much as he would welcome his old pupil, he advises him not to enter into pledges in view of reports that the government intends to give Catholics the vote and to reform the boroughs, which would give them a majority in Parliament and ruin the Protestant Church (f.20).

Letter from Jacob Bryant, classical scholar, June 1802, concerning a treatise on the divinity of Christ (f.22).

Letter from the same, 7 July 1803, sending the greater part of what he has written on Calvin (f.24).

Letter from John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, from Windsor Castle, 26 July 1806, expressing the view that an exception be made in awarding [Frederick] Gardiner, [Rector of Combe Hay] a Lambeth degree (f.26).

Letter from William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, from Bulstrode, 12 November 1807, consulting him about the vacant Archbishopric of York. Believes the Bishop of Durham does not desire it. If the Bishop of Carlisle, the senior prelate, were appointed it would preclude the translation of any other prelate as (f.29) Pitt has engaged with Lord Lonsdale to recommend Dr. [Thomas] Zouch [divine] to the next vacancy in the see of Carlisle (f.28).

Letter from the same, from Burlington House, 15 May 1809, thanking him for his opinion; will recommend the Bishop of Bangor to succeed to the see of London (f.32).

Appointment of Charles Manners Sutton, later (1835) 1st Viscount Canterbury, to the Privy Council (ff.34-8), with (ff.40-2) the fees on his appointment as Judge Advocate-General, 1809 (ff.34-42).

Letter from Spencer Madan, Bishop of Peterborough, from Ibstock, 7 August 1810, informing him of measures to persuade the Dean of Peterborough and members of the Chapter to implement the resolutions of a committee of the special general meeting on June 12th at which Manners Sutton took the chair (f.43).

Letter from Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, Whitehall, 24 June 1811, opposing the addition of all the bishops to a commission (f.45).

Letter from John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, from Salisbury, 22 October 1811, proposing that Princess Charlotte be added to the promoters of the National Society as it would convince the public that the Prince Regent (subsequently George IV, king of England), notwithstanding his public reception of Mr. Lancaster [Joseph Lancaster, educationalist], seriously patronised the scheme formed by friends of the church establishment (f.47).

Letter from Archbishop Manners Sutton, from Addington, 29 October 1811, ordering printed copies of letters offering the post of vice-president of the National Society and that of member of the committee (copy) (f.49).

Letter from Major-General Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, assistant private secretary to the Regent, from York House, 30 October 1811, conveying the Prince Regent's approval of the National Society (f.51).

Letter from Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister, from Down[ing] Street, 8 December 1811, proposing to delay asking the Regent for a reply to Manners Sutton's letter and resolutions (f.53).

Letter from Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle, from Clumber, 10 December 1811, subscribing to the National Society (f.55).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Coombe Wood, 2 August 1813, arranging a meeting (f.57).

Letter from the Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Coombe Wood, 7 August 1813, wishing to discuss with him the appointment of the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Worcester having declined (f.59).

Letter from Archbishop Manners Sutton to an unnamed peer, c. 1813, expressing his readiness to impress on Princess Charlotte's mind the reasonableness of her father's proceedings in limiting her intercourse with her mother (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, Queen of George IV), but cannot agree to what was expected in the conversation at Windsor, namely to lay before her the misconduct and indiscretions of her mother from her arrival in the country to the present time (draft) (f.61).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, 13 March 1814, inviting him to be a commissioner to settle the treaty of marriage of the Prince of Orange (f.62).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, 17 May 1815, arranging a meeting. With a note by Manners Sutton that the meeting relates to arrangements already determined in consequence of the death of the Bishop of St. Asaph (f.64).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Coombe Wood, 22 December 1815, announcing that the Regent has agreed to appoint [Henry Lewis] Hobart Dean of Windsor and [Hugh] Percy [later (1827) Bishop of Carlisle] canon of Canterbury. He will also (ff.66v.) appoint [John] Ireland Dean of Westminster and [James] Webber, late chaplain to the Speaker [later Canon of Canterbury], to Ireland's canonry. Discusses the living of Croydon which Ireland will vacate (f.66).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, 3 September 1818, on administering the sacraments to the Queen (Charlotte Sophia, Queen of George III), who has an unaccountable dread of death and has not arranged her affairs (f.68).

Letter from Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, from Whitehall, 30 January 1820, requesting him to come to Carlton House owing to the King's death (f.70).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, 2 February 1820, stating that the Princess Sophia was legally separated from George I and is no precedent; no queen since the Reformation has been omitted from the liturgy, and the character of none since Henry VIII has been matter of reproach (f.72).

Letter from from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, 11 February 1820, stating that the King orders a Council for altering the liturgy. It is the King's wish that after prayers for the sovereign, all the royal family should be prayed for generally without designating individuals (f.74).

Letter from Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, from Whitehall, 14 February 1820, signifying the King's wish that the forms of prayer for November 5th, January 30th, May 29th and the late King's inauguration be revised as necessary (f.77).

Letter from William Van Mildert, Bishop of Llandaff and (1826) Durham, from Christ Church, Oxford, 19 November 1820, expressing concern at the Queen's intended visit to St. Paul's Cathedral (London) as 'it will be quite impossible in such a building to restrain the rabble from acts of indecency and profanation and perhaps of violence if any thing should occur to give them dissatisfaction' (f.79).

Letter from Thomas Hughes, Prebendary of St. Paul's, from Amen Corner, 20 November [1820], stating that a previous visit by the Queen, then Princess of Wales, to St. Paul's Cathedral in 1814 was dropped after the Dean conferred with Lord Liverpool. Seal (f.81).

Letter from Thomas Hughes, Prebendary of St. Paul's, from Amen Corner, 22 November [1820], reporting Lord Liverpool's view that the service should be strictly adhered to, and that the government cannot interfere with the Queen's intentions. Seal (f.83).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Fife House, 1 July 1821, wishing to see him before proposed alterations in the liturgy are submitted to the King (f.87).

Letter from Archbishop Manners Sutton [to John Jebb, Bishop of Limerick], from Lambeth Palace, 10 July 1824, concerning a speech in the House of Lords [on June 10 on the Irish Tithes Composition Amendment Bill], and correcting a statement about non-resident clergy in England (f.89).

Letter from George IV (king of England) from Royal Lodge, Windsor, 19 October 1825, ordering him to direct the Bishop of Exeter to continue a dispensation for non-residence for the Revd. Charles Bayles. Seal (f.91).

Letter from Robert Barks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, from Carlton House, 9 February 1826, with the King's command to wait on him on the subject of alterations in the liturgy (f.95).

Letter from Archbishop Manners Sutton to Charles Manners Sutton, 1st Viscount Canterbury (1835), from Dover, 17 October 1826, on the appointment of a Speaker's chaplain; Liverpool intends to have a short session of Parliament; family news (f.97).

Letter from George IV (king of England), from St. James's Palace, 12 April 1827, inviting him and the Bishop of London. Seal (f.99).

Letter from Henry Bathurst, Archdeacon of Norwich, from North Creake, 1827, inquiring about the circumstances in which an admonition was sent to the Bishop of Norwich about the admission of - Purdon to holy orders 'on the ex parte statement' of Bishop Blomfield. Extract printed in H. Bathurst, Memoirs of the late Dr. Henry Bathurst, lord bishop of Norwich, 1837, I, 275-6 (f.103).

Letter from Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich, from Norwich, 29 July 1827, denying that he took offence at the admonition and declaring that he was unaware Mr. Purdon had been rejected by another Bishop. Printed op.cit., I, 273 (f.105).

Letter from Archbishop Manners Sutton to H. [Henry] Bathurst, Archdeacon, from Broadstairs, 7 November 1827, explaining that the circumstances of his admonition to the Bishop of Norwich (copy) (f.106).

Letter from Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of Chester, and (1828) London, from Chester, 13 December [1827], repudiating allegations in The Times, and denying a statement attributed to him about card-playing (f.107).

Letter from Henry Bathurst, Archdeacon of Norwich, from North Creake, 13 December 1827, justifying his actions (f.109).

Letter from Simon Purdon, from Caernarvon, 14 December 1827, giving an account of his son's ordination in the diocese of Norwich and subsequent licence to officiate in the diocese of Chester (f.111).

Letter from the same, from Caernarvon, 17 December 1827, on the same subject (f.113).

Inscription proposed by Archbishop Manners Sutton for his memorial tablet in Addington church (Surrey), no date (before 1828) (f.115).

MS Film 7.

The originals were purchased by the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library in 1984.

The papers were listed by the National Register of Archives in 1960 when they belonged to Mr. R. Bright. The library obtained a microfilm of them at that time.