Catalogue description Denman Papers

Letters and other documents relating mainly to Queen Caroline and Thomas, 1st Lord Denman

The papers listed below fall into seven distinct groups,

(1) Those dealing with the claims of Queen Caroline to be crowned and/or to attend the coronation of her husband George IV. on 19 July 1821. (Nos. 1-6).

(2) Admission of Thomas Denman to the Freedom of the City of London. (No. 7)

(3) Letters relating to Thomas Denman's promotion at the Bar. (Nos. 8-10, 12-21)

(4) Letters concerning Denman's appointment as Chief Justice and his creation as a peer. (Nos. 22-24)

(5) Patent whereby Denman was appointed High Steward for the purpose of the trial of James Thomas, 7th Earl of Cardigan. (No. 25)

(6) One letter regarding the writ of summons of Thomas, 2nd Baron Denman. (No. 26)

(7) Royal Licence to assume the additional surname of Aitchison. (No. 27)

See also Burrell Manuscripts

Denman, Thomas, 1779-1854, 1st Lord Denman

Deposited by The Hon. Mrs. W. Burrell and Charles Denham, Esq

February 1955.

A brief account of the career of Lord Denman is given in the Dictionary of National Biography. A more substantial biography is that by Sir Joseph Arnould, Memoir of Thomas, first Lord Denman (2 vols. 1873); the enquiry concerning Queen Caroline's conduct on the introduction of the Bill of Pains and Penalties by Lord Liverpool is reported in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, but a more popular version is in W.D. Bowman, The Divorce Case of Queen Caroline (1930).

The documents listed below were preserved in an embroidered satin satchet which bears the monogram T.D., but they have now been removed, repaired and bound (with the exception of No. 25) in one volume entitled 'The Denman Papers'.

The 4th Lord Denman (father of the Hon. Mrs. W. Burrell) lived for most of his life in Sussex, as a boy at Fontwell and, after his marriage, at Balcombe Place; he died at Brighton in 1954.

Thomas Denman, the son of Thomas Denman, M.D., and his wife Elizabeth Brodie, was born on 23rd February 1779. He is remembered for his courageous defence of Queen Caroline at her trial which opened on 17th August 1820. Denman is described as 'of commanding presence and dignified bearing' with powers of advocacy and erudition which 'made him a formidable opponent in any legal tussle. Like Brougham, he attacked the King with a virulence which to those of the present generation seems astonishing'.

Denman was appointed common serjeant of the city of London in 1822; he became attorney-general to William IV in 1830 and held that office until he was constituted Chief Justice of England. On 28 March 1834, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Denman of Dovedale, co. Derby. Denman retained his high judicial office until March 1850, and he died on 22 September 1854 some two years after his wife, Theodosia Dorothy, 3rd daughter of the Rev. Sir William Anderson, 6th Bart.

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