Letters of Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart (1803-1854)

The material is composed of letters to Sir Charles Doyle, Mr. Wolski, J. S. Luke and W. Digby Seymour.

Dudley Coutts Stuart was born in London on 11 January 1803. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge and graduated in 1823. He was elected as MP for Arundel in 1830 and again in 1831, 1833, and 1835, and was MP for Marylebone from 1847. From the 1830s, and after the visit to England by Prince Adam Czartoryski in 1831 and his accounts of Russian Tsarist oppression in Poland, Stuart became a strong advocate for Polish independence. He organised public subscriptions and annual balls to supplement grants made by the House of Commons to victims of Russian, Austrian and Prussian oppression at that time. In 1854 he went to Sweden in the hope of gaining the support of King Oscar I in joining western powers in the measures for the reconstruction of Poland. Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart died in Stockholm on 17 November 1854 and was buried in Hertford, England, on 16 December 1854.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

The biographical/administrative history was compiled using the following material: (1) Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of national biography. Vol.19. Stow-Tytler. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1909.

Compiled by Graeme D Eddie, Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Division.

Important finding aids generally are: the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives, consisting of typed slips in sheaf binders and to which additions were made until 1987; and the Index to Accessions Since 1987.

Check the local Indexes for details of any additions.

The local Indexes show various references to Stuart related material (check the Indexes for more details): letter to Sir George Warrender, 1842, at La.II.509.

In addition, the UK National Register of Archives (NRA), updated by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, notes: correspondence and papers, particularly relating to Polish affairs, 1812-1854, Harrowby Manuscripts Trust, Ref. vols 8-28,60-64,70 NRA 1561 Ryder; Polish papers, Biblioteka Jagiellonska; letters to Lord Holland, 1825-1845, British Library, Manuscripts Collections, Ref. Add MSS 52015-6; correspondence with John Lee, 1826-1829, Lambeth Palace Library, Ref. MS 2877; and, correspondence with Lord Palmerston, 1836-1852, Southampton University Library, Ref. MS 62 NRA 12889 Temple.