Boyd, Walter

Two letters written by Walter Boyd:
1. Letter to Henry Dundas, wrriten from New Broad Street on 23 Mar 1797, concerning Walter Boyd's difficulty in raising money as '£70,000 which Mr.McDowall's house had applied for to the Grenada Board' was not available. [Half the money had been promised to him by the Commissioners appointed under the act of 1795 (35 Geo.III c.127) to make loans to such persons in Great Britain who were in difficulties because of the Civil War in Grenada and St Vincent, and who were in a position to provide proper security. See Ragatz, L.J. The Fall of the Planter Class in the British Caribbean (New York, 1963).]
2. Letter to 'My dear friend', dated 23 Mar [1797] and unsigned, concerning Boyd's financial difficulties. Mentions William Pitt and Henry Dundas.

Walter Boyd (1754-1837) worked as a banker in Paris previous to the French Revolution, which led him to flee for his life, leaving the assets of his firm Boyd, Ker and Co to be confiscated in October 1793. He established another banking firm, Boyd, Benfield and Co, in London in the same year, and was for a time very successful. Boyd and his partner Paul Benfield were elected to parliament for Shaftesbury (1795-1802). However, the permanent loss of his Paris properties eventually led to the liquidation of the firm and Boyd's financial ruin. Boyd visited France during the brief interval of peace (March 1802-May 1803), and was detained when war broke out again. He was not released until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. On his return to England Boyd recovered some of his former prosperity, becoming MP for Lymington from 1823-1830. He also wrote several pamphlets on financial subjects.
See also S.R.Cope, Walter Boyd : a merchant banker in the age of Napoleon (1983).

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Given by Dr. S.R. Cope in 1981.

Collection level description.

1. 2 leaves; 2. 4 leaves.

Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Further material relating to Walter Boyd is held at Trinity College Library, Cambridge University.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

There are facsimiles of other letters of Boyd in the University of London Library (Ref: MS/F 178 and 225). The Library also holds S.R.Cope, Walter Boyd : a merchant banker in the age of Napoleon (1983), shelved at 63 MUFL/Cop.