Records of the Commissariat in the Peninsula and of Commissary Generals Sir R.H. Kennedy and Sir J. Bisset

Four incomplete series of letter books for Commissary General Kennedy containing:

SERIES A: copies of Kennedy's correspondence with British ministers, the military secretary of the army in the Peninsula, and the Treasury, 1813-14, 1816-32 (7 vols.)

SERIES B: copies of Kennedy's correspondence with other commissaries, particularly Commissary Generals James Pipon, Sir Charles Dalrymple, John Murray, Auditor General Dawkins, the Paymaster General's Department, the Audit Office in London, Comptrollers of Army Accounts and the Board of Claims, 1813-25 (4 vols.)

SERIES C: copies of Kennedy's correspondence with the officers, clerks, etc. of the Commissariat and Pay Departments, 1812-30 (8 vols.)

SERIES D: copies of Kennedy's correspondence with officers of the army, merchants and all others, 1812-30 (4 vols.)

Letter books of Commissary General Bisset, 1811-12 (7 vols.)

Papers relating to the Commissariat and Kennedy's Commissariat accounts, 1812-30, including Kennedy's departmental order book, 1812-14 (1 vol.); an accounting and memoranda book, 1812-16(1 vol.); accounts, statements and a schedule of papers relating to the Peninsular accounts, c.1822 30 (5 vols.); registers of queries of the Auditor General upon Kennedy's accounts, 1812-29 (2 vols.); registers of letters from the Treasury, 1817-31 (2 vols.).

Commissariat in-coming correspondence (for both Kennedy and Bisset), with small accounts, schedules of bills, vouchers, receipts, memoranda of routes of marches and a draft marriage settlement between Captain Kennedy and Miss Adam, 1793-c.1820 (15 boxes)

List of Commissariat officers, c.1812-14 (1 vol.)

Records of the Commissariat in the Peninsula and of its two principal Commissary Generals, Sir R.H. Kennedy and Sir J. Bisset. Sir Robert Hugh Kennedy (1772-1840) was the second son of Hugh Alexander Kennedy, MD. From 1809 until 1814, he served as Commissary General of the forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula. He was knighted for his services in 1812 and made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Guelph in 1834. Sir John Bisset (1777-1854) acted as Commissary General in the Peninsula during the absence of Kennedy in 1812.

Open for consultation

Compiled by Gwennyth Anderson

Lists

Further Commissariat material for this period is in the National Library of Scotland: Accession 10,322, letter book of J.Bisset while Commissary General in Spain, 1812; and MSS 15,337-9, letters from the Quartermaster General to both Bisset and Kennedy, 1807-13; and further Kennedy papers are in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, English MSS 1308-1309: BULLETIN OF THE JOHN RYLANDS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF MANCHESTER 80 (1998) p. 178.