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MSS 16904, Edward Hugh Boscawen letter, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
This collection is minimally processed and open for research.
This collection contains a letter from Edward Hugh Boscawen (1744-1774), eldest son of Admiral Edward Boscawen, to John Nichols (1745-1826), an English printer and author. Boscawen writes to the Nichols about a forthcoming edition of John Evelyn's Sylva, the first of several to be edited by the Scottish physician, Alexander Hunter, then resident in York. Boscawen is soliciting Nichols' help in finding qualified engravers to work on the plates for the volumes. He notes that he has tried calling at Nichols' house several times but has not found him at home. It is believed that the author of this letter is Edward Hugh Boscawen, as he is writing from Audley Street, and it appears that Admiral Edward Boscawen and his family were the only members of that family to live on Audley Street.
Edward Hugh Boscawen was born September 13, 1744, the eldest son of Admiral Edward Boscawen and Frances Evelyn Glanville. He was educated at Eton from 1753 to 1761 and Christ Church Oxford, 1761. He was elected representative in Parliament for the borough of Truro, a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, twice from 1767 to 1774. In 1774, he became ill and went to a spa in Germany, where he died July 17, 1774, at the age of twenty-nine.
Sources
Drummond, Mary M. "Member Biographies BOSCAWEN, Edward Hugh (1744-74)." The History of Parliament. Last Accessed June 11, 2025https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/boscawen-edward-hugh-1744-74#footnoteref2_hp2xwhp.
Retanna. "Edward Hugh Boscawen (1744-1774)." Find a Grave..." Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154671956/edward_hugh-boscawen.
This collection was purchased from Franklin Gilliam Rare Books by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on May 8, 2025.
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