COCHRANE, Basil, Governor of the Isle of Man. 18987

£200

Description

An interesting Autograph Letter Signed ‘Basil Cochrane’ [to Mr. Quayle] discussing the “Fate” of the Isle of Man (to be settled in the forthcoming Isle of man Purchase Act), correspondence with “His Grace” (the Duke of Atholl), a military debt of £30 which needs to be settled, Mr. Hamilton “going on with the Roads that the Island may prosper”, concerns for the future, etc. 2 pp. 9 x 7 inches, one small area of weakness, otherwise very good. Edinburgh, 27 December 1764. Basil Cochrane (1701-1788), Governor of the Isle of Man (1751-1761), then Commissioner of Excise in Scotland. He was the brother of James Boswell’s maternal grandmother, Euphemia. The Isle of Man Purchase Act 1765, also known as the Act of Revestment, purchased the feudal rights of the Dukes of Atholl as Lords of Man over the Isle of Man, and revested them into the British Crown. “… I have passed many hours thinking how to provide for the Worse. If the Government and his Grace comes to a fair Bargaine then I believe his Grace will have it in his power to doe for manny in the Island, if not I fear it will not be so. …Write me often every thing that passeth, lett me hear what says the great ffolks, doe they expect to continue in the Island if matters goes Wrong …”