Letters from Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness

Scope and Content

These letters are written to Lord Hartington or are copies of letters sent to him from Lord Holderness [also known as Holdernesse] and concern Irish political affairs.

There are copy letters concerning the government of Ireland under the Duke of Dorset as Lord Lieutenant and concern how he treated the Speaker of the House over a matter concerning poor execution of building work at the barracks, which resulted in him manipulating circumstances to increase the power of the Primate in the governing of Ireland, as recounted by the Earl of Kildare.

There are also later letters to Lord Hartington, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from Lord Holderness concerning Irish political affairs. He writes to Lord Hartington and the Duke of Newscastle on behalf of the King, concerning the King's commands on Irish affairs including: granting the Speaker be made Lord Chancellor but not a Lord Justice; confirming the Primate, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Bessborough being in charge of the government of Ireland in Lord Hartington's absence; granting Mr Hill the post of Secretary of State or Commissioner of the Revenue.

He also writes concerning: the King's high regard for Lord Hartington's handling of Ireland; Lord Frederick Cavendish's promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in Boscawen's Regiment; the King's request for a report on the forces in Ireland.

In the copy letter to the Duke of Newcastle he writes that the King was reluctant at first to consent to the Speaker being restored to his position as Lord Chancellor and that if Lord Hartington should decide to stay in Ireland in order to avoid tthe nomination of the Primate as one of the Lord Justices, the Speaker should not then be restored to his post as Lord Chancellor.