Welcome to The Sloane Letters Project
A pilot of this project, Sir Hans Sloane’s Correspondence Online, was first launched at the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 to coincide with the 350th anniversary of Sir Hans Sloane’s birth. The project was renamed The Sloane Letters Project when it moved to this site in 2016.
The correspondence of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) consists of thirty-eight volumes held at the British Library, London: MSS 4036-4069, 4075-4078. The letters are a rich source of information about topics such as scientific discourse, collections of antiquities, curiosities and books, patients’ illnesses, medical treatments and family history. Most of the letters were addressed to Sloane, but a few volumes were addressed to others (MSS 4063-4067) or written by Sloane (MSS 4068-4069).
So far, we have entered descriptions and metadata for Sloane MSS 4036-4053 and 4075, as well as several letters from each of the following: Sloane MSS 4054-4055, 4066, 4068-4069 and 4076. Several of these entries also include transcriptions. Further entries and transcriptions are being made available gradually.
Please, explore the website and database. You can search through the letters, learn about Sir Hans Sloane or the letters written to him, and peruse blog posts about interesting letters!
Random Letter
Author:Recipient:
[fol. 115]
Sr Upm’r Mar 6 1707/8
According to my promise I went to Orset this
week, & took a good view of the Ditch, both that
which Culverwell hath made, & that which remains
unmade. And think it manifestly in the comon Lane
or Lords Wast. I could not perceive any footsteps
of a Ditch in that place, but What he hath dug is
plainly fresh or Virgin Earth. His Ditch is as larg
as any ( I guess near 4 feet over) & many Poles
long it will be if he proceeds. He hath made already
20 or 30 Pole of it, & if you order him to leave the rest
till undone till next winter, you may satisfy your
self from your own view, when you can cence; wch
I would persuade you to do when the ways & wea-
ther are better. Many Bushes grow all along the Lane
where the Ditch is now made, but not many in the
other part.
I objected to ye Ld of the Mannour, That you were
Ld of your Manr, as well as he of his, & cons-
quently yt you had a right to half the Lane. He
confessed you were Ld, as well as he; but denied yt
you (whose Manr was wthout Tenant, court or but only
a single Farm) had any Right at all to the Pasture
Bushes, Wasts, Strays, or any other priviledges of the
Lanes. He saith that this is his undoubted Right all
the parish over, & that it is all yt none in the parish can, with
his Lave, turn on any Cattle, but Bushes, or pretend any other pri-
viledge in the Lanes (except Passage) That there are divers other
such like Mannrs in Orset & Horndon as yours, particularly
the very next Farm to yours, & a bigger; but yt they neither
can, nor do pretend at all to any of the wast; or if they
did they should be served all one as he requires of you. That
he desireth peace and amity, especially with you, whose character
he hath heard of, & hath a great respect for: but he is forced
to make these demands upon you, to prevent incroachments
upon his Mannour, to save his Bushes in the Lanes wch are
very profitable to him, &c This is the sum of our Conference
the merits of which I leave to you. If I can be any further
serviceable to you in this or any other matter, you have
greatly obliged me to be therein
Your most faithfull humble servt
My humble service Wm Derham
to yr Lady.
Read more- Letter 1208
Latest Statistics
| Pages digitised | |
| 4,545 | Document summaries |
| Documents transcribed | |
| People | |
| 1,527 | Medical Cases |
| Places |