Description:

Hume Joseph

Bi-fold ALS from Joseph Hume to Dr. McVickar, 4.5" x 7.25", on black bordered stationery stock. Penned on recto of first page in the hand of Joseph Hume and signed twice, once to the bottom of the letter, and once to last page containing the address. Balance of pages blank. The black wax seal is still present and in fine condition. Small corner chunk pulled off from the opening of seal. Page toned with faint handling marks and expected folds.

Letter shown in part below:

"Dear Sir,

Mr. Rukards will call for you tomorrow morning … I have some friends to dine with with me … happy to see you there also ... Joseph J Hume".


Hume had an eclectic career. He first studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797. There, he was commissioned as a surgeon to an Army regiment, and was able to take up work as an interpreter and commissary-general due to his knowledge of Indian languages. His knowledge of chemistry helped him provide the administration with a method to recover damp gunpowder in 1802. In 1808, he resigned and returned home with a fortune of about £40,000.

However he then reinvented himself, and in 1812, he purchased a seat in Parliament for Weymouth, Dorset, England, and voted as a Tory. From the date of his re-entering Parliament, Hume became the self-appointed guardian of the public purse, by challenging and bringing to a direct vote every single item of public expenditure. In 1820, he secured the appointment of a committee to report on the expense of collecting tax revenue. He was very active and became known as someone who gave Chancellors of the Exchequer no peace. He exercised a check on extravagance, and helped to abolish the sinking fund.  It was he who caused the word "retrenchment" to be added to the Radical program "peace and reform." He carried on a successful warfare against the old anti-trade union combination laws that hampered workmen and favored masters. He brought about the repeal of the laws prohibiting the export of machinery, and of the act preventing workmen from going abroad. He constantly protested against flogging in the army, the impressment of sailors and imprisonment for debt.

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