Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel to his Attorney General, Sir William Follett (1844)

High-level correspondence from Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel to his newly appointed Attorney General, Sir William Follett.

A High-Stakes Legal Handover

In mid-April 1844, the previous Attorney General, Sir Frederick Pollock (mentioned in the text), vacated his post to become Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Sir William Follett immediately succeeded him. This letter captures the moment the Prime Minister was transferring an ongoing, highly sensitive file from the outgoing Attorney General to the incoming one.

The Notorious Mr. Lechmere Charlton

The letter highlights a complaint transmitted by Mr. Lechmere Charlton (Edmund Lechmere Charlton). Charlton was an eccentric, fiercely litigious, and controversial Tory MP for Ludlow.

He was already famous in British legal textbooks for Charlton's Case (1837), where he was sent to Fleet Prison for contempt of court after sending a threatening letter to a master in Chancery who was investigating a dispute over the Ludlow Charitable Trusts.

This letter shows that even years after his imprisonment, Charlton was still actively dogging the highest offices of the land regarding the alleged abuse of this "Charitable Trust of great importance."

The Central Figures of Peel's Administration

The document brings together three of the most dominant legal and political minds of the early Victorian era:

Sir Robert Peel: One of Britain's most transformative Prime Ministers, best known for creating the modern police force ("Bobbies") and repealing the Corn Laws.

Sir William Follett: Regarded as one of the most brilliant legal orators of his generation. Tragically, his tenure as Attorney General was cut short when he died just a year later, in 1845, at age 48.

Sir Frederick Pollock: A towering legal mind whose family went on to form a massive legal dynasty in the UK.

Letter Transcript

Whitehall

April 26.

My dear Attorney General,

I beg leave to send you a Statement transmitted to me by Mr Lechmere Charlton – a Correspondence with that Gentleman – and a Memorandum by Sir Frederick Pollock – in what is a case of alleged abuse of a Charitable Trust of great importance.

I will speak to you on this Subject when I have an opportunity of seeing you.

Very faithfully yours

Robert Peel

190mm x 230mm

One page manuscript letter laid down onto card.

R1,000