"King’s Bounty," a standard grant of £20 given to Solomon Palmer, an Anglican clergyman traveling to the Americas in 1754

A mid-18th-century financial warrant or treasury order dated October 31, 1754, authorizing a payment to Anglican clergyman Solomon Palmer to cover the costs of his travel to North America for missionary work. Palmer served as a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in Connecticut. Connecticut was a British colony in New England. It was one of the four original New England colonies which operated under a royal charter granted in 1662.

• Purpose of Payment: The order directs the payment of Twenty Pounds to Solomon Palmer to defray the "charge of his Passage to the Province of New England in America."

• Missionary Context: The text specifies that Palmer is going to America as a "Minister" and references a certificate from the Lord Bishop of London, who held ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the British colonies at that time.

• Authorization: The payment is made "By Virtue of his Majesty’s General Letters Patent Dormant," referring to King George II.

The document features several notable signatures and administrative markings:

• Main Signatures: Visible in the right margin are signatures including H. B. Legge (Henry Bilson-Legge, then Chancellor of the Exchequer) and R. Nugent (Robert Nugent, a Lord of the Treasury).

• Secondary Authorization: At the bottom, a note signed by Royston (likely Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston) instructs that the order be paid out of the "Civic List."

• Record Date: A final notation indicates the order was recorded on November 15, 1754.

• Receipt: shows the reverse or a secondary slip where Solomon Palmer or his agent acknowledged receipt of the funds, signed by John Robertson.

240mm x 375mm

Torn in half; soiled; repairs; mellowed and in need of restoration.
R5,000