Rowland Stephenson Scrapbook, ca. 1767-1840

Summary

Creator:

Anonymous

Abstract:

The Rowland Stephenson scrapbook contains numerous clippings, engravings, illustrations, notes, and ephemera primarily related to British banking and finance, the Royal Family, and prominent political and historical figures.

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

English
French

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Jakob Dopp, September 2022

Background

Scope and Content:

The Rowland Stephenson scrapbook contains numerous clippings, engravings, illustrations, notes, and ephemera primarily related to British banking and finance, the Royal Family, and prominent political and historical figures.

The scrapbook (23 x 18 cm) has brown board covers, is lacking a spine, and contains 184 pages in total. While it is unlikely that Stephenson himself created the scrapbook, it does appear that it may have been compiled by a close associate or relative of Stephenson's. Dated contents range from ca. 1767 to 1840 and generally speaking include numerous engraved portraits of various individuals (mainly royal personages, aristocrats, politicians, military and religious leaders, writers, artists, doctors, scientists, athletes, eccentrics, criminals, and historic figures), engravings and illustrations of buildings and other scenes, handwritten notes and ephemeral materials related to various subjects including royal finances and banking, multiple pasted in signatures, and newspaper clippings regarding various subjects including a reward notice for information on Stephenson's whereabouts after his disappearance following his embezzlement scandal. A number of engravings appear to have been clipped from European Magazine as well as R. S. Kirby’s Wonderful and Eccentric Museum; Or, Magazine of Remarkable Characters. Many undated engravings of pre-18th century historic figures were likely produced prior to 1767.

Items of interest include:

• Pressed plant life remnants of a “Willow from the grave of Buonaparte at St. Helena. 1838” (pg. 1)
• Engraved portraits of King George III, Aleksandr Suvorov, and the Duke of Wellington (pgs. 2-4)
• Handwritten list of debts held by Prince Regent George IV coupled with a newspaper clipping expressing caution about how to deal with being in debt (pg. 7)
• Engraved portrait of Prince Regent George IV with handwritten notes summarizing "Debts of this King paid by Parliament"; includes juxtaposed clipped engraving of a man with hand-drawn sight lines drawing attention to the total debt amount of £3,113,061 (pg. 8)
• Handwritten list of expenses for the coronation of King George IV, July 19, 1821 (pg. 9)
• Invitation to the coronation of King George IV (pg. 10)
• Printed poem about death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, November 6, 1817 (pg. 13)
• Handwritten list detailing pensions paid to certain dukes, duchesses, princes, and princesses (pg. 15)
• Two engravings showing portraits of Queen Victoria (ca. 1837) and the 1st Earl of Munster (ca. 1834) encircled by statistical references regarding “The Population of the British Empire according to the last census” (pgs. 16 & 48)
• Handwritten list showing stats related to the “Total personal charge of a King of England, on the scale of the reign of George the Third” (pg. 17)
• Engraved portrait of surgeon Charles Aldis (pg. 19)
• Engraved view of the comet of 1811 (between pgs. 19 and 20)
• Clipped handwritten cookery list dated December 29, 1767 (pg. 20)
• Engraved portrait of “Her late Most Excellent Majesty Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain,” dated December 1818 (pg. 23)
• Engraved view of “Frogmore, the favorite residence of Her late Majesty” coupled with smaller engraving of people ice skating (pg. 24)
• Handwritten notes detailing the history and operations of the Bank of England (pgs. 25, 27, 29, & 31)
• Three Bank of England checks dated February 14, 1826, Dec 10, 1818, and March 6, 1818, all marked with “Forged” stamps, accompanied by handwritten notes (pgs. 26, 28, & 30)
• Two unfilled stock certificates for £1 and £10 from the Hibernian Bank, Dublin, illustrated with vignettes (pg. 32)
• Handwritten statement detailing the Bank of England’s net profits from 1797 to 1816; includes tipped-in engraved portrait from 1803 of Abraham Newland, Chief Cashier for the Bank of England (pgs. 33-35)
• Handwritten note about scented “love letter paper” made in New Jersey alongside an engraved portrait of Raphael (pg. 37)
• Engravings including depictions of four honorary medals and views of “The Car on which the Remains of Lord Nelson were conveyed to St. Paul’s Jany. 9, 1806,” the "Palaquin presented by the Marquis Cornwall to Prince Abdul Calic, Eldest Son of Tippoo Sultaun…Sepr. 1796," and "A West View of the Iron Bridge over the Wear near Sunderland" (pgs. 39-41)
• Handwritten notes detailing the history of the Rothschild Family (pgs. 43 & 44)
• Engravings of Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital as well as a funding solicitation notice seeking contributions for the Foundling Hospital (pgs. 45 & 46)
• Tickets and other ephemera related to various lotteries (pgs. 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, & 58)
• Engraved view of the Globe Theater (pg. 53)
• Clipping regarding election anecdote related to Lord Chief Justice John Holt accompanied by a tipped-in engraved portrait of Holt (pg. 62)
• Handwritten notes on the "Character of a Good Woman" (pg. 63)
• Handwritten notes on Freemasonry (pg. 64)
• Hand-drawn view of the comet of 1811 (pg. 65)
• Engraved portraits of Benjamin Thompson, the Count Rumford; John Elwes; Joanna Southcott; Thomas Paine; Rev. Thomas Raffles; Richard Carlile; Sir Richard "Dick" Wittington and his cat; Joseph Priestley; Prince Albert; engraver John Rowe; and London eccentric Ann Siggs (pgs. 74-85)
• Engraved depiction of a sleeping woman named Elizabeth Perkins of Morley, Norfolk, accompanied by handwritten notes detailing her sudden and mysterious entrance into a coma in 1788 (pg. 86)
• Ca. 1839 advertisement for a showing of Brother Jonathan, the mammoth ox from America (pg. 87)
• Engraved portraits of boxer James Belcher, eccentric dentist Martin van Butchell, and Madame de Staël Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker (pgs. 88-90)
• Plan of the King’s Theatre (pg. 94)
• Engraving showing the three defendants in the 1823 Radlett Murder: John Thurtell, Joseph Hunt, and William Probert (pg. 101)
• Handwritten copy of a letter sent from Rotterdam, Netherlands, dated August 18, 1817, instructing Stephenson’s firm to pay £100 to someone who was purpsoefully injured by one of their clients (pg. 103)
• Engraved portraits of Thomas Hobson accompanied by a printed poem, Henry Jenkins of Ellerton in Yorkshire “who lived to the Surpizing Age of 169,” and Thomas “Old Tom” Parr (pgs. 110-112)
• Engraved view of London and the observatory erected over the cross of St. Paul's Cathedral that was used by Thomas Hornor to create his panoramic view of London accompanied by a handwritten note about an individual nearly falling to their death after slipping on top of the cathedral's dome (pgs. 115 & 116)
• Engraved portraits of Lady Morgan Sydney Owenson and Charlemagne (pg. 117)
• Ca. 1840 advertisement for London-based rubbish collector John Allford attached to French cologne advertisement (between pgs. 117 & 118)
• Clipping regarding Edmund Burke's description of the Bible, an engraved portrait of Burke and an engraving of two Biblical-era priests preparing sacrifices (pgs. 123 & 124)
• Engraved portraits of Rev. Rowland Hill and George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (pgs. 125 & 128)
• Cut and pasted signatures of various individuals (pgs. 129-168)
• Engraved portraits of Governor Joseph Wall, Sir Francis Burdett, Lord Brougham and Vaux, Lord Durham, John Bellingham, T. S. Duncombe, Colonel George De Lacy Evans, Lord Thomas Erskine, George Canning, Granville Sharp, Henry Hunt, Richard Watson, Joseph Hume, William Cobbett, Daniel O'Connell, Charles Lennox the Duke of Richmond, Lord Palmerston, Thomas Spring-Rice, William Henry the Duke of Portland, Sir James Shaw, Lord Bexley Nicholas Vansittart, Sir Matthew Wood, Robert Waithman, W. T. Raynal, Sir Richard Birnie, Joliot de Crebillon, John Gully, Sir John Oglander, John Soane, Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, Hippocrates, Josiah Ricraft, Dr. Herman Boerhaave, Henry Hastings, Marie and Catherine de Médicis, James Cook, Rev. Obadiah Sedgwick, Lord Burghley, King William IV, and Queen Victoria (pgs. 133-183)
• Hand-colored engraved portrait of Stephenson accompanied by his own clipped signature as well as a newspaper clipping of a reward notice offering £1000 pounds for Stephenson's apprehension following his alleged embezzlement and flight from London (pg. 171)
• Four tipped-in manuscript items including an undated note from Stephenson quoting "Lev: 12: Blair" about choosing one's path in life; a letter dated January 9, 1804, from B. Pratt to Stephenson regarding the importance of being careful with money; a letter dated August 29, 1827, from “Rody Moroney” to Stephenson thanking the latter for favors; and a letter dated March 23, 1822, from "the Independent Inhabitation of West Looe" to innkeeper Robert Reath inquiring about the whereabouts of Stephenson's friends and remarking on business matters impacted in the wake of a contested election (between pgs. 171 & 172)
• Clipping of a poem dated January 10, 1829, regarding Stephenson's alleged embezzlement and lamenting the volume of negative newspaper coverage devoted to Stephenson as well as to the Duke of Wellington (pg. 173)
• Loose letter dated March 19, 1828, from Michael Meredith to Stephenson expressing the former's willingness to work for Stephenson again in Leominster "if it should happen that your Honour should call on me again at any future Election" (between pgs. 173 & 174)
• Handwritten notes regarding the "Expenses of the Coronation of Queen Victoria" accompanied by a clipping that details the approximate value of the jewels found in Her Majesty's Crown (pg. 184)
• Engraved view of the passenger steamboat SS British Queen (pasted inside back cover)

Biographical / Historical:

Rowland Stephenson was born in 1782 to British parents John (ca. 1741-1822) and Mary Stephenson (ca. 1738-1814). His mother gave birth to him at sea while the family was returning to London from Pensacola, Florida, following the collapse of his father's business during the American Revolutionary War. Upon returning to England, John Stephenson, a merchant and banker, became a partner at the bank controlled by his uncle Rowland Stephenson (1728-1807), Remington, Stephenson & Company. After graduating from Eton College in 1799, Rowland the younger also joined his great uncle's bank and became a full partner after his father's death in 1822. Additionally, he had a short-lived political career after being made MP for Leominster in 1826 following the disqualification of the candidate who had defeated him the year prior. Stephenson apparently invested considerable sums of his fortune into numerous ventures, including Thomas Hornor's London Colosseum project.

In 1828, Stephenson was implicated in a widely publicized scandal after it was discovered that he and his assistant James Harman Lloyd had been illicitly authorizing numerous unsecured advances from Remington, Stephenson & Company over a period of time. On December 27, 1828, Stephenson purportedly made off with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of securities and money before cashing the securities. Upon learning that he was a wanted man, Stephenson reportedly purchased a pair of dueling pistols that subsequently malfunctioned during a suicide attempt. He ended up successfully escaping England and fled to Savannah, Georgia, with Lloyd. Despite being apprehended by bounty hunters and taken to debtor's prison in New York City, yet extradition attempts in March of 1829 proved unsuccessful and they were ultimately allowed to remain in the United States. After being declared legally bankrupt on January 19, 1830, Stephenson was compelled to relinquish his seat in Parliament while his numerous properties and valuables were sanctioned for sale at auction.

Stephenson married his cousin Mary Eliza Stephenson (1786-1821) in 1807; they had five children together, including renowned civil engineer Sir Rowland MacDonald Stephenson (1808-1895). He died in 1856 at the Farley Hill estate near Bristol, Pennsylvania.

Acquisition Information:

Purchased from John King Books, June 2005. P-2397 .

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Bibliography

Bangay, Paul. The Dapper Little Banker: The Life of Rowland Stephenson. Great Britain: Scotforth Books, 2011.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Bankers--United Kingdom.
Embezzlement--United Kingdom.
Fugitives from justice--United Kingdom.
Prints shelf.
Authors.
Centenarians--Great Britain.
Comets--1810-1820.
Coronations--Great Britain.
Eccentrics and eccentricities--Great Britain.
Estates--Great Britain.
Fund raising--Great Britain.
Hotels.
Lotteries--Great Britain--1800-1830.
Military officers.
Physicians.
Politicians--Great Britain.
Royal houses--Europe.
Rulers--Great Britain.
Spiritual leaders--Great Britain.
Theaters--Great Britain.
Upper class--Great Britain.

Formats:

Bank note vignettes.
Checks.
Clippings.
Correspondence.
Engravings.
Ephemera.
Etchings.
Intaglio prints.
Lottery tickets.
Portraits.
Relief prints.
Scrapbooks.
Stock certificates.
Woodcuts.

Names:

Bank of England.
Hornor, Thomas, 1785-1844.
Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Great Britain, 1796-1817--Portraits.
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820--Portraits.
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830--Portraits.
Stephenson, Rowland, 1782-1856--Portraits.
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901--Portraits.
Kirby, R. S., active 1799-1850.

Places:

Leominster (England)
Looe (England)
London (England)