EXTREMELY EARLY LETTER FROM LERWICK TO EDINBURGH - SENT THE ...

EXTREMELY EARLY LETTER FROM LERWICK TO EDINBURGH - SENT THE SAME YEAR AS THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON: Very fine 22 Oct. 1666 EL (central filing fold does not detract; full typed transcript - folded to show dated place of origin inside alongside the address-panel) sent almost 100 years before the first P.O. was opened in the Shetland Islands from "Lerwick", written and signed by the Shetland Islands' Governor at the time, "[Colonel] William Saintclair", addressed "For the Right honorabill The Earle of Lauderdaill, His Majestie's Chiefe Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Scotland". It is not known how the letter was sent, but if it passed through the postal service it would have been free of postage due to the status of the addressee. The letter concerns the recent capture of a [Dutch?] ship on the coast of the Shetlands, asking Lauderdale to persuade the King to let Saintclair keep the vessel and kit her out for the King's service! The contents include; "I shall beg one favour from [your] Lo[rdshi]p, that you will be pleased to move his Majestie [King Charles II] to bestow this vesshell upon me and I will furnish her out with all things necessarie to serve the Countrey and destroy his Majestie's enemies..." Even inland Scottish letters of this very early date are seldom seen, and one such as this from the remote islands is amazing! Only two earlier Shetlands covers are known in private hands; both also from this correspondence and both dated in late 1665. Incredible Page One item for any Scottish/Islands collection and an Important Historical item. Further research may reveal the name of the ship in question and the King's response. [Ex James Grimwood-Taylor, sold in Cavendish's 21 June 2012 sale, lot 1358; realised £1,900+BP] Cross Reference: SCOTLAND, ROYALTY, SHIPS/SHIPPING