Description:

THOMAS PINCKNEY
(1750 - 1828) American revolution officer on Gates' staff, evaded capture at Charleston, wounded and captured at Camden, later Governor of South Carolina. A.D.S. as first ambassador to Great Britain, 4pp., 4to., Aug. 16, 1794, confirming a baptismal certificate for Ruth Casson Pattle, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Pattle. Boldly signed, "Thomas Pinckney" to the right of a fully intact red seal, and countersigned by JAMES SIMPSON, an additional witness, and ALEX MURRAY, the officiating minister. Pattle was baptized at St. Mary Rotherhithe, in Surrey. In addition to the Pinckney witness signature, the lot is fascinating for two other reasons: first, three-quarters of the document is in French, as Pattle's mother was the daughter of Ambrose Pierre Antoine, Chevalier de L'Etang, who served as the Royal Stableman at the Court of Versailles until exiled by the Jacobins. Second, the Pattle family is the source of Virginia Woolf's oft-repeated tale"The Corpse and the Cask"! Thomas Pattle died in India and was shipped home in a cask full of rum, which exploded en route to London, springing his corpse upright in front of his wife, who then went mad with shock. The Pattles were close associates of William Thackeray and purportedly descendants of WIlliam Shakespeare. Age toned with minor wear at the left margin and an excellent embossed one shilling revenue stamp, else very good.

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May 13, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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