Sir Thomas Mitchell - Petition to Queen Victoria regarding land grant, ca. 1840

MLMSS 7716

fonds

ca. 1840

456231

Microfilm : CY 4681, frames 42-47 (MLMSS 7716)

1 folder - 0.02 Meters
Textual Records - (manuscript)

Sir Thomas Mitchell (1792-1855) served as a volunteer in the Peninsular War and in 1814 was selected to produce plans of the major battlefields. He was promoted major in 1826 and appointed surveyor-general of New South Wales in 1828. Between 1831 and 1846 he made four exploring expeditions into the interior of Australia. He was knighted in 1839 and published several accounts of his explorations.

Petition addressed to Queen Victoria in which Mitchell summarises his achievements up to and including his third expedition in 1836 and concludes by requesting a land grant in Australia. It is unsigned and undated but was probably written in 1840 while Mitchell was in England and prior to his fourth expedition in 1845-46 which is not mentioned. Further evidence for an 1840 date is that he was knighted in 1839 and received an honorary doctorate of civil law from Oxford University the same year and both these honours are noted on the first page. In addition the petition bears an 1840 watermark and is clearly related to two draft letters held by the Library (A 293) addressed to Lord John Russell and Sir George Murray dated 4 February and 24 June 1840 respectively in which Mitchell refers to his claim for a land grant.