SIGNED BY THREE LORDS OF THE TREASURY AND THE AUDITOR HALIFAX (George Montague, d. 1739, Earl of)

Document signed as Auditor of the Receipt of His Majesty's Exchequer, printed with manuscript additions, on the recto is the printed order to the Treasury to repay at a future date, out of the 'Aid' for 1716 to be collected by means of the Land Tax at 4s. in the pound in each county, £2000 lent on 17th February 1715 (1716 new style) to the Treasury by (printed name) John Aislabie, M.P., 1672-1742, with the manuscript order below for repayment, including interest of £35 2s 5d to 10th January 1716/7, subscribed "Exam[inatum] p[er] Halifax" as Auditor, on the verso is the manuscript order for interest to be added at 4% from 2nd August 1716, signed by three Lords of the Treasury, Sir William St. Quintin, Bart., (1660-1723, M.P. for Hull), Viscount Torrington (d. 1733), and Richard Edgcumbe (1680-1758, from 1742 1st Baron), addressed to Lord Halifax, with other notes and signatures including "Deliver'd to the Bank for Mr Robt Knight the 12 Januar. per Thos. Jolland", 2 sides folio, no place. and Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, 17th February 1715/6, 3rd August 1716 and 21st-31st January imperfect as usual from cancellation, lacking however on the recto only the first printed line, and portions of other signatures, and on the verso a small part only of text (the latter easily supplied)

John Aislabie, as Treasurer of the Navy 1714-1718, held huge sums in cash. The fact that his name is printed in the Order shows that he was in the habit of lending it in units of £2,000 to the Treasury. It appears from the recto that originally the loan was to be without interest. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1718-1721, Aislabie incurred the Commons' wrath for having promoted the South Sea Company's scheme to pay off the National Debt, 1720, and on its failure was expelled the House and committed by the Speaker to the Tower.
The other, defective, signatures, which are on the recto, are of three Lords of the Treasury as at 17th February 1715/6. They are the diplomat Sir Paul Methue[n], 1672-1757, also a Lord of the Admiralty 1714-1717; D[aniel Lord] Fin[ch], 1689-1769, later Earl of Winchilsea, who with his father lost his office for pleading with the Crown on behalf of Jacobite peers under sentence of execution, 1716; and the Hon. T[homas] N[ewport], c.1654-1719, from June 1716 Baron Torrington.

Item Date:  17167

Stock No:  16979      £175

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