TARLETON, Colonel Banastre

Autograph note to the London publisher Thomas Cadell.

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10 February London, 1791. Manuscript in ink on a single piece of paper, originally folded, 140 x 233 mm.; top corner restored. A revealing eighteenth-century manuscript note, written by a colleague and relation of Watkin Tench. The note's author, a military hero, here chases up copies of the earliest books on the new colony at Botany Bay, two of the best known of which were of course written by Tench, the author of the first authentic account of settled Australia. Tarleton was related to Watkin Tench through Tench's mother, Margaritta Tarleton. The two men were born in the same decade, and both left England as young men to join the American War of Independence.

The Tarletons were a prominent merchant family in the Liverpool region of England. Their own ships traded in the West Indies, Africa and America and were no doubt involved in the huge slave trade of the period which contributed to the wealth of the city of Liverpool. They were also major sugar importers from the West Indies. As a soldier, General Banastre Tarleton was one of the best-remembered and most-hated British officers to fight in the American war. He rose spectacularly through the ranks to be given independent command of the British Legion before the age of twenty-four. It was during the capture of Charleston in 1780, in which he employed unusually ruthless and cruel tactics, that he gained the epithet "Bloody Ban", which stuck with him for life. "Tarleton's Quarter" became a rallying cry for patriots throughout the south, who would use it more than once to justify murdering defeated enemies who were attempting to surrender.

Tarleton returned to England in 1782 as a hero and became a member of the Prince of Wales' inner circle. He wrote A History of the Campaigns of 1780 & 1781, in the Southern Provinces of America which was published by Thomas Cadell in 1787. Returning to his home town of Liverpool, he was knighted in 1790 and elected to Parliament, where he served seven terms. In his political career he is best remembered for his vigorous opposition to the abolition of the slave trade.

At the time he wrote this note to his publisher Thomas Cadell, the great travel and exploration publisher of the late eighteenth century, Tarleton would have been aware that Watkin Tench had been active in setting up the convict settlement at Port Jackson from 1788. Tench had arrived in Port Jackson on the convict ship Charlotte on 20 January serving a three-year tour of service at England's newest colony after his work in the American war. Perhaps it was also in relation to Tarleton's parliamentary duties that he required information on the fledgling colony of Botany Bay. Dated only three years after settlement, Tarleton's note reads: 'Colonel Tarleton's compliments to Mr Cadell & wishes him to find as soon as possible, all the pamphlets that have been published relative to South Wales [sic] or Botany Bay...'.

At this early date only a handful of publications dedicated to Botany Bay had appeared, including the first of Tench's works, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay... published in London in 1789. Whilst Cadell had only been involved in a couple of related publications, Tarleton would naturally have turned to his own publisher in the Strand to gather the information he required.

This is a fascinating early expression of interest in Botany Bay, by an eighteenth-century figure of renown.

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• Bestellnummer: 211_637

• Antiquariat: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)