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Dated April 21, 1781, the draft instructs the prominent London bankers Robert and Henry Drummond to pay £50 to John Gibb or his order:
“Pray pay to Mr. John Gibb or order the sum of Fifty Pounds and place it to my account.”
It is boldly signed at lower served as Britain’s first Secretary of State specifically charged with colonial affairs from 1768 to 1772. A forceful opponent of concessions to the American colonies, he supported strict enforcement of parliamentary authority and the stationing of British troops in Boston. His policies during the aftermath of the Townshend Acts placed him in direct conflict with Benjamin Franklin and other colonial representatives.
When this draft was signed in April 1781, Hillsborough had returned to Lord North’s government as Secretary of State for the Southern Department. He consequently occupied a senior cabinet position during the final year of major British military operations in America. The document dates approximately six months before Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown.
The payment was directed to Robert and Henry Drummond at Charing Cross, members of an important London banking family whose clients included aristocrats, government officials and British army agents. Henry Drummond was particularly associated with military finance.
Accompanied by a contemporary address or filing panel bearing the names John Gibb and possibly Henry Green, with additional manuscript endorsements and extensive remnants of old dark-blue mounting paper.
Date: April 21, 1781
Place: London
Signatory: Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough
Recipient: John Gibb
Bankers: Robert and Henry Drummond, Charing Cross
Format: Manuscript financial draft with accompanying address or docket panel
Condition: Scattered foxing and staining; several small holes caused by ink corrosion; minor edge wear and handling creases. Accompanying panel has extensive old blue mounting paper obscuring part of its surface. Hillsborough’s signature is large, dark and clearly legible.
