Dundas, David, Sir, Bart (1749-1826) to James Dundas
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02549.20 Author/Creator: Dundas, David, Sir, Bart (1749-1826) Place Written: Richmond (London), England Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 December 1781 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 22.5 x 19 cm. Order a Copy
Notes that he has not informed their mother and father about their brother Ralph, captain of the Bonetta, who had been captured by the French at the Battle of Yorktown (see GLC03676.05). Discusses a possibly scandal involving Ralph and his effort to clear his name. Comments on investigating information in a newspaper article (and getting it retracted) and asking one of George Germain's clerks for information, who told him that they had received a complaint about Ralph and were investigating. He also wrote Commodore Symmond who expressed sympathy with David's effort, but could not help since "he never went on board the Bonetta, nor ever knew officially who was sent on board her after the Capitulation." Distressed by accounts of their mother's health, he asks about her.
Sir David Dundas, 1st Bart of Richmond, was a doctor who was appointed Sargent Surgeon to King George III in 1791.
James Dundas was a lawyer in Edinburgh, Scotland, and David's younger brother.
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