Original British Circa 1852 Despatch Folder of Lord Raglan General of Ordnance Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a most interesting leather bound hard lined dispatch folder complete with mottled interior and containing a document pocket. The exterior measuring 10.5″ by 15.5″, of tooled and embossed leather with gold inlay bearing the official Coat of Arms of the Master General of Ordnance of Three Cannons in a shield under a Crown. The ancient post of General of Ordnance dates back to the 14th century but was abolished in 1855 with the death of the final holder of the office, General Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, the First Lord Raglan.

Born in 1788 the youngest son of the fifth Duke of Beaufort Fitzroy Somerset was commissioned in 1804. He went on to become A.D.C. to the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.

His climb to fame continued as Wellington’s successor and was appointed Commander of the British Troops in the Crimean War where he ultimately died of dysentery in June 1855.

An Officer who saw extensive service in the Napoleonic Wars including losing an arm at the Battle of Waterloo and who went on to become the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army.

This original Dispatch Folder, exactly as was used for personal document transportation in Victorian government circles in the 1850s includes an unsigned note on very browned old stationary paper, stating “Lord Raglan, Grand Papa’s Despatch folder” all written in a very shaky hand. Research concludes this was written by Violet Somerset, Lord Raglan’s Grand Daughter who was married in 1900 but had no children having lost her husband in 1915 at the Battle of Festubert.

A truly fascinating item of Victorian Military England, the personal Dispatch Folder of one of the central military figures of the day. Complete with his Grand Daughters note and research to date, the Crested Despatch Folder of General Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan.