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Primary sourceLetter1705-1739 (printed 1883)

The Wentworth Papers

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford · 1705-1739 (printed 1883)

A collection of family letters from the court and political world of early 18th-century Britain, covering the reign of George I.

These family letters touch on the court and politics of George I's reign, as seen by a prominent noble family.

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Full text (Internet Archive)

About this source

What it is

This is a published selection (1883) of private and family correspondence of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, spanning 1705 to 1739. The letters were drawn from original documents held in a national archive and edited with a memoir and notes by James J. Cartwright.

Why it matters

These letters give a window into the court and politics of the time, including the period when George I became king. Correspondence like this, exchanged among nobility and officials, shows how contemporaries discussed the new Hanoverian monarch, political rivalries, and daily court affairs in their own words.

Look closer

  • Why might private family letters show different concerns than official state papers?
  • What biases might the Earl of Strafford or his correspondents have had when writing about the king and court?
  • How does editing and selecting letters for publication shape what later readers learn?

This letter is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of George I on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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