Historical Memoirs of my Own Time

Sir Nathanial William Wraxall (1751-1831), traveller and writer, served as an MP from 1780 to 1794 and was made a baronet in 1813. Upon publication in 1815, his memoirs were an immediate, though controversial, success: 1,000 copies sold out within five weeks. Accused of libelling a Russian diplomat, and found guilty, Wraxall brought out this second edition later that same year, with the offending passages removed. Volume 2 comprises the majority of the second, and more controversial, part of the work, which covers 1781-4. Wraxall’s early parliamentary years were a difficult period in England, the American War of Independence dominating Lord North’s administration until his unexpected resignation on 20 March 1782. The ‘great despondency’ continued; nevertheless, Wraxall’s colourful delineations of Fox and Burke, the Earl of Shelburne, Sheridan and Pitt, as well as ‘the less efficient members of the cabinet’, make for an entertaining read.