Manuscript elegy on the death of Captain James Cook ‘In Mortem luctuosam viri eximii, et celeberrimi navigatoris Jacobi Cook’, 1780, [with] privately published ‘Primitiae et Reliquiae’, containing the printed elegy, Oxford, London: William Nichol, 1841, by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley

MLMSS 9685

fonds

1780, 1841

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Prints

1288314

Partly Digitised : Items 1, 3

0.37 metres of textual and graphic material (1 box)

In 1780, both Cambridge and Oxford Universities offered prizes for poems on the subject of the death of Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Richard Colley Wesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842), was awarded first place for his submission to Oxford in 1780, 'In Mortem luctuosam viri eximii, et celeberrimi navigatoris Jacobi Cook'. Marquis Wellesley was a prominent political figure in Europe. He was the East India Company’s governor general of India from 1797 to 1805. He served as ambassador to Spain in 1808 and as foreign secretary from 1809 to 1812. He also served as the lord lieutenant of Ireland from 1821 to 1828 and 1833 to 1844.

References:
- Hordern House, http://www.hordern.com (accessed 2 December 2014)
- The Oxford Companion to Military History, http://www.oxfordreference.com (accessed 2 December 2014)

ITEM 1
'In Mortem luctuosam viri eximii, et celeberrimi navigatoris Jacobi Cook', an elegy on the death of Captain James Cook (1728-1779). The original manuscript submission for the annual Chancellor's Prize for Latin Verse at the University of Oxford, submitted in 1780 by Richard Colley Wesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley.

ITEM 2
'Primitiae et Reliquiae'. A privately published collection of Wellesley's reminiscences and writings including a printed version of his manuscript elegy on the death of Captain James Cook (1728-1779), Oxford, London: William Nicol, 1841.

ITEM 3
Engraved portrait of Richard Wellesley, Marquis Wellesley, K.G., engraved by G. Adcock, The London Printing and Publishing Company Limited, ca. 1841.

Copyright status:: In copyright
Research & study copies allowed: Author has been deceased for more than 50 years
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales