(Possibly there were two John David BARBUT(T)s in London in the 18th century, but I have found no confirmation either way. The following are references found to date for this name - Caroline, February 2009.)
House of Hanover: | 1714-1727 George I | 1727-1760 George II |
page 56
"John David BARBUT, b. 27 Sep. 1709."
page 327
"JOHN DAVID BARBUT, second son of Isaac B., of the Post Office, London, esq."
page 1022
"BARBUT, John D. 3 Mar., 1739-40."
page 66
"BARBUTT John David, Cartwright Street, parish of St. Margaret & St. John; Nov. 24, 1749"
"A Table of the Statutes - Private Acts: Anne 26 Georgii II.
[1753, April] 17. An Act for naturalizing of John David BARBUTT and Fortunatus Planta"
page 154
"(Bill received royal assent 17 April, 1753.) JOHN DAVID BARBUTT, Esq., son of Isaac Barbutt, by Mary Ann his wife, born in Konigsberg."
page 425
"Liste der durch Naturalisation eigeb¨rgerten Briten deutscher Herkunst [German subjects naturalised British]
1753, 17. April - BARBUTT, John David, Esq. - b. Konigsberg"
1753: c. 17 - Naturalization of John BARBUTT and Fortunatus PLANTA.
"... my good Friend John BARBUT Esquire Clerk of the Venison Warrants to his Majesty King George the Second ..."
(See Cornelius, Family, Wills, for "Clerk of the Venison Warrants".)
page 287
"Warrants for Minor Appointments, 1736
July 1 - Treasury warrant to Customs Commissioners.
... John David BARBUTT, examiner of the sufficiency of officers' securities and solicitor of the payment of debts standing out in the Plantation Receipt, loco Bendall MARTIN, to be superseded."
page 633
Warrants for Minor Appointments: 1738
"Nov. 4 - [Treasury Warrant] ... Owen McSWINY, examiner of the sufficiency of officers' securities and to solicit the payment of debts standing out in the Plantation receipt, loco John David BARBUTT, to be superseded."
page 200
"Secretaries to the General Post Office
1738 - John David BARBUTT, esq., appointed secretary in the room of T. ROBINSON, esq., deceased Sept. 17."
"Return of Writs: Oaths of justices of the peace: Tower ... J.D. BARBUTT - 13 George II."
pages 215-6
"Number LXXVII. - A List of the Names of the Right Honourable the Lord-Lieutenant, with the Honourable the Deputy-Lieutenants of the Militia of the Tower-Hamlets, with the Field-Officers, Captains, Lieutenants and Ensigns; as also the Serjeants of each Company, and Bringers-up of the said Militia; with the Secretary, Muster-Master, and Clerk thereunto belonging, for the Year 1741.
The Lord-Lieutenant is, The Right Honourable Charles Lord CORNWALLIS, Constable of his Majesty's Tower of London, Lord-Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the Hamlets thereunto belonging.
The Honourable the Deputy-Lieutenants are, ...
John-David BARBUTT, Esqr."
page 200
"Secretaries to the General Post Office
1742 - George SHELVOCKE, esq., vice Mr. BARBUTT, removed July 22."
vol. 4, no. 12
"1742, December - BARBUTT Jn. David, London"
page 185
"BARBUTT, the secretary, had recently retired under a cloud. BELL, the comptroller of the inland office, had been arrested on a charge of fraud."
page 435
September 1738 to July 1742
"John David BARBUTT"
index, page 440
"BARBUTT, John David, secretary to the Post Office"
"The carriers from Witney in Oxfordshire came to "The Saracen's Head" "without Newgate," and lodged there, no doubt bringing with them many a wagon-load of blankets, Witney duffels or pilot cloths, wagon and barge tiltings, gloves,
malt, &c., since that town was famous from early times for the manufacture of those commodities. The old inn was the resting-place also for the carriers and wainmen from Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Gloucester city
(Taylor's Carriers' Cosmographie).
In 1752 the Exeter fast coach left "The Saracen's Head" on Snow Hill every Monday "for the better conveyance of travellers" (Salisbury Journal of that year).
"Next to this church" (i.e. St. Sepulchre's), says Stow, "is a fair and large inn for receipt of travellers, and hath to sign 'The Saracen's Head.' The hostelry appears to have served the purpose of an early local post-office, to judge from the following notice in The Daily Advertiser of 25 Sept., 1741:
General Post Office, London, Sept. 23, 1741.
Whereas the Post-Boy carrying the North and Peterborough Mails this Morning from London to Enfield, dropt the Peterborough Mail between this Office and that Place, which contain'd the following Bags, viz., Boston, Spalding, Peter- borough, Louth, and Horncastle; the Post-Master-General thinks proper to give the Publick this Notice, that such Persons as may have sent Bills or Notes in any of the said Bags, may take such Measures as they think proper: And whoever shall find the said Mail and Bags entire, and bring them to this Office, shall have a Guinea Reward, to be paid by Joseph Plaisto, Post-Master, at 'The Saracen's Head' on Snow-Hill, by whose Servant's Negligence this Accident happen'd.
By Order of the Post-Master-General;
J. D. BARBUTT, Secretary.' "
————
— LXXXIV. —
(Commons, Journals, 30 June 1742, Vol. 24, p. 298.)
page 112
"Extract from a further Report of the Committee of Secrecy appointed, 23 March 1742, to inquire into the Conduct of Robert, Earl of Orford, during the last Ten Years of his being First Commissioner of the Treasury, and Chancellor and Under Treasurer of His Majesty's Exchequer."
"It farther appears to your Committee that, besides the sum of 1,453,400l. 6s. 3d. already mentioned, there has been paid, in the 10 years preceding the 10th of February last, the sum of 45,675l., without account, to the Society or the Post-office for the time being, as by an account hereunto annexed (No. 15), by virtue of a warrant from the Treasury; and this for a service formerly inconsiderable. Your Committee find, by papers laid before them, that the first payment of this kind was in the year 1718, and amounted to 446l. 2s., and the succeeding payments for some years were about 750l. per annum; from whence it has gradually mcreased to 4,700l., the present annual allowance: and the present secretary, John David BARBUTT, Esq., being examined as to this allowance, said
'That the greatest part of this money is for defraying the expense of a private office for the inspecting foreign correspondence; that he cannot say as to the first establishment of this office, having been but three years and a half in the Post-office; but he apprehends there was always an office of this kind, and that it was defrayed formerly by the Secretaries of State.'
The establishments in this office seemed so extraordinary to your Committee, that they have added the particulars as contained in the examination of Mr. BARBUTT, hereunto annexed (No. 16.)
"No. 16.—
John David BARBUTT, Esq., Secretary to the Post-office, being examined in the most solemn manner this l8th day of May 1742, and being asked as to the disposition of the money, paid into his hands without account by a warrant from the Crown, said,
'That there is in the Post-office a private office for the inspecting foreign correspondence, and that the greatest part of that money is for the defraying the expense of this office; that the accountant-general and receiver-general, who have inspected the books, have told him, that the first traces they find of any money thus paid by warrant, was in the year 1718. That this examinant cannot say as to the first establishment of this office, having been but three years and a half himself in the Post-office; but he apprehends there was always an office of this kind, and that it was defrayed formerly by the Secretary of State. That he is a stranger to the business of the office, having never been in it; for they pretend to be independent, and receive their instructions from the Secretaries of State, and carry their intelligence to the Secretaries of State, though the postmasters have a right to go into the office. That the annual expenses of this office are as follows:
To the chief decypherer, Dr. WILLES,* for himself and his son, 1,000l.;
to the second decypherer, Mr. CORBIERE, 800l.;
to the third decypherer, Mr. LAMPE, 500l.;
to the fourth decypherer, Mr. ZOLMAN, 200l.;
to the chief clerk, Mr. LE FEBRE, 650l.;
to the four other clerks, Messrs. BODE, THOUVOIS, CLARK, HEMMITT, 300l. each;
to the comptroller of the Foreign-office, Mr. DAY, 60l.;
to the doorkeeper 40l. or 50l., but this examinant believes 50l.
There are, besides, incidental charges for seals, &c., an account of which is brought in by one of the clerks, which may amount to 100l., and to Mr. LAVALADE, formerly alphabet keeper, but now superannuated, 40l.; that when these sums were discharged, the overplus, which may amonunt to 90l., is divided between the two postmasters and the secretary, each postmaster taking three-sevenths, and the secretary one-seventh. That Mr. LE FEBRE, besides his above-mentioned salary, is paid something out of incidents, so that his whole salary may amount to about, as he believes, 800l. per annum. That his (Mr. LE FEBRE's) is a very troublesome post, it being necessary he should always be present at the going out and coming in of the mails. That this examinant does not know of a pension of 200l. per annum paid out of this money; but Mr. CLARK, who has formerly attended, and is incapacitated at present, has 200l. paid him out of his salary of 300l.; and another attends for him.
J. D. BARBUTT.'
* Dean of Lincoln, appointed Bishop of St. David's in August, 1742."
page 405
John David BARBUTT was removed as secretary to the Postmaster-General this month. He was bankrupt by the end of the year.
"A memorial from J. David BARBUTT, Secretary to the Postmasters General ..."
"After WALPOLE's resignation the H[ouse] of C[ommons] voted a secret committee to investigate his administration; the investigation was hampered by the refusal of Treasury officials to give evidence about the disposition of secret service money, lest they incriminate themselves. Nicholas PAXTON (Assistant Solicitor of the Treasury, 1722-30; Solicitor, 1730-42; vigorous prosecutor of anti-ministerial printers & publishers) refused and was committed to Newgate; later, a bill was introduced to indemnify evidence against WALPOLE. This satire includes suggested texts of gallows speeches for both PAXTON and WALPOLE; the Scald-Miserable-Masons and Scoundrel Gazetteer Legion may be a spoof on the Freemasons, etc. (OED says there was a ragamuffin procession of scald-miserable-Masons in 1742, engraved in 1771)."
"-- 'Postscrit' [sic] (p.[36]): 'Colonel Ding-Dong of the P--t O--e ... disperser of the daily Memoirs of your Gazetteer Legion, is taken into keeping'; Ding Dong is probably John David BARBUTT who was removed as Secy of the Post Office July 22, 1742 (Haydn p. 239).
-- Poney may be Wm. PULTNEY."
pages 150-151
"There are, for example, in the papers of John ROBINSON, the political manager for Lord NORTH and George III, certain lists drawn up in preparation for the election of 1774, showing all offices "tenable with seats in Lords and Commons." It is a curious array of appointments of all kinds, honorific and remunerative, nominal and real: thirteen lords and eleven grooms of the Bedchamber, the Master of the Jewel Office, the Clerk of the Venison Warrants, ..., the Master of the Hanaper, ..., the Clerk of the Pells, and so on in great numbers."
page 637
"... bought holders of sinecures sat rejoicing in such titles as 'Clerk of the Venison Warrants' and 'Master of ...."
(J.D.B. was a Clerk of the Venison Warrants - did he become acquainted with John TILBURG/TILBURY at Court? See Family of Cornelius Tilbury and Wills.)
pages 265-289
"The Anti-Jacobite Intelligence System of The English Ministers, 1715-1745"
by Paul S. Fritz (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario)
"John David BARBUTT, who gave evidence before the secret committee in 1742, claimed LEFEBURE's was 'a very troublesome post' ..."
page 132
"Active members of the Secret Office and Deciphering Branch sometimes received pensions on retirement ..."
————
1741
Whitehall, Treasury Chambers. June 5. - 93
J. D. BARBUTT, the Postmaster General's Secretary, to Mr. CARKESSE of date 1740–1, March 4. 1 page.
1742
Minute Books - Whitehall, Treasury Chambers.
July 15. - 126
Write to the Postmasters for a state of Mr. BARBUTT's accounts, and how far his misfortunes may affect the revenue.
July 20. - 129
A return read from Sir John EYLES relating to Mr. BARBUTT.
A memorial from J. David BARBUTT, Secretary to the Postmasters General, read and referred to said Postmasters.
July 27. - 137
A report read from the Postmasters General of the 23rd instant, relating to the failure of Mr. BARBUTT.
Notes:
STONE: Andrew STONE (see link below)
NEWCASTLE: the Duke of Newcastle
WOOLLEY: one of the Chatham Officers (Dockyard)
George TILSON, Edward WESTON, Andrew STONE, John COURAUD: Under Secretaries of State
December 19
J. D. BARBUTT from the General Post Office to John WACE asking for a new Warrant for the inspection by WOOLLEY of letters addressed to LACOUR etc. (ref. SP 36/46 - Folio 260)
May 16
J. D. BARBUTT to STONE concerning a proposed regulation altering the postal route from London to West Nottinghamshire. (ref. SP 36/47 - Folio 221)
November 21
J[ohn] D[avid] BARBUTT [Secretary to the Postmasters General], to NEWCASTLE enclosing a copy of a letter received from Bristol's Postmaster. (ref. SP 36/48 - Folio 217)
[December 6]
[John David] BARBUTT's memorandum concerning representations on the delivery of mail from Battle. (ref. SP 36/49 - Folio 6)
December 6
John David BARBUTT from the General Post Office to John COURAUD enclosing a letter from W. VAN ALMONDE, their agent at Brill, to be given to NEWCASTLE. (ref. SP 36/49 - Folio 7)
March 21
John David BARBUTT at the General Post Office, to Andrew STONE enclosing an extract of a letter from the agent at Falmouth. (ref. SP 36/50 - Folio 185)
March 31
John David BARBUTT to Andrew STONE about the packet boats at Falmouth and their departure with the mail. (ref. SP 36/50 - Folio 229)
May 21
J[ohn] D[avid] BARBUTT to John COURAUD enclosing an extract from a letter received by the Postmaster General. (ref. SP 36/50 - Folio 420)
May 28
J[ohn] D[avid] BARBUTT to Andrew STONE, acknowledging his letter [presumably in reply to f. 458] and stating that he has written to the Falmouth agent accordingly and also given him directions for the dispatch of letters to Sir Chaloner [OGLE]. (ref. SP 36/50 - Folio 456)
May 31
S. BANFIELD [agent at Falmouth] to the Postmaster General acknowledging their letter of May 27 [see f. 450] and subsequent letter from BARBUTT [see f. 456] and explaining how he has disposed of the letters for Sir Chaloner OGLE. He confirms the Deptford man-of-war has taken a Spanish privateer and her two prizes. (ref. SP 36/50)
June 4
J. D. BARBUTT to Andrew STONE enclosing a copy of Mr. BANFIELD's letter. (ref. SP 36/51 - Folio 12)
September 29
Captain John COOPER of the Townshend, packet boat, from Pamplona to John David BARBUTT, Secretary to the Post-master General, informing him of the deprivation his men are suffering as prisoners of war in Spain. (ref. SP 36/52 - Folio 190)
November 26
John David BARBUTT to STONE enclosing a letter from Captain John COOPER. (ref. SP 36/53/76 - folio 183)
November 24
John COOPER from Pamplona to BARBUTT concerning the treatment of British prisioners-of-war by the Spanish. (ref. SP 36/53/77 - folio 184)
April 8
J. D. BARBUTT to John COURAUD enclosing a copy of a letter from PELLEN, mate of the King George packet boat. (ref. SP 36/55 - Folio 241)
April 9
J. BARBUTT to ___ that he is sending the express to York. (ref. SP 36/55 - Folio 255)
July 24
John JESSE from the General Post Office to John COURAUD that, in the absence of Sir John EYLES and J. BARBUTT, he has been appointed to receive dispatches. (ref. SP 36/56 - Folio 173)
October 25-31
J. BARBUTT to ?STONE?, enclosing papers [missing], on which he hopes NEWCASTLE's support may be subscribed before he proceeds to apply to other ministers and officers of state. (ref. SP 36/72 - Folio 192)
page 143
"COURAUD, John, British under-secretary of state 1729-1743"
Treasury Solicitor and HM Procurator General's Department - General and Miscellaneous - Treasury Solicitor: Deeds, Evidences and Miscellaneous Papers
MIDDLESEX AND SURREY: RANELAGH - MISCELLANEOUS DEEDS
1744, November 26 (ref. TS 21/1921)
Copy Memorial of deed:
- Edward BURNABY (1)
- James BARBUTT (2)
- Peter BRUSHELL and others (3)
- William CRISPE (4)
- Walter GIBBONS and Henry JENKINS (5)
1745, July 13 (ref. TS 21/1976)
Share no 36 transfer:
- Walter GIBBONS and Henry JENKINS
- to James BARBUTT
"The case exparte BURNABY ...
BARBUTT, BURNABY and CRISPE were partners; BARBUTT assigned his share to BURNABY; CRISPE became bankrupt.
Lord HARDWICKE ordered, upon the petition of BURNABY, that the partnership property in the hands of CRISPE might be divided amongst the joint creditors. The assignment of BARBUTT's share did not affect CRISPE, before he had a third share with two partners, afterwards he had a third share with one. He never held the joint property as his own. (Exparte Burnaby, Cooke, 246. 1746.)
The effect would have been the same, if BARBUTT had assigned his share to CRISPE, CRISPE would still have been a partner with BURNABY, having two shares and he one. What was joint property continued to be joint ...."
"... the initiative in laying charges lay with the prosecutor, who could bypass the local justices completely and present a case ... even directly to the King's Bench itself."
"Thus in the autumn of 1740, Edward BATTY ... commenced a prosecution in the King's Bench against John David BARBUTT and William CRISPE for an assault committed in Clapton. P.R.O., (KB 10/25/1, Michaelmas 14 Geo. II, indt. 38.)"
"In 1741 TIMBRELL and SWIFT leased to William CRISPE and James MYONET the mansion and gardens for 21 years at £130, and the Avenue or walk, paved and planted with a row of lime trees and hedges on both sides, for 4 years at a peppercorn rent. Under an agreement drawn up with John David BARBUTT and James MYONET just before the lease, TIMBRELL and John SPENCER, carpenter, were to erect a building in the gardens according to an agreed design at a cost of £300: this may be the Rotunda, said to have been built by TIMBRELL in 1741, possibly to a design by William JONES, architect to the East India Company."
(The first reference to BARBUTT as regards Ranelagh, is to James; while it was John David who was cited by Edward BATTY. John David was father Isaac's second son - might James have been the elder? Other references - not given - are to a James BARBUTT exhibiting pictures at the Royal Academy.)
————
1746 - Chancery, Six Clerks Office
TILBURG v. BARBUTT - (TNA ref: C 11/2493/23)
[Cornelius jnr. v. John David, disputing the terms of Cornelius' brother John's Will]
(See below the section on disputed property in Frinton.)
————
1756, 15 September: Old Bailey Proceedings - Reference Number: t17560915-40 (online)
371. (M)
"Robert HORNER indicted for stealing, on 21 September, 1755, two silk aprons, value 5 s. one gauze handkerchief embroider'd with gold, five cambrick handkerchiefs, one piece of cambrick, and one suit of muslin headcloaths, the goods of John David BARBUTT, Esq."
BARBUTT stated that he had placed his goods in an empty house belonging to JONES (upholsterer), since BARBUTT was going abroad, and his wife had gone out of town for the benefit of the air, being unwell. The prisoner and his family were admitted to part of the house below stairs, rent free, by the landlord. BARBUTT's goods were locked up in "a one pair of stairs room", while he travelled abroad between April and November. Anxious about his goods, on 1 May he asked to see where they were, and found the gate to the house padlocked. The accused had not been seen for several days, and just previously a loaded cart had been seen. BARBUTT asked the landlord to go with him to the house; breaking in, they found BARBUTT's trunks - "of all sorts, linen, china, &c." - all empty.
BARBUTT found some items at pawnbroker Mr. GIBBONS' on the corner of Turnstile. When caught, HORNER admitted having pawned the BARBUTT's bed, then taken the other goods to redeem the bed - for the use of Mrs. BARBUTT.
HORNER: Guilty - Transportation, 7 years.
The names of 3152 former owners of books printed before 1801 and now in the library:
BARBUTT, John David (bookplate) - ref. G544, O109
More information from the University of Kent online database: the two books are,
Title: "Horologion. Russian" by the Orthodox Eastern Church, pub. Moscow, 1651 (Reference only - Classmark: H/R-6-28)
Title: "Berger fidèle" ("Pastor fido") by GUARINI, Giovanni Battista, pub. ?Amsterdam, 1700? (Reference only - Classmark: H/Q-2-23)
Letter 383 - The Earl of MELFORT to Mr. INNES from Rome
The Circulation of the Gun Money in Ireland (MS. Lansd. Mus. Brit. 1163. page 167)
"(... copied from the Earl of MELFORT's Register of what he wrote to the Court of St. Germains during his negotiation with the Pope, from March 8th to Dec. 13th, 1699, preserved in three Volumes in folio among the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the Museum. These volumes were bought at Paris in 1744 of the then Countess of MELFORT, who had married the Earl's grandson, by Mr. BARBUTT Secretary of the Post-Office. They afterwards became the property of Philip Carteret WEBB, Esq. at whose decease they were purchased by the Marquess of LANSDOWNE at that time Earl of SHELBURNE.
The Earl of MELFORT had become a convert to Popery early in the reign of James the Second, to whom he was Secretary of State. ...)"
Ownership/provenance evidence includes: bookplates (often abbreviated as "plate")
BARBUTT, John David (plate):
Reggio, Pietro, d.1685. Songs ... [London, 1680] (ref: fMus.R2625.680s)
No. 1409 - BARBUTT, Jno. David, Esqr - Jacobean book
page 1743
BATH Alexander Hoskins
(Same design as the plate of Jno. David BARBUTT Esq., and often found pasted over it.)
————
John David BARBUTT, esq., was a subscriber to [at least]:
1733 - "The Works of Shakespeare in Seven Volumes" - Theobald (Lewis) (A. Bettesworth & C. Hitch)
1744 - "The History of the Life and Reign of the Empress Catharine" by John Mottley
1750 - "Mr. Cooke's Edition and Translation of the Comedys of Plautus" vol.1 (J. Purser)
————
(There is no confirmation that the following references were to John David BARBUTT; it remains a probability.)
page 438
page 465
J. BARBUT's mark on a spoon
(Latin: John = Iohannis)
Research by MichaelH:
The following deeds are at the Essex records office:
File created 20 November 1694 (ref. D/DSx/120)
Assignment:
(i) Cornelius A. TILBORGE, of Covent Garden (co. Midd.) gent,
directing
(ii) Nicholas DONING of Middle Temple (London) gen.,
to
(iii) Cavendish WEEDON of Lincolns Inn (co. Midd.) esq., and Wm. CADE of Carshalton (co. Surrey).
Messuage called Wicketts, 122a. land, woodland called Archland Grove (4a.)
[Recites deeds of 3rd. and 4th November 1694 between Jn. HECKLEFIELD and N.D. and C.W].
File created 1667-1753 (ref. D/DQ 41/138)
Deeds of farm called the Wickett, Wicketts or Wickhouse Farm, 122 acres; wood called Archland or Archland Grove, 4 acres, Frinton.
The property is described as Frinton Wick alias Frinton Hall in deeds from 1738.
Parties include:
Henry Hecklefield, Pening Alston, Edward Smith, Mary Hecklefield, John Lee, Robert Jones, Robert Capell, John HECKLEFIELD, Elianor Hecklefield, Cornelius a TILBURG or TILBURGH, Cavendish WEEDON, Charles Cox, John TILBURG, James Hinsum, David John BARBUTT, Samuel Farrant, John Quallett, William Cox, Bethiah BARBUTT, Elizabeth Cox, Michael Hills.
"Frinton Wick (134 acres in 1839) seems to derive from the farm called the Wickett."
"John HECKLEFIELD, who in 1694 sold it to trustees for Cornelius a TILBORGE (otherwise TILBURGH, TILBURY ...), a physician .... In 1727 and 1741 the Wick was owned by Cornelius's son Dr. John TILBURGH; he occupied the farm in 1727, but had a tenant by 1736. In 1752 the farm belonged to Elias COX."
(From the above it would seem that the result of the dispute over the Frinton property in the TILBURG/TILBURY family of 'quacks' was that first Cornelius snr.'s son John, then John's friend John David BARBUTT, inherited. While Cornelius jnr. may have enjoyed the property during his lifetime - under the terms of brother John's Will - his name does not appear in the Land Ownership list, neither does that of Cornelius jnr.'s friend AUSTIN who was to inherit after Cornelius jnr.'s death.)
Who was Bethiah BARBUTT? Might she have been John David's daughter (or other relative)?
William GOSLING married a Bethia BARBUTT on 14 September 1800 at St. Anne Soho, Westminster, London