GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA ROBERT PRESCOTT AUTHORIZES A CLERK’S SALARY

ROBERT PRESCOTT (1725-1816). Prescott was a British civil servant and soldier in colonial North America. He was General and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Forces in North America and Governor of Canada. He also fought in the American Revolution.

DS. 1pg. May 26, 1797. Quebec. A partially-printed document signed “Robt Prescott” as Governor General of the Canadas and engrossed in another hand. He orders a clerk to be paid. “ROBERT PRESCOTT, ESQUIRE, Governor of the Province of Lower-Canada, General and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Forces in North America, &c. &c. &c. To Henry Caldwell, Esq; Receiver-General. You are hereby directed and required, out of such Monies as are or shall come to your hands for defraying the Expenses of the Civil Government of this Province, to pay or cause to be paid unto The Honorable Hugh Finlay Esquire or to his Assigns, the Sum of Four hundred and ninety three pounds thirteen shillings & eleven pence Sterling, being for 4 Years and 342 days Salary as Clerk of the Crown in Chancery from the 24^th day of May 1792 to the 30^th of April 1797 inclusive at the rate of one hundred pounds sterling p Annum pursuant to a Letter from His Grace the Duke of Portland dated 20^th January 1797. And for your so doing this, with the Acquittance of said Hugh Finlay or his Assigns, shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge…Robt Prescott”. It is in very good condition, with mounting remnants on the verso; one has caused a small in the lower left corner.