Autograph Memorial Inscription by Admiral Lord Anson on the Execution of John Byng

A remarkable and previously unrecorded autograph manuscript by Admiral George Anson, expressing his own mournful judgment on the court-martial and execution of Admiral John Byng—an event that shocked Britain and left a lasting imprint on military and political conscience.

“To the Perpetual Disgrace of Publick Justice / The Honᵇˡᵉ John Byng / Fell a Martyr to Political Persecution / March 14 1757 / When Bravery and Loyalty were Insufficient Securities / To the Life and Honour / Of a Naval Officer”

Though Anson was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of Byng’s trial, this note suggests that he privately viewed the execution as a miscarriage of justice—a view shared by many in the Royal Navy, and immortalized by Voltaire in Candide. The tone is both personal and poetic, strikingly at odds with the public role Anson was forced to play. The manuscript almost certainly functioned as a private tribute or epitaph, never formally published. Its preservation offers rare insight into the internal conflict within the Admiralty and the tragedy that followed.

One-page autograph manuscript, undated but likely mid-to-late 1757. Brown ink on laid paper, approx. 8 x 6.5 inches, with small loss at lower left and old folds; verso blank with adhesive residue from previous mounting. Faint pencil note at foot of page: “Lord Anson’s autograph.” Protected in an archival sleeve.

Provenance: From a 19th-century autograph album that included original letters by Pellew, Saumarez, Moresby, and other prominent British naval officers. 


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