JOHN WESTLAKE AUTOGRAPH LETTER, 1857
JAMES CLERK MAXWELL • F. J. A. HORT • MACMILLAN • TRINITY COLLEGE REFORM

A particularly interesting 11 August 1857 autograph letter signed by John Westlake (1828–1913), the distinguished jurist, legal scholar and later Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge.

Written from 49 Doughty Street, London, the letter is addressed to Macmillan & Co. and concerns the carefully organised distribution of Westlake's newly published reform pamphlet, On the Tenure of Fellowships.

Trinity College Library records this pamphlet as a 20-page booklet published by Macmillan & Co., Cambridge, in 1857, with its archival copy dated[August] 1857 and noted as presented by the author. 

A letter connected directly with the 1857 Trinity fellowship controversy

Westlake instructs Macmillan to circulate copies of the pamphlet to the heads of colleges, the members for the University, and those Trinity Fellows who were regular non-residents.

Westlake stresses that the copies should be sent:

“the sooner the better, and not later than the end of September (as the college meeting is on the 16th of October)”

The letter therefore documents Westlake's deliberate circulation of his arguments immediately before a specified Trinity College meeting.

This belongs to a particularly active period of debate over the tenure and conditions of Trinity College fellowships.

The surviving Joseph Edleston papers at Trinity College contain a remarkable group of related material from autumn 1857, including printed remarks on permitting Fellows to marry, J. B. Lightfoot's On the Celibacy Question, proposals for meetings of Trinity's Governing Body, and Fenton J. A. Hort's subsequent pamphlet concerning the tenure of fellowships and church patronage at Trinity. 

F. J. A. Hort specifically sent Westlake's pamphlet

Westlake specifically instructs Macmillan:

“Send also to Messrs Hensley and Hort, at their living of Hitchin and St. Ippolyts.”

This refers to Lewis Hensley (1824–1905) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–1892).

The association with Hort is especially interesting because Trinity's archival collection records Hort's own 14 November 1857 printed work:

A Letter to the Rev. J. Ll. Davies on the Tenure of Fellowships and on Church Patronage in Trinity College. 

Thus this letter records Westlake arranging for Hort to receive his fellowship pamphlet in August 1857, with Hort himself producing a contribution to the fellowship-tenure controversy that November. No claim is made that Westlake's pamphlet prompted Hort's publication, but the close contemporary association is noteworthy.

Important James Clerk Maxwell association

Most notably, Westlake adds a postscript:

“P.S. I happen to know the address of one of the Trinity fellows: James Clerk Maxwell Esq.
Glenlair
near Springholm
Dumfries”

James Clerk Maxwell was therefore specifically identified by Westlake as one of the Trinity Fellows to whom the pamphlet should be sent.

This is considerably more significant than a passing mention of Maxwell: the letter places James Clerk Maxwell within the intended readership for Westlake's intervention in the contemporary Trinity fellowship debate.

The letter does not establish Maxwell's own opinion of Westlake's proposals, and no such claim is made here. It does establish that Westlake specifically supplied Maxwell's Glenlair address so that a copy could be sent to him.

Exceptional surviving historical context

The significance is strengthened by another surviving John Westlake letter in the Trinity College archives, dated 11 October 1857, again from 49 Doughty Street.

Trinity describes that document as containing a detailed plan for“steering the question of the tenure of fellowships through a general meeting”, including suggestions for breaking the question into a series of propositions. 

This was written only shortly before the 16 October college meeting explicitly anticipated in the present letter, providing unusually strong archival context for Westlake's activities surrounding the fellowship question.

The Edleston archive furthermore contains additional printed proposals and contributions concerning fellowship tenure, marriage and Trinity's Governing Body during October and November 1857. 

About John Westlake

John Westlake entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1846, graduated in 1850 and was a Fellow of Trinity from 1851 to 1860. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1854. He subsequently became a leading authority on international law, Liberal MP and Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge.

The present letter therefore dates from Westlake's own period as a Trinity Fellow and concerns an issue directly affecting the collegiate system of which he was himself a member.

Historical interest

A highly appealing primary document relating to the 1857 Trinity College fellowship-tenure controversy, combining associations with:

• John Westlake, distinguished jurist and international-law scholar
• James Clerk Maxwell, explicitly named and addressed at Glenlair
• F. J. A. Hort, later the celebrated biblical scholar and participant in the same fellowship-tenure debate
• Lewis Hensley
• Macmillan & Co.
• Trinity College, Cambridge
• the wider Victorian Cambridge university and college reform movement

The surviving Trinity archive demonstrates that Westlake's pamphlet and the fellowship-tenure question generated further discussion and printed material during the months immediately following this letter. 

An unusually rich association letter whose significance extends well beyond the autograph of Westlake, documenting the circulation of a Cambridge reform pamphlet to a notable group of Trinity figures including James Clerk Maxwell and F. J. A. Hort.

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Transcription

49 Doughty Street, London
11 Augt 1857

Messrs Macmillan & Co.

Dear Sirs,

I have to acknowledge yours of the 4th, and to ask you to send copies of my pamphlet also to the heads of colleges, and to the members for the university. With regard to those fellows of Trinity who are regular non-residents, copies should be sent to them at their addresses, the sooner the better, and not later than the end of September (as the college meeting is on the 16th of October) unless in the case of any who may be known at the college to be then abroad. Send also to Messrs Hensley and Hort, at their living of Hitchin and St. Ippolyts.

Believe me yours truly
John Westlake

P.S. I happen to know the address of one of the Trinity fellows: James Clerk Maxwell Esq.
Glenlair
near Springholm
Dumfries

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John Westlake (Feb 1828 – Apr 1913) was an English law scholar, Liberal Member of Parliament, and social reformer. He co-founded the first journal devoted to international law, Revue de Droit International et de Legislation Comparée. Westlake was renowned for his influence in the realm of legal practice, particularly in addressing the complexities of disputes between individuals residing in distinct legal jurisdictions, a field commonly referred to as private international law or conflict of laws.

James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (Jun 1831 – Nov 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification in physics, where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. Maxwell was also key in the creation of statistical mechanics.

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