Edward's handwritten letters

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While looking for some correspondence at the National Archive, I stumbled upon two handwritten letters by Edward Little, given the information on them and Edward's service record, we can conclude that it is indeed the same man

The first one is from July 21st 1838, written while Edward was serving on HMS Donegal, and addressed to Captain Drake¹ :


ADM 1/4866, Letters from Promiscuous,1834, The National Archives 
 
It reads :
 
HMS Donegal, in the Tagus,
July 21st 1838
Sir, 
Being desirous to join HMS Excellent 
for the purpose of becoming more efficient in 
the exercice of gunnery, I have to request you 
will be pleased to forward this my application 
for an appointment to that ship, to Read 
Admiral Sir John Ommanney,
 
I am, Sir, your Obedient humble servant
E. Little, 
Lieut.
To Captain Drake, 
HMS Donegal

 

On the back we can read :

Submitted for the consideration of the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
Donegal in the Tagus,
22 July 1838
John A. Ommanney, Rear Admiral
Cannot be complied 
31 July
  

The second letter is from October 28th 1834, addressed to Captain George Elliott and the Admiralty ²

 




ADM 1/3004, Letters from Lieutenants,1836 - 1839, The National Archives

 

 It reads :

N°9 St Michaels Terrace Stoke

Devonport October 28th 1834

Sir,

Having been informed that Captain
Chesney of the Royal Artillery is about to processed on an 
Expedition to the Euphrates, and that two passed Mates are 
to be employed under that officer, I take the earliest 
opportunity of offering my humble services on the occasion 
trusting, that an abscence of eight years on foreign service 
may entitle me to favourable consideration
In June 1826 I joined His Majesty's Ship Forte Captain 
J. Coghlan, where I remained untill that ship left the 
west coast to South America for England. I then 
joined successively His Majesty's Ships Sapphire, Alert 
and Dublin, and was paid off from the last named 
ship on 1st October last,
In June 1832, I passed my examination for Seamanship 
 
To Captain the Hon'ble 
George Elliott RN
&&&
Admiralty     and

 

On the other side :

and on my arrival in England I also passed at the Royal 
Naval College Lord James Townshend, my last 
Captain is now in London, to whom, as well as my other 
Captain’s I can with safety refer for character and 
general fitness, I have the honor to be,
 
Sir, your most obedient
Very humble servant
E Little late Mate
of the Dublin
 

In the corner :

1st November
As I have ?
? have nothing to say
to the expedition he alludes to"

Thanks @dogleginyourhand for the help with that transcript

  

This confirm several things to us : his address being 9 Michael's Terrace, Stoke Devonport, which I have already found some mentions of it being the family's address at the time (before any census) ³

 

 Sun (London), 8 January 1838

 

It also confirms to us that the Edward in the description book really is the same one, as we can link his Lieutenant service record to the one from the description book, before his promotion⁴ ⁵

See Edward Little's service record

Now we also now know that he passed his examination for Seamanship in 1832 while on board the Dublin, and passed his Lieutenant examination at the Royal Naval College in 1834 (Portsmouth)

 

Based on his service record, Edward did not join the Euphrates Expedition, as his next appointment after leaving the Dublin on Oct 2 1834, was on the Royale Adelaide, Sept 5 1835, still as Mate. His first appointment as Lieutenant would be in Dec 1837, on HMS Donegal

James Fitzjames from the Franklin Expedition actually took part in the Euphrates Expedition as Mate, which he joined on October 25th 1834

You can find several articles about this on the James Fitzjames website by Fabiënne Tetteroo 


Sources

¹ ADM 1/4866, Letters from Promiscuous, 1834, The National Archives
² ADM 1/3004, Letters from Lieutenants, 1836 - 1839, The National Archives 
³ Sun (London), 8 January 1838
⁴  ADM 37/9921, Description book joined to HMS Scylla muster, The National Archives
⁵ ADM 196/5/124 Officers Time of Service, The National Archives 

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To this day , no letter between the Little family members has been found, either before or after Edward's disappearance in the arctic, but some archives and newspapers give up a glimpse of how the expedition affected the family life   The Relief Expedition meeting In 1857, James Cornelius Little, Edward's eldest brother, took part in a meeting centered around Lady Jane Franklin's effort to send another expedition in search of her husband and his crew. James Cornelius was described as "an esteemed resident" [of Jersey] and the he " had taken a lively interest in the proceedings of this meeting. He had to deplore the loss of a brother in the ill-fated expedition of Sir John Franklin. He was happy to have the opportunity to express his thanks to the gentlemen who had taken the initiative in the proceedings. " James Cornelius also subscribed to the cause by donating 10£   ¹ (which according to the TNA currency converter , would be around 590£ in 2017)
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When I first came across this article, I couldn't be sure that it mentioned the same Edward Little. But now that we know about his early service record, we know that he was indeed serving aboard HMS Dublin as mate (from Nov 1831 to Oct 1834)  So, he's most certainly the one mentioned here : ¹   Albion and the Star , 26 Sep 1834    " A Mr. Edward Little, mate, was brought forward as witness, to prove Mr. Christie's assaulting him. The manner in which this Gentleman gave his evidence called forth the animadversions of the Court ."  There is more newspapers covering the full trial (but with no other mention of Little) : ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶
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