SETTLING THE DEBTS OF A FAILED ENGLISH PURITAN COLONY RICH, ROBERT; 2ND EARL OF WARWICK. Autograph Letter Signed, "Warwicke," to his son-in-law Edward Montagu ("Son"), explaining that that the difficulty in discharging the debt owed by Rich and Henry Darley ("Hary Darly") and others to Alderman Cordell is due to a delay on Darley's part, promising to secure payment at a meeting of the company [Providence Island Company] expected to include shareholders Darley and Mr. [James or Richard] Feinnes ("Mr. Fines"), and, in a postscript, adding "Your milke pans are made and ready such as you saw at Mr. Heders at Bedington and shal[l] be sent you downe when you give me order for them and how to be sent." 2 pages, folio, with integral (now detached) address leaf with mostly intact wax seal; moderate scattered foxing, folds. "Warwick House" [London], 13 February 1650
"I received yours about the bond wherin my selfe and Hary Darly and others stand bound to Mr. Alderman Cordele for 1000£. I have treated w[i]th Mr. Cordell 'bout it and have offer'd to pay of him near 700£ . . . and Hary Darly did promise he would pay the other part . . . but Hary Darly hath so defer'd the ending of it as hath given me some trouble . . . I will doe my best to include you in my payment to save you harmles[s]. For the rest I have tould Mr. Fines and Hary Darly that if they will go to a meeting of the rest of the Gent[lemen] of the Company I will propose to them to lay downe ev[e]ry man his proportion to discharge the debt." Roughly contemporaneous with the colonization of New England, some adventurers seeking wealth and religious freedom established a settlement in 1630 on Providence Island, a small, western Caribbean island off the coast of Nicaragua. To colonize Providence and other Caribbean islands chartered by King Charles I, these English Puritans formed the Providence Island Company, whose shareholders included Rich, Edward Montagu, deputy treasurer Henry Darley, James and William Feinnes, and others. By 1641, the colony had failed, unable to surmount the difficulties presented by poor soil, climate, and attacks by the local Spanish. To settle the outstanding debt, the final meetings of the Company members and their heirs were held in 1649 and 1650.
