A complete 48 page issue of "The Gentleman's Magazine" dated March 1760. This monthly London magazine was published from 1731 until 1922, a period of almost 200 years - see history below. 

The magazine provides reports primarily from England but also from around the world on a wide variety of subjects and interests, usually including two or more engraved illustrations. Wars, disasters, crimes, trials and punishments are widely reported.

This issue is particularly desirable because of the superb fold-out map by John Gibson entitled "A Chart of the Several Islands & Bays lately touch'd at by M.Thurot in his Attempt upon IRELAND". (size 10 x 8.5 inches). Thurot had been killed in the previous month at the Battle of Bishop's Court - see scans and below.

Other news of interest includes:

    Details from South Carolina that Governor William Lyttleton had signed a peace treaty with the Cherokee nation - see scan. The report ends, however, with news that despite the peace agreement the Cherokees have renewed their killings. - see scan
 
   A full account of the famous Court Marshall of Lord Sackville, which found him guilty of disobeying orders - see scan and below

  The mortality tables for London confirmed that 30% of deaths for the prior month were children below the age of 2 - childbirth was a risky affair at this time

   Good condition. After six or twelve months the monthly issues were usually taken by the subscriber to the bookbinder for safe retention. In this case the issue has subsequently been dis-bound. 

Page size 8 x 5 inches. A great and interesting resource for the historian. 

The Gentleman's Magazine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Front page of The Gentleman's Magazine, May 1759

The Gentleman's Magazine was a monthly magazine[1] founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731.[2] It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term magazine (from the French magazine, meaning "storehouse") for a periodical.[3] Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine.

History

The original complete title was The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer. Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry. It carried original content from a stable of regular contributors, as well as extensive quotations and extracts from other periodicals and books. Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazineunder the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term magazine (meaning "storehouse") for a periodical. Contributions to the magazine frequently took the form of letters, addressed to "Mr. Urban". The iconic illustration of St. John's Gate on the front of each issue (occasionally updated over the years) depicted Cave's home, in effect, the magazine's "office".

Before the founding of The Gentleman's Magazine, there were specialised journals, but no such wide-ranging publications (although there had been attempts, such as The Gentleman's Journal, which was edited by Peter Motteux and ran from 1692 to 1694).

Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine. During a time when parliamentary reporting was banned, Johnson regularly contributed parliamentary reports as "Debates of the Senate of Magna Lilliputia". Though they reflected the positions of the participants, the words of the debates were mostly Johnson's own. The name "Columbia", a poetic name for America coined by Johnson, first appears in a 1738 weekly publication of the debates of the British Parliament in the magazine.[4][5]

The magazine's long-running motto, E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of many, one", is thought to have inspired the use of the phrase as an unofficial motto of the United States. Motteux's The Gentleman's Journal had previously used the phrase.[6][7][8]

A skilled businessman, Edward Cave developed an extensive distribution system for The Gentleman's Magazine. It was read throughout the English-speaking world and continued to flourish through the 18th century and much of the 19th century under a series of different editors and publishers. It went into decline towards the end of the 19th century and finally ceased general publication in September 1907. However, issues consisting of four pages each were printed in very small editions between late 1907 and 1922 in order to keep the title formally "in print".

Francois Thurot - 28 February 1760, the last battle

Further information: Battle of Bishops Court
The action took place off Bishops Court between Captain Elliott and the French Captain Thurot

Three British ships caught up with Thurot's squadron on 28 February 1760, anchored at the entrance of Luce Bay. To avoid being trapped in the bay, Thurot's squadron set sail for the south-east, towards the Isle of Man. At about sunrise the leader of the British squadron, Æolus caught up with the Maréchal de Belle-Isle and battle began (within sight of the Mull of Galloway and Jurby Head on Man). After the first broadsides, Thurot tried to grapple Æolus so he could use his troops to board, but all he achieved was the loss of his bowsprit, and of many men on deck from British small-arms fire. Next Æolus fired a second broadside, and neatly fell back so that the other two Royal Navy vessels could also fire at the Belle-Isle. Then Æolus resumed the fight, while Pallas and Brilliant went to deal with the remaining French vessels, one of which, Terpsichore attempted to escape but was easily caught by Pallas. François was killed about the time of the second broadside, apparently by a musket-ball, and after a boarding party eventually got aboard, his crew surrendered. News reports claimed that aboard the Belle-Isle was found a young woman from Paddington, whom Thurot had met in London a few years previously, and had accompanied him on all his subsequent adventures—presumably the origin of the story of Miss Smith.[17] Some 160 men had been killed aboard Belle-Isle alone, compared to four killed and eleven wounded aboard Æolus. At some point, Thurot's corpse was thrown overboard, with many others, and it washed ashore in Monreith Bay.

It was variously claimed that he was dressed in an ordinary sailor's uniform, and hence not recognised, or, on the contrary, that his corpse was found sewed up in the silk-velvet carpet from his cabin). He was buried with full honours in the churchyard of Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis, at the expense of the local laird, Sir William Maxwell Bt., of Monreith who also served as chief mourner.[18] Within half a century, the grave marker was gone, but the site was remembered, and a new marker has since been provided. Having been so greatly feared in Britain, he was also mourned, and celebrations of his defeat paid him considerable respect. A widely circulated news report observed that "he had justly acquired, and has left behind him, the two most amiable Characteristicks of a Sailor or Soldier, intrepid Courage, and extensive Humanity", and a published letter from London reported that "most people here are sorry for his Death, as he on all Occasions behaved like a brave Officer, and a Gentleman."[19] The artist, Richard Wright, witnessed the battle and produced paintings showing the action[20] and the aftermath, which were both made into engravings. Ballads were written about the Carrickfergus raid and the last battle, and a biography of Thurot by the Rev. John Francis Durand was in the shops by June,[18] in two editions priced at 1s or 6½d; sadly, despite the author's claims to have known Thurot for years, the work consisted mostly of old news stories and outright fabrications.


Lord Sackville - Court martial

Sackville refused to accept responsibility for refusing to obey orders. Back in England, he demanded a court martial, and made it a large enough issue that he obtained his demand in 1760. The court found him guilty, and imposed one of the strangest and strongest verdicts ever rendered against a general officer. The court's verdict not only upheld his discharge but also ruled that he was "unfit to serve His Majesty in any military Capacity whatever", then ordered that their verdict be read to and entered in the orderly book of every regiment in the army.[9] The king had his name struck from the Privy Councilrolls.[10]