Baron Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800): Archives

1. Translated copy of the document in which Catherine the Great elevated Dimsdale and his son Nathaniel to the Baronetcy, and conferred on him £10,000, a pension of £500 per annum, and £2000 expenses for inoculating her and her son against smallpox, 1769.

2. Letter from Thomas Dimsdale to "Dear Tho[mas]", Hertford, 3 July 1761.

3. Letter from Thomas Dimsdale to an unnamed recipient, 1879.

4. Five cheques drawn on the account Staples, Baron Dimsdale, Son & Co account of Catherine Griffith: 26 September 1777, to pay Thomas Cooke £479 9s 3d; 20 September 1781, to pay Sir William St. Quintin £22 10s; 12 January 1786, "received of Sir William St. Quintin by the hands of Mr Thomas Maude, Ten Pounds on account of Catherine Griffith"; 12 March 1795, to pay Thomas Cooper £50; and 4 August 1800, to pay Ralph Faulknor £156.

5. Notes on Dimsdale peerage (part of which was possibly copied from Debrett's), c.1890.

6. Signatures of Thomas Dinsdale and his son Nathaniel, n.d.

7. Letter to Nathaniel Dimsdale (in French), Hertford, 22 January 1808.

8. Testimonial letter supporting application of Thomas Robert Dimsdale to be Deacon of Christ Church College, Cambridge, 17 April 1818.

9. Letter addressed to "My ever dearest Douglas, Lucinda" from Robert, 3rd Baron Dimsdale, Reading, 31 December 1819.

10. Letter addressed to "My dear Lucinda" signed "A.D." (Ann Dimsdale, daughter of Thomas Dimsdale, 1st Baron), 1819.

1769-c.1890

1 File

The majority of the file was transferred from the store March 1935. Unfortunately, precise provenance before this has been lost (acc.68383). Provenance details were not recorded for item 2 (acc.67430).

Thomas Dimsdale was born into a Quaker family in Essex in 1712, and trained as a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital, London, before going on to practice in Hertford. In 1768 he travelled to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great, where he and his second son Nathaniel inoculated her and her son, Grand Duke Paul (later Tsar Paul I). Both father and son were created Barons of the Russian Empire, and were richly rewarded.

On his return to England Thomas Dinsdale became a banker and served as Member of Parliament for Hertford between 1780 and 1790. He continued to be involved in inoculation until his death in 1800, writing several works on the subject and continuing his association with the Russian royal family.