LETTER, FROM THE INHABITANTS OF ST CHRISTOPHER TO ARCHIBALD PAULL BURT

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1874

Overview

Booklet which includes a letter and several hundred signatures dated January 1874 from the inhabitants of St Christopher [St Kitts] to Archibald Paull Burt.
The letter was written as a welcome back to St Christopher on the occasion of AP Burt's return for a visit after being away for 14 years.
The booklet is made up of a white sheet of paper folded in half, with two additional pages added (single sheets folded around initial sheet at the left-hand side to form a booklet). Pages bound with purple ribbon tied at the back. Writing is in black ink and 4.5 pages contain signatures of the inhabitants of St Christopher.
Pages 3 and 4 have ink stains. Previously folded into quarters, three crease marks visible down length. Back two pages have tears on crease lines.

Historical information

Sir Archibald Paull Burt (1810-1879) was born into a plantation-owning family on St Kitts Island (formerly St Christopher in the West Indies). Burt accepted the position of Civil Commissioner and Chairman of Quarter Sessions in Western Australia in 1860. In January 1861 he arrived in Western Australia with his family. Burt was instrumental in establishing the Supreme Court Australia in 1861 and became the first Chief Justice of Western Australia. Knighted for his contributions in 1873, he maintained a secluded life to ensure impartiality and professional detachment as sole judge in the colony until his death in 1879. Archibald Paull Burt’s impact and lasting legacy in Western Australia continues through his family members who have held governmental and legislative roles in the state for multiple generations.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-46-2022.35a

Item type

Material

Width

207 mm

Height or length

323 mm

Contextual information

This document is of historic interest demonstrating the high regard in which Archibald Burt continued to be held by the inhabitants of his birthplace, St Christopher in the West Indies, even though he had left 14 years earlier.
After his brief visit back to St Christopher in 1874, Burt returned to Perth where he died in 1879 while still in office as Chief Justice. An obituary published in the West Australian newspaper mentions the warm welcome he received on his trip back to the West Indies five years earlier and noted this matched the high regard that had also been held for him in Western Australia.

Keywords

Burt, Archibald Paull

Place made

St. Kitts & Nevis

Year

1874

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Scientific or research significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative