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Presenting the correspondence of The Brodricks, who originated in Surrey and established themselves in Ireland, in County Cork, in the mid-17th century, and were among the most important Anglo-Irish political families in the reigns of the later Stuarts and early Hanoverians.
- Comprises letters between Alan Brodrick (1656–1728) and his brother Thomas (1654–1730) who emerged as leading figures in the Irish parliament, at the forefront of a political interest which associated itself with the whig party in England
- Includes correspondence with other members of their immediate family, providing a wealth of detailed commentary on political events in Ireland and England, both national and local
- A collection largely untouched by historians until deposited with the Surrey Record Office (now the Surrey History Centre) in the 1970s, when its enormous value came to be appreciated by researchers seeking to understand Irish political history in the decades following the Glorious Revolution
- Covers the immediate aftermath of the Hanoverian succession, with the establishment of a ‘whig ascendancy’ in Ireland and the growing divisions between whig factions in both Ireland and England
- The crisis over the South Sea Bubble also forms a major theme, with Thomas Brodrick achieving national prominence in Britain as the chairman of the parliamentary committee of inquiry into alleged ministerial corruption
