1900 Letter About Hemp Production and Sir Joseph Banks from Canadian Politician Douglas Brymner

On offer is a letter, written and signed by Canadian politician Douglas Brymner to Canadian lawyer and historian James Coyne.

Dated Department of Agriculture, 5th March 1900 sending information to the Canadian historian Coyne on the production of hemp and mentioning the British authority, Sir Joseph Banks. 

BIO NOTES:

Douglas Brymner was a  Canadian politician, journalist, and civil servant and archivist. He immigrated to Canada with his wife and son. They settled at Melbourne, Lower Canada, where Brymner made an unsuccessful attempt at farming. He turned to journalism and in 1864 moved his family to Montreal, where he assumed the editorship of the Presbyterian; at the same time he joined the editorial staff of the Montreal Herald and for a time represented it in the parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa. at age 48, Brymner made a fresh start in a new career in 1872 moving to Ottawa where he had accepted an appointment to the Department of Agriculture as clerk in charge of archives. In his first year, he discovered a cache of union-period financial records and in Halifax he investigated a collection of British military material, some 400,000 documents, that was destined for shipment to England. As head of the Canadian archives for 30 years, Brymner amassed an impressive library of books and pamphlets, and over 3,100 volumes of hand-copied and bound manuscripts. In recognition of his efforts, Queen’s College in Kingston awarded him an lld in 1892 and three years later he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. James

Henry Coyne, FRSC  was a Canadian lawyer, soldier  and historian. He studied law in St. Thomas and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1874. He practiced law in St. Thomas. During the Fenian raids of 1866, Coyne joined the St. Thomas Rifles and served in three campaigns in London, Port Stanley, and Sarnia.  From 1898 to 1902, he was President of Ontario Historical Society and was a member of Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada from 1919 to 1930. In 1906 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and served as its president from 1926 to 1927.

Two pages, 8vo. Paper with age toning and one word smudged, and someone has written in pencil on the blank side of the page the name and position of the author. Otherwise, very good condition.