Private journal. September 1852-April 1867 and Correspondence
6 vols. and 19 leaves. Various sizes
Manuscript. Correspondence typescript
Contents :
/1 Volume 1 Private Journal 1852, 1853 & 1854. Portsmouth, Sep. 1852 – Karatch Bay, Dec. 3rd 1854, iv, 179 pp. Black boards. Marbled endpapers. 22 x 19 cm
2 insertions filed in separate sleeve:
/1 Handdrawn map of mouth of R. Kouloz and R. Chelsa
/2 Manuscript notes by unknown hand referring to journal text
/2 Volume 2 Private Journal. Portsmouth, January 1855 – Malta, December 26th 1857, iv, 225, iv pp. Marbled boards. Marbled endpapers. 20 x 17 cm
/3 Volume 3 Private Journal 1858. Malta December 1867-Cape Coast, 10th October 1862, x, 220, ii pp. 9 photographs pp. vi-vii, ix. Marbled boards. Marbled endpapers. 17 x 20 cm.
1 insertion filed between pp. 136-7
/1 Printed clipping of poem entitled ‘Albert. December fourteenth 1861’ originally from Punch
/4 Volume 4, Sierra Leone, November 1862-Dahomey, January 23rd 1863, v, 190 pp. [27 pp. blank at end]. Cream boards. Marbled endpapers. 20.5 x 21.5 cm
/5 Volume 5 Private – Rough Note Book HMS Esk 1864-1865, Auckland, 5 December 1864-Sydney, April 1866. iv, 164 pp. [pp. 127-46 blank] newspaper clippings pp. 89, 161-2. Half leather boards. 25.5 x 20.5 cm
/6 Volume 6 Private Rough Note Book 1866, Auckland 1866 – Sydney, April 15, 1867, viii, 163 pp. [pp. 47-54, 150-63 blank]. Marbled boards. Marbled endpapers. 23 x 19 cm. 1 insertion attached to p. 114 – Anthony West inscription from stone monument, pp. 144-9 Manuscript notes about Malmesbury by unknown hand. Photograph of Captain Luce taken Melbourne 1865 pasted to inside front cover
/7 Copy of a letter from J.P. Luce, HMS Thunderer, off Acre, November 4th 1840 to his parents. 2 leaves. Typescript. 25.5 x 20 cm
/8 Pilgrimage to Jerusalem from the 7th to the 13th of October 1841 signed J.P. Luce. 17 leaves. Typescript. 26.5 x 20 cm
The diarist was born 28 January 1827, the fourth of ten children of Thomas Luce of Malmesbury and Susanna Hollis. He joined the Royal Navy in 1840 and was present at the bombardment of Acre in the same year. He was in command of the Lynx at Sebastopol, 1854. He visited Dahomey in 1862, and was senior naval officer in the Bights engaged in the suppression of the slave trade. As captain of the Esk he took part in the Maori war. He died 12 November 1869
Presented by John Reid, the diarist’s great grandson, September 1970
Microfilm held – copy deposited National Library of New Zealand, Wellington