Royal Navy. Seven Years' War interest. A partially printed manuscript dated 30th June 1756 appointing Thomas Stanhope as Captain of HMS Swiftsure (1750)
Counter-signed by then Senior Naval Lord (later Admiral of the Fleet) Sir William Rowley KB (c. 1690 – 1768) and Lord of the Admiralty, John Bateman, 2nd Viscount (1721 - 1802). With papered Admiralty seal and revenue stamps to the left side margin.

Notes: HMS Swiftsure was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1755 and in active service during the Seven Years' War. After a distinguished career at sea, she was decommissioned in 1763 and sold into private hands ten years later. Sold together with photocopied paperwork, including excerpts from The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77 detailing Swiftsure's crew complement of 520 men and 66 guns under Stanhope's command in 1762.

Sir Thomas Stanhope was born in March 1718 in Mansfield, Nottingham and died in 1770. He passed his Lieutenant's examination in 1740. His first command was the British Sloop the Wolf in 1744, followed by several other subsequent commands before his eventual appointment to the Swiftsure, with which he took part in the Battles of Cartagena and Lagos Bay. In 1759, he was appointed Knight Bachelor and further took part in the battles of Quiberon Bay and the Expedition Against Belle Isle, again onboard the Swiftsure. Shortly before his death, he was further appointed as Colonel of the Marines.