Autograph letter signed by British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston 1856

PALMERSTON, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount (1784-1865). Autograph Letter Signed to Francis Hole, the Mayor of Tiverton, concerning the Canonry of Salisbury. 5 December 1856.
 
Autograph letter signed, 3 pp. on a single sheet folded to 120 x 180 mm, written from 94 Piccadilly on 5 December 1856. Black-bordered mourning paper. Old folds and a few minor marks and ink smudges, otherwise a well-preserved and attractive letter. Very Good.
 
Writing while Prime Minister to Francis Hole, JP, a prominent civic figure and at one time Mayor of Tiverton, Palmerston apologises for having been mistaken over his ability to make an appointment to a canonry at Salisbury. "I thought it was in my Gift", he explains, but has discovered from an enclosed memorandum that the appointment is "partly in the gift of the Chancellor and partly in the gift of the Dean & Chapter of Salisbury." He regrets the disappointment caused, but reassuringly adds that "another opportunity may probably occur."
 
Palmerston represented Tiverton in Parliament continuously from 1835 until his death in 1865, while Francis Hole was a longstanding figure in the civic life of the borough, serving as mayor, alderman and magistrate. Hole had also acted as mayor and returning officer at the 1837 general election, when Palmerston was returned for Tiverton.