KING GEORGE III (GREAT BRITAIN) - MILITARY APPOINTMENT SIGNED 05/01/1763 - HFSID 53520

KING GEORGE III of the UNITED KINGDOM
The young King signs a military appointment for William Shairp, making him a First Lieutenant
Military appointment signed: "George R[ex]" meaning "King George" and "Portland" in brown ink. 1 page, 9¼x13½. May 1, 1763. St. James Court, London, England. In full: "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith & c. To Our William Shairp Gent. Greeting: We do by these Presents, Constitute and Appoint you to be You are therefore carefully and diligently to Discharge the Duty of First Lieutenant by Exercising and Well disciplining both the inferior Officers and Soldiers of that and We do, hereby, Command them to Obey you as their First Lieutenant and, you are to observe and follow such Orders and Directions from Time to Time, as you shall receive from Our High Admiral, or Commissioners for executing the Office of Admiral for the being, or from your Captain, or any other Your Superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War in pursuance of the Trust hereby reposed in you. Given at our Court at St. James's the First Day of May 1763 In the Third Year of Our Reign". KING GEORGE III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland until their union on January 1, 1802, after which was named the United Kingdom, and furthermore was Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (part of the Holy Roman Empire), until his promotion as King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was the third British monarch from the House of Hanover, but unlike his Hanoverian predecessors, he was born in Britain, English was his first language, and he never visited Hanover. George's long tenure as King spanned many military conflicts in Europe and abroad in North America and India: early in his reign Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War which made Britain the dominant European power in North America and India, although many of their colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Most notably, King George III led the country against revolutionary and Napoleonic France in 1793, concluding with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, George III earned his nickname "Mad King George" when later in his life he suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness (now believed to have been cause by the blood disease porphyria), and in 1810, after a final relapse, a regency under his son Prince Regent George of Wales (future King George IV) was established. His reputation as a King has never been flattering, in the United States he is often viewed as a tyrant, and in Great Britain he is often used as a scapegoat for the failure of imperialism, but really King George was just a victim of circumstances and illness in an era when the monarchy was continuing to lose political power. Creased. Soiled. Stained, not at signatures. Folds, not at signatures. Printed caption and printed seal of Portland affixed at lower right of second page. Otherwise, fine condition.