Military – Important papers from the Woolwich laboratory – Woolwich Arsenal important group of copy letters from the Woolwich laboratory 1790, written out in a neat script on 14pp large folio, providing an important insight into the workings of the laboratory. Included are letters and references relating to Major William Congreve (later Sir William Congreve) who ten years after these papers won universal fame for the development of rocket technology. The letters also make reference to men who are needed, various types of powder for making cartridges. There are also important accounts documents with calculations on powder required for war expenditure, and a sketch of a building required for the storage of sulphur. We understand that these papers were rescued from a bonfire when the storage building at Woolwich Arsenal was demolished in the 1970s- as such these might be the only papers still extant to provide information on the day to day workings of the most important military research establishment in the 18th and 19th c.