The records of the Accident Offices Association largely comprise minutes (mostly unsigned) with some accounts. The latter also relate to some of the other bodies with which the association was concerned. Initially, the business of the association was conducted through its chairman, the General Purposes Committee and the Rating Committee (from 1907). Committees were subsequently established to deal with particular areas of business, for example the Motor Offices Committee and Fidelity Offices Committee (in 1913). The work of these main committees was often carried out by standing committees; sub-committees were set up to deal with particular issues and aspects of the areas of business concerned. Additional committees were established as time went on, such as the Employers' Liability Committee (in 1947). An Emergency Powers Committee was set up in August 1939 to run the association during the Second World War; it functioned until June 1947. This explains the gaps in the main series of committee minutes between 1939 and 1947.

Records of the Accident Offices Association (Overseas), association for insurers of accidents abroad, comprising minute books of general meetings, Motor Committee meetings, Workmen's Compensation Insurance committee meetings, Emergency Power Committee meetings, and Standing Committee for the Republic of Ireland meetings.

Financial records of the Aircraft Insurance Committee.

An account of the shipwreck of the 'Johanna', commanded by Captain Robert Brown near the Cape of Good Hope on 29 May 1682, and of the subsequent fate of the crew.

Calendars and historical research relating to the City and Corporation of London, 1252-1999. The collection contains calendars and indexes made by clerks to aid their work including calendars and indexes of wills and deeds entered in the Court of Husting, 1252-1616; calendar to Acts of the Common Council 'Liber Legum' (extracts from the City's Letter Books), 1582 and 1585; calendar of various matters dispersed through the City's books and rolls, 1275-1609 and 1713-1717; index to repertories, 1545-1588; copies of articles from the Charter and Liberties of London, 16--; copies of 126 legal cases made on behalf of the City, 16-- - 1755; papers dating to the 17th and 18th centuries collected by William Turner Alchin, Guildhall Librarian, 1845-1865, including material relating to the Great Fire of London, 1666, the Gordon Riots, 1780, and markets.

Also research notes and reports including the collection of Dr R R Sharpe, Clerk of the Records, 1876-1913; research papers intended to replace the Historical Reports destroyed in 1940 by the Guildhall bombing, consisting mainly of reports made by the City Archivist and his predecessors on the historical aspects of institutions of the Corporation and of the City Companies, as well as reports and articles by others, based on research amongst the Corporation's archives; and some publications of the London Topographical Society, 1945-1999.

Correspondence and papers created by William Baly and his family; Francis Baly, his mother, William Baly, his father, Frances (Fanny) Shipp, nee Baly, and Elizabeth (Bessy) Baly, his sisters, 1807-1878. Includes correspondence between Baly and members of his family and friends, and between members of his family about Baly, spanning Baly's life and career. Also includes papers, notes and correspondence relating to Baly's professional career, his years as a student in London and then in France and Germany, 1831-36; his various appointments, from his early apprenticeship to a general practitioner in 1828 to his appointment as physician extraordinary to the Queen in 1859, such as indentures detailing appointments and a volume of testimonials supporting Baly's appointment as Assistant Physician at St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1854; his licence and diploma for the Royal College of Physicians; a portrait of Baly by one of his sisters; photographs; obituaries; material relating to the Baly Memorial Fund; and genealogical notes on the Baly family.

Typescript summary of Ceylon Receiver of Wrecks reports, 1862-1881, giving detailed accounts of the loss of 56 vessels off the coast of Ceylon.

The archive consists mainly of the Secretary's correspondence files and the files of the various working parties, plus a broad range of publications.

Photographs from the Middlesex County Council Civil Defence Department, including photographs of war damage in Middlesex, with some views of damage in the London area, 1940-1945. Also civil defence photographs, 1949-1965, including civil defence exercises, emergency feeding, training, demonstrations and displays, award ceremonies, personnel and civil defence volunteers assisting at the Harrow and Wealdstone railway crash, 1952 and the Southall air crash, 1958. Also stills from the Civil Defence film 'The Waking Point' produced by the Home Office.

Papers of Leonard Colebrook including diaries, research notebooks, writings and photographs, 1900-1967.

Records relating to the inquest on the victims of the wreck of the steamship "Princess Alice", 1878-1966. Records include inquisition giving names, ages, relationship and occupations of deceased; sworn statements of witnesses; verbatim report of inquest proceedings at Town Hall, Woolwich; indexes of witnesses; list of persons saved from the "Princess Alice"; correspondence; report of the Board of Trade investigation into the wreck of the "Princess Alice"; supporting documentation including maps of the area and navigation regulations.

Also items relating to the disaster including memorial cards, songs, press cuttings and notes made by Gavin Thurston in preparation for his book The Great Thames Disaster.

Records of the Corporation of Trinity House, including: copies of charters, grants and patents; Court minutes; Board minutes and agendas; minutes of various committees; financial records including ledgers, journals, cash books, salaries; correspondence; administrative files; letters patent to collect tolls; papers relating to lighthouses including committee minutes and inspection books; notices to mariners; reports by Michael Faraday and other scientists regarding improvements to lighthouses; war diaries detailing damages to beacons and buoys; papers relating to pilotage including committee minutes, pilot's registers and examinations in pilotage; reports on collisions; papers relating to management of estates and charity work; lists of elder and younger brethren; photographs; and papers relating to the Royal Trinity House Volunteer Corps.

In the mid 19th century, the Corporation of Trinity House replaced minutes of committees with "agendas". These "agendas" are not agenda papers with a list of items for discussion. They are stripped down minutes which record those elder brethren attending the committee meeting, items coming to committee, the decisions taken and further action, if any, required. They do not record any of the committee's discussions.

The papers have suffered from fire in 1666 and 1714 and from bombing in 1940. Though the court minutes survive from 1660, many other series of records only survive from the nineteenth century. Because of the many ways in which the Corporation of Trinity House has touched on British maritime life, the records which survive are still very rich and extremely varied.

There is a thirty year closure rule on the Trinity House archive and researchers must ask the Corporation for permission to consult any records less than thirty years old.

Lighthouse plans have not been deposited, although LMA holds copy catalogues of the plans which are still held by the Corporation of Trinity House (CLC/526/MS30131A, available on the library shelves in the LMA Information Area). Please ask at the enquiry desk for details or see our leaflet about lighthouse history sources.

Records of the Streets Committee, Commissioners of Sewers/Public Health Department, including minutes, 1865-1968; minute book of sub-committee on wharves, 1881-1897; minute book of sub-committee on contracts, 1898-1900; minute book of Parliamentary sub-committee, 1905-1915; committee papers, 1916-1958; report books, 1866-1947. Committee papers include files on various topics relating to public health, including: drainage and sewage works; subways; electric and gas lighting; gas and electricity supply; personnel issues including uniforms; telephone kiosks, byelaws for control of flags and banners; paving works; street cleaning; horses; refuse removal; destruction of bad eggs, Bermondsey; byelaws as to removal of house refuse and London traffic; waste paper; street numbering; dangerous structures; street accidents in Greater London; pedestrian crossing places; burial grounds; City gardens; snow removal; street lighting; mechanical cleaning vehicles; traffic control and statues and monuments.

Records of the Court of Judicature, or 'Fire Court', City of London, 1666-1673, including fire decrees (judgements of the court) and other records of court proceedings.

Records of the Daily Herald Order of Industrial Heroism, 1923-1964, comprising: Scrap book, covering awards 1-181 (1923-1947), giving details of the recipient, and presentation, Daily Herald and other press cuttings, and photographs of recipients where available; box file, covering awards 182-440 (1947-1964), giving details of recipient and presentation, Daily Herald press notice giving details of award, and press cuttings where availanle [no press cutttings present after 1958]' card indexes to awards by name of recipient and by union; series of 16 box files on awards 17-440, including correspondendce, press cuttings and photographs.

Papers of Admiral Dawkins, including papers of his early career consist of official service documents and three diaries, 1851 to 1858. Those concerned with the loss of the VANGUARD consist of some official publications, such as the findings of the court martial, a large collection of press cuttings, some private letters and Dawkins' own account of the disaster.

Medico-legal reports compiled by John Wanless Dickson, at the request of solicitors acting for clients, or for insurance companies, on individuals claiming compensation for injuries, usually from road accidents; complete run for 1959-1992, except for the year 1960.

Notes on Sir Kenelm Digby's experiments, plus copies of deeds relating to property in Alwich Close, London, held by Digby.

Papers, 1910, 1935-1986, of Lt Gen Sir John (Fullerton) Evetts, including report on Evetts by Col William Baume Capper, Commandant, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Jul 1910; 136 photographic negatives relating to Palestine and the North West Frontier, India, 1935-1941; letters of congratulation for service and for decorations, 1936-1940, including letters from AVM Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, Air Officer Commanding British Forces, Palestine and Transjordan, and Lt Gen Sir George Alexander Weir, General Officer Commanding British Troops in Egypt, 1936, Gen Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief, Palestine and Transjordan, 1937, Lt Gen Archibald Percival Wavell, Jan 1939, Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief, Palestine and Transjordan, Mar 1939, and Lt Gen Alan Fleming Hartley, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, India, 1940; three copy typescript reports on operations carried out by British forces in Palestine and Transjordan, 20 May-31 Jul 1938, 1 Nov 1938-31 Mar 1939 and 1 Apr-30 Jul 1939, by Lt Gen Robert Hadden Haining, General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Transjordan; group photograph of Evetts and the staff of the 'Evetts Mission', Melbourne, Australia, 1946; papers relating to the Joint Anglo-Australian atomic test Project, Woomera, South Australia, including lectures, correspondence, eight volumes of manuscript diaries by Evetts, Jan 1947-Aug 1951, and printed map of missile and rocket ranges, Long Range Weapons Establishment, Woomera, South Australia [1950]; typescript text of lecture by Evetts, 'Woomera, yesterday and today', in English, French and Spanish [1957]; edition of Spanish magazine Ingenieria Aeronautica with illustrated article in Spanish by Evetts, 'Woomera ayer y hoy', Jul-Aug 1957; printed illustrated article by Chris Wren entitled 'The Commonwealth's Cape Canaveral', from The Aeroplane and Astronautics, Mar 1960; booklet entitled '14 May 1689 to 14 May 1968. 1st Battalion, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)' commemorating the Regiment on its disbandment, 1968, with manuscript note, returning the booklet to Evetts, from Most Reverend and Rt Hon Arthur Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, 14 Jun 1968; correspondence relating to legal action taken against Anthony Mockler over statements concerning Evetts' actions in Syria, 1941, in his book Our enemies the French: being an account of the war fought between the French and the British, Syria 1941 (Cooper, London, 1976); five letters to Evetts from Col George Alan Dawson Young, Middle East Commandos Historical Research Group and former Commanding Officer 50 and 52 Middle East Commandos, Jul-Aug 1983, relating to allegations made against 50 Middle East Commando by Martin John Gilbert in Finest hour, Winston S Churchill, 1939-1941 (Heinemann, London, 1983); papers, 1979-1986, on the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, including typescript draft chapters of Fire across the desert: Woomera and the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, 1946-1980 by Dr Peter Ralph Morton (published by Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1989); Bristol Civil Defence Sub-Section, report by Evetts as retiring sub-regional controller, 1959.

Records of the Middlesex County Council Fire Brigade Department relating to administration, 1948-1965, including files relating to policy including: procedures, establishment and organisation of the Ambulance Service, transfer of Ambulance Service to the Chief Medical Officer, record keeping, financial regulations, budget estimates, mutual assistance with the Fire Brigades of other Councils, Ambulance Service correspondence with the public including complaints, prosecutions against members of the public, attendance of personnel at inquests and photographs.

Files of routine orders; files relating to operations including: procedures for mobilising the Fire Service, co-ordination of arrangements and command, response to major incidents including photographs and press cuttings, fires of special interest, reports, inquests, policy on special services, instructions for extinction of fires involving special risk, radioactive materials, oil pipelines, London Airport (Heathrow), Northolt Aerodrome, motorways and the Olympic Games.

Files relating to appliances and equipment including: purchase of new vehicles, replacement of vehicles, licensing and insuring, maintenance, vehicle designs and development, water pumps, contracts, salvage tenders, emergency tenders, reports on accidents to vehicles, ambulance equipment, inflatable boats, training in smoke conditions, foam apparatus, hoses, extension ladders, lifting gear, protective clothing, petrol policy and tyres.

Files relating to communications including: telephone facilities, fire telephones, control room and headquarters, development of Middlesex Radio Scheme, radio training, call bell system, automatic fire alarms, damage to fire alarms, fire detection systems, and exercises. Files relating to hydrants including: statistics, marking of hydrants, water company police, emergency water supplies, hydrant schemes, and improvement work.

Files relating to the management and maintenance of Fire Service accommodation including new building programme, plans of fire stations, fire station organisation, repair depots and workshops, catering and feeding requirements, and log books.

Papers relating to press and publicity, including: policy on information given to the press, information given to technical magazines and general publications, publicity films, medals, honours and awards, ceremonies, demonstrations and displays, competitions, and inspector's visits.

Papers relating to the transfer of the Service to the Greater London Council (GLC), Hertfordshire Fire Brigade and Surrey Fire Brigade in 1965.

Records of the London County Council Fire Brigade Department relating to emergency wartime measures, 1914-1949, including subject and policy files on the First World War History of the Brigade; First World War air raid measures; experiments to test the efficacy of dry-powder fire extinguishers against incendiary bombs; fire protection for munitions factories; coal and food rationing; war badges for off-duty wear by firemen of military age; employment of disabled ex-servicemen; medals and decorations awarded to Brigade staff (uniformed and non-uniformed) on war service; interwar consideration of air raid precautions; fire-fighting during air attacks; press cuttings on air raid precautions; auxiliary fire stations; air raid warning signals; unexploded bombs and shells; Fire Service Information Bulletins; co-operation between military and civil authorities; Ministry of Information Official Bulletins; duties of fire brigades in case of invasion; National Fire Service (London Area) Regulations, 1941; nationalisation of fire services on 18 August 1941; situation reports; decontamination; emergency vehicles; River Service; Emergency Water supplies; communications in wartime; observation posts; anti-gas and incendiary bomb control training; Auxiliary Fire Service recruitment; liaison arrangements with London Salvage Corps; honours and awards for gallantry; reports on individual air raids (in and out of London); long range rockets.

Original air raid fire reports, First World War, and original reports on incidents due to enemy action, Second World War. Daily returns of air raid fire calls, First World War and Second World War. Situation reports, Second World War.

"Fire Over London: The Story of the London Fire Service"; London Auxiliary Fire Service informative leaflets used for recruiting purposes; National Fire Service (England and Wales) Directory; London Civil Defence Region Directories; Directory of London Fire Brigade and London Auxiliary Fire Service Stations and Sub-Stations; registers of B Class auxiliaries (the fire-fighting category) enrolled in the Auxiliary Fire Service from 1938; Press Cuttings Book; London Auxiliary Fire Service Routine Orders.

London Fire Region (LFR) files, including messages received at night in the Regional Control Room; LFR Newsletters; air raids on Portsmouth and Southampton; incendiary bombs; Fire Service vehicles; Water Relaying Units; women auxiliaries; Regional Fire Officer duties; Regional Fire Headquarters staff; twice daily situation reports (London Civil Defence Region); Regional Fire Control Room Occurrence Book; London Fire Region Twice-daily Situation Reports; Home Office Daily Air Raid Intelligence Reports; Home Office Weekly Summary of Air Raid Intelligence; Home Office Detailed Reports on individual fires; training films; monthly returns of personnel and appliances in each outer-London brigade; medals, decorations and honours; underground control room; conferences; protection of fire stations against bombing and poison gas; aircraft crash fires; reporting of casualties.

Records of the London County Council Fire Brigade Department, 1822-1965, including subject and policy files on general topics including correspondence on question whether horses can smell fire and locate scene of outbreaks; participation by Brigade in International Horse Shows; surprise inspections of stations by the Chief Officer; passing of information on fires to firms of fire assessors; the funerals of Sir Eyre Massey Shaw and Sir Lionel Wells; drills and competitions; Women's Fire Protection Force; emergency arrangements during the 1926 General Strike; pamphlet on National Fire Brigades Association; International Fire Exhibition, Paris; mutual arrangements between brigades for extinguishing fires; London Fire Brigade Questions and Answers Book; liaison with press; displays and demonstrations at exhibitions and events; London Fire Brigade Museum; reorganisation of the Brigade (1934); visits by officers to foreign fire brigades; the Royal Commission on Fire Brigades and Fire Prevention; Departmental Committee on Fire Brigade Services (Riverdale Committee); Fire Brigades Act, 1938; insurance companies' contributions towards the cost of the Brigade; Central Advisory Council for Fire Services; press cuttings; transfer of Fire Services from National Fire Service to local authorities after Second World War.

Subject and policy files regarding fires and special services, including papers on: fires aboard ships; fires on tramcars; fires in dance halls, factories, workshops, warehouses, Government and LCC buildings, hospitals, nursing homes, massage establishments, chimneys, hotels, clubs, lodging houses, restaurants, fried fish shops, places of public entertainment, houses, flats, tenements, schools, colleges, churches, church halls, University buildings, wharves, docks, gasworks, gas mains, departmental stores, shops and retail markets; fires involving explosives; static electricity as a cause of fire; reports on serious fires; legal right of Brigade to enter premises on fire; Society for the Protection of Life from Fire; special services including gas escapes, lift accidents, railway accidents and pumping operations during flooding; fires of doubtful origin or caused by arson and incendiaries; City fire inquests; lives lost at fires; electrical hazards at fires; organisation at large fires; oil fires; fires and panics; special reports on individual fires; fires involving celluloid; reports on fires by fire prevention officers; register of fires and other incidents attended by the Brigade Control Unit.

Subject and policy files regarding appliances and equipment including land steamers, horses and stabling, motor vehicles, motor pumps, Merryweather's pumps, escape vans and turntable ladders, electrical turntable ladders, foam tender, fireboats "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma", "Massey Shaw" and "Raidwood", smoke helmets, respirators and breathing apparatus, chemical fire extinguishers, fire escapes, asbestos protective equipment, air foam. Also Stores Ledgers and registers of accidents to vehicles and appliances.

Subject and policy files relating to communications including street fire alarms, fire alarm telegraph systems, fire telephones, malicious false alarms, automatic fire alarms, radiotelephony, messages, Watch-room and Control Room procedures, teleprinters, radio installations, list of automatic fire alarms and fire telephones connected to each station.

Subject and policy files relating to fire prevention, including tests of fireproof flooring; inspection of public, government and Council buildings; fire precautions at various buildings including hospitals; petroleum storage; petrol fires on barges; celluloid risks; explosives; electric high voltage and neon signs; household fire protection rules; revised fire drill rules for schools; automatic sprinkler installation; foam installations to deal with petrol and oil fires; automatic drencher installations; means of escape in case of fire; Advisory Committee on the Amendment of the London Building Act, 1930; fire prevention arrangements on ships and Tube railways; Fire Prevention (Business Premises) Order, 1941.

Subject and policy files relating to water supplies including liaison with Metropolitan Water Board in cases of water shortage at fires; hydrants and hydrant tablets; maps showing locations of hydrants; hydrant registers. Subject and policy files relating to Fire Brigade buildings, particularly London Fire Brigade Headquarters at Albert Embankment.

Original fire reports, containing detailed reports concerning individual calls to fires, including false alarms, including: address of fire, occupiers of premises, business or trade carried on, where fire started, particulars of fire, times of calls, method of extinguishing fire, fire appliances in attendance and fire station called. Also daily return of fire calls, compiled under section 31 of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act, 1865, which required the Fire Brigade to supply each fire insurance company with a daily return of fires occurring in the Metropolis. The information generally duplicates that of the fire reports.

General reports and publications, including Memoir of James Braidwood; pamphlets and order of proceedings; handbooks; lectures; reports; articles; guidebooks; memoranda, orders and instructions; order books, statistics and log books. Also photographs.

Proceedings of the Fire Judges' Court, in the case of John Wall and Sir Paul Niele and others.

Papers of the Fire Judges Court, comprising decree in the cause of Sir Richard Betenson, petitioner, against Richard Betenson, his son, and others, concerning burnt houses in Cheapside, in the parish of St Mary le Bow.

Memorandum on fires in London and other places, 1778; with inventory and valuation of furniture for Bydorp House, Hanwell, undated (late 18th century).

This catagory is composed of small collections of documents relating to specific events. It includes sketches of operations for raising the wreck of the ROYAL GEORGE and coloured illustrations with notes of items salvaged by Colonel Sir Charles Pasley (1780-1861) from the ROYAL GEORGE and the EDGAR, 1839 to 1840; press cuttings and correspondence relating to the Benin Expedition, 1897; and press cuttings and watercolours of the Zeebrugge Raid, 1918, with a chart used on the occasion by Sub-Lieutenant (later Captain) Nevil Pritchard (fl 1900-1979) of the WHIRLWIND.

Records of the Greater London Area War Risk Study (GLAWARS) comprising:

GLAWARS/1 - Home Office: records from the Home Office regarding emergency planning and civil defence in local authorities, 1975-1987

GLAWARS/2 - Greater London Council (GLC): GLC records regarding civil defence, emergency planning, the GLAWARS and the Civil Defence Regulations 1983, 1975-1985

GLAWARS/3 - Research Materials: records regarding civil defence, emergency planning and local and global effects of nuclear war or attacks, 1967-1987

GLAWARS/4 - Background, Terms of Reference and Research Task Outlines: outlines and outcomes for 11 of the 12 tasks required by the GLAWARS. Task Eight is not included, c.1984-1986

GLAWARS/5 - Newsletters, Progress Reports, Home Office and Consultants' Meetings, 1984-1985

GLAWARS/6 - Commissioners: records concerning the seven GLAWARS commissioners, their roles, memorandum and meeting minutes, 1984-1986

GLAWARS/7 - Presscuttings regarding the GLAWARS and the publishing of 'London Under Attack', 1984-1986

GLAWARS/8 - 'London Under Attack': publicity and publishing records for the GLAWARS findings published in a book entitled 'London Under Attack', 1985-1986

Staff records of Harmans Uxbridge Brewery Limited, including wages records; staff employment files; accident papers; service agreements; papers relating to pension and life assurance schemes; papers relating to the appointment of the company secretary; and telephone directory.

Subject files, 1940-1944, on a range of topics including general organisation, "H" Company (County Hall), "P" Company (Parks Department), "E" Company (Chief Engineers' Department), "C" Company (Cooper's Hill), "F" Company (Fire Brigade Department), "S" Company (Supplies Department), Public Health Company and No.2 Battalion (later 48th County of London Battalion), Mental Hospitals Company, medical organisation and equipment, food rationing and mobile canteens, Battalion Funds, Courts-martial and courts of inquiry, explosions, accidents and injuries, loss of arms and ammunition, dress regulations, storage of ammunition, revolvers, appointment of officers, adjutants and quartermasters, Permanent Staff Instructors, new conditions of service for home guards, man-power figures, attachments and locations, Women Home Guard auxiliaries, compensation for loss of earnings, casualties, discipline, Home Guard duties and civil defence, personnel over 65 years of age, transport, armoured fighting vehicles, Winter and Summer training, assaults at arms, ranges, operations, exercises, security and intelligence, mine watching exercises, anniversary parades, standing-down of Home Guard and awards and commendations.

Also Army Council Instructions; regulations for the Home Guard; Home Guard Information Circulars; Home Guard Instructions; London District Home Guard Orders; London County Council Group Orders; 47th Battalion Orders; 48th Battalion Orders; Guard report books; papers relevant to the history of the London County Council battalions, including copies of the printed histories of "3" and "C" Companies by Majors Brand and Belsham; papers relating to the formation of Old Comrades Association and Home Guard Training Manual (third edition).

Minute book of the Home Office Vehicles Pool.

Letter from William Ward Jackson of Normanby, [North Riding of Yorkshire] to George Brigham, near Hutton, Rudby, [North Riding of Yorkshire], 20 Mar 1822. Describing how a servant of Jackson's had been killed 'by an accident from a horse' that day and an early inquest is desired. Asks Brigham to tell the bearer of the letter what time he will arrive.

Autograph, with signature.

Correspondence, papers, notebooks and specimens (copper and photographic) compiled by Sir Henry James.

The majority of this correspondence is based around the following themes: James's work for the Ordnance Survey (particularly the book of maps and photographs produced by the OS of Jerusalem), James's investigation of the corrosion by sea water of the copper bottoms of ships, letters discusing George Biddell Airy's proposed system of projection and personal letters of invitation to James.

The majority of the photographs relate to 'The Wreck of the RHONE', and in particular, of a survivor of the shipwreck, a cabin boy called John Bailey. (The RHONE was a steam packet ship, built in London in 1865. It sank off the coast of the Virgin Islands in October 1867, after being struck by strong winds. Of the 197 people on board only 24 survived. The wreck of the RHONE is now regarded as one of the world's most famous wreck dives).

The sketchbook consists mostly of sketches of trilobites drawn whilst James was in Ireland and the notebook contains notes on military topics.

Papers of Joseph Newsam Knowles, including papers relating to Knowle's command of the cutter SPEEDY, 7 Mar-4 Nov 1833 and n.d.; private correspondence received by Knowles and his father, 1 Dec 1827-17 May 1834 and n.d. mainly relating to attempts to further his career; misc. papers, 1932, 14 Jul 1834 and n.d. including a letter regarding Knowles' papers and an untitled poem; Goldsmith's Almanck, 1798, with notes on the Knowles family etc; accounts of the wreck of and the rescue of survivors from the FRANCIS AND MARY, sailing from St John's, New Brunswick to Liverpool, discovered by HMS BLONDE, taken from the Morning Herald, 28 Mar 1826 with a manuscript copy and a statement taken by Knowles from the survivors; certificate of membership of the United Grande Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of England, 28 Mar 1831 and letters advising him of meetings, 6 Jan-7 Apr 1831; Vellum cover marked '1. 15th June 1816 J.K. Checque on Bankers Book', containing a notice of recognizance for the Cornwall Quater Sessions, 30 Oct 1833 and a note, n.d.; private correspondence mainly from Mr Elliot Carrett, solicitor, regarding the sale of real estate at Dewsbury, 21 Apr-14 Jul 1834; notebook containing a list of the Royal Navy and tables relating to ordnance, sails, masts and yards etc, ca.1825, marked 'Lieutenant Edward Goodlad - Royal Navy'; Two track charts of HMS FORTE, Rio de Janeiro to cape Horn, Jul 1828.

The fifty-four letterbooks which have been acquired individually are predominantly naval, dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The Napoleonic war period and the nineteenth century are most fully represented. Unless stated otherwise, it can be assumed that the items are copy letterbooks and not bound volumes of original letters. Of the six seventeenth-century letterboooks the largest is that of official correspondence of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), 1662 to 1679, which also contains some shorthand in his own hand. (Some of these letters are reproduced in Helen Truesdell Heath, ed., The letters of Samuel Pepys and his family circle (Oxford), 1955)) There is a bound volume of 15 original letters and legal documents written by Sir Anthony Deane ([1638]-1721), shipbuilder and member of the Navy Board; the letters, dated from 1662 to 1679, are to a merchant, Sir Robert Clayton (1651-1704). For the same period there is a letterbook of George Monck, Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670), with some shorthand, written between 1665 and 1666 while he was joint Commander-in-Chief. Additionally, a small volume containing two letters by Monck, 1652 and 1663, includes some contemporary pamphlets and prints. A slim letterbook of Sir John Narbrough (1640-1688), when in command of the FORESIGHT, 1687 to 1688, consists of letters and reports written by him when recovering treasure from a Spanish wreck off Hispaniola. There is also an early eighteenth-century volume of copies of over a hundred letters written by James II to George Legge, Lord Dartmouth (q.v.) between 1679 and 1688. The earliest letterbook of the eighteenth century is that of Vice-Admiral John Baker (1660-1716), aboard the STIRLING CASTLE commanding in home waters and the Mediterranean, 1708 to 1709. A private letterbook of an officer who cannot be positively identified, kept between 1727 and 1731, includes a list of men killed and wounded at the siege of Gibraltar, 1727. It gives detailed dimensions of the ROSE at the same period, a description of travels in Italy, 1731, and of St John's, Newfoundland, 1732. Six letterbooks (some of which also contain orders) of Admiral Sir Piercy Brett (1709-1781) all relate to the Channel when Brett was in the LION, 1745 to 1746, the NORFOLK, 1757 to 1758, DEPTFORD, 1760, ST GEORGE, 1760 and the NEWARK, 1761. There is a small volume of in- and out-letters and orders to and from Prince William Henry (1765-1837). These date between 1786 and 1788 when the Prince was in command of the PEGASUS in home waters, 1786, in the West Indies from 1786 to 1787, and in Canada in 1787. Finally for this period is a letterbook of John Pearse, commander of H.E.I.C.S. EDGECOTE, 1747 to 1750. Thirty-one volumes relate to the Napoleonic Wars, the first of which is a bound volume of eighteen original letters, 1793 to 1804, from Admiral Collingwood (q.v.) to Sir Edward Blackett (d.1804). There follows a book of seven private original letters from Lord Mulgrave (1755-1831) to Collingwood , 1807 to 1809; a letterbook of Admiral George Berkeley (1753-1818) when in command on the coast of Portugal, 1809 to 1810; original letters from Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren (1753-1852) to Lord Melville (1771-1851), First Lord of the Admiralty, written mainly between 1812 and 1814 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, when he was Commander-in-Chief, North America ; a letterbook of John Jervis, Lord St Vincent for 1806 and 1807, when Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, and a letterbook of Admiral Sir Charles Penrose (1759-1830), 1813 to 1814, when commanding the PORCUPINE. At this time the ship was off the coast of France, collaborating with the army under the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), to whom a large number of the letters are addressed. Examples of volumes belonging to officers of lesser rank include that of Lieutenant (later Captain) Robert Ramsay (fl 1779-1815), in the EURYDICE, home waters and North America, 1807 to 1808, and in the MISTLETOE.

London County Council register of tramway track lengths, recording description and lengths of route, street length, track length and remarks, such as "conversion to trolleybus", "abandoned" and so on, [1912-1952], with enclosures: photocopy of map of tramways in the London County Council area, revised to 1931; and diagrams of track lengths in Leyton and Hammersmith.

London Fire and Civil Defence Authority minutes, agendas, decision sheets, printed papers and reports, 1985-1992; minutes, agendas, decision sheets and papers of Committees including the Civil Defence Committee, Fire Brigade Committee, Personnel Committee, Planning Committee, Policy and Resources Committee, Scrutiny Sub-committee, Urgency Committee and Senior Staff Appointments Sub-committee, 1985-1992; papers relating to disciplinary tribunals and appeals, 1986-1988; papers of the Equal Opportunities Working Party, 1986-1992; papers of the Fire Prevention Working Party, 1987-1991; posters, 1988; notices of meetings; and issues of the 'London Firefighters' magazine.

Fire reports for the Operations Department, 1986-1990, and fire reports for the Western Command Headquarters, Wembley, Southern Command Headquarters, Lewisham, Eastern Command Headquarters, Stratford and the Croydon station, 1991. Also some station call registers, correspondence and Fire Investigation Team reports.

Records of the London Fire Engine Establishment, including Committee minute books; out-letter book; annual accounts and registers of fires in London, which contain information relating to fires attended by the London Fire Engine Establishment, including date, time of discovery, place, name and profession of occupier, possible cause of fire, details of insurance, who raised the alarm, who put out the fire, which engines attended, and what was damaged.

Records of the London Salvage Corps including deed of constitution, Committee minute books, annual reports, accounts, papers relating to suspicious fires, statistics, and circulars.

Papers of Walter Lord relating to the TITANIC, including orignal letters from survivors, both passengers and crew (see LMQ/7); copies of the second class dinner menu (LMQ/1/12/2, issued as postcard souvenirs) and much contemporary publicity material concerning the ship itself such as deck plans, drawings and White Star brochures, all providing a view of the the great size and splendour of this luxuriously appointed vessel (LMQ/1/9). Also present are 12 fascinating original photographs, showing TITANIC survivors in the lifeboats approaching the SS CARPATHIA at about 8 a.m. on 15 April 1912. They are the only known photographs to show survivors being picked up from the sea (LMQ/1/12/1).

Papers of William Maiden, 1812-1824, comprising a cutting from the National Register containing a letter to the editor from T Paxton, on 'Mr Tipple's Extraordinary Case', 26 Jul 1812; a copy of the second edition (1813) of the original publication by Maiden titled An Account of a Case of Recovery after an Extraordinary Accident, by which the shaft of a chaise had been forced through the thorax. The label on the front was written by Sir Richard Owen. Including an autograph letter from William Clift to William Maiden, 18 Feb 1824 and an original drawing by William Clift; draft title pages for the re-publication of the Shaft Case by William Maiden, including notes on Mr Tipple's health for the 10 years following the accident, and an account of the post-mortem; manuscript drafts for the introduction of the re-publication of the case; manuscript containing notes on Tipple's health after the accident. These notes were probably written by J W K Parkinson, Mr Tipple's physician after the accident, and his name is written in pencil at the top right on the first page; draft manuscript notes on the Post Mortem of Mr Tipple, 1823; a letter from James Parkinson to Sir William Blizard, 26 Mar 1823 concerning observations made by William Clift on the post-mortem of Mr Tipple; draft manuscripts of a commentary on the case by Sir William Blizard; 22 letters from William Maiden to William Clift, Sir William Blizard and Mr Carpenter concerning the re-publication of the case details, the plates to be published with it, and the procedure for presenting copies of the work to various gentlemen and institutions. Including replies from William Clift and Mr Carpenter to William Maiden. Sep 1823 - Jul 1824; transcribed measurements of the location of the horse and chaise; manuscript descriptions of the plates for the re-publication, including keys to the letters used in the figures, by William Clift; copy of An Account of a Case of Recovery, after The Shaft of a Chaise had been forced through the Thorax: to which is now added a statement of the health of the sufferer from the period of his recovery, until his decease: with the appearances of the injured parts after death. By William Maiden, MRCS. 1824; original drawings for the plates in the republication by William Clift and proofs of the plates; and printed colour, and black and white plates, and descriptions from the re-published case, 1824.

Volumes of the wreck register, Marine Department of the Board of Trade, 1855 to 1898, giving the names and details of wrecks of British vessels reported to the Marine Department. The information includes the name of the vessel, its official number, port of registry, port number and year of registration, tonnage, name of managing owner, master, date and place of wreck, cause and the number of lives lost. Printed reports clipped from shipping newspapers, as well as manuscript reports from the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen are often included as well as references to Lloyd's List , Mitchell's Maritime Register and Board of Trade correspondence (see MT/9 at the Public Record Office).

This catagory contains examples of various types of ships' papers and documents relating to the operation of merchant ships. There are examples of Charter Parties, including one of 1322 between Walter Giffard, master of the cog OUR LADY of Lyme and Sir Hugh de Berham for a freight of wine; the remainder are twentieth-century examples. The earliest example of a Bill of Lading is for the TRIPLE CROWN of Bristol, 1689; there are others from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the examples of Bills of Sale of ships and shares of ships is one for the Dutch East India Company ship DEHELDWOITEMADE, sold to James Mather, a London merchant, 1782; and also one for the SPECULATOR, a French prize, formerly LE CARME, sold in 1810. Examples of documents relating to insurance include a Statement of General Average for the POLLY AND EMILY made after she had been damaged in a gale in 1895. There are also Muster Rolls and Articles of Agreement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (see also entry no.13); Bills of Health, nineteenth and twentieth centuries; Safe Conducts, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and various nineteenth-century passenger documents and papers relating to wreck and salvage, including an order issued by Sir Cyril Wyche (1632-1707) and Sir Henry Capel (d 1696), Lord Justices of Ireland, for the arrest of the pilot of the wrecked TALBOT pink, 1695.

Papers of George Prideaux Brabant Naish. Included are personal and research papers of the Reverend Francis Naish, some relating to his identification of the Burlesdon wreck as the GRACE DIEU. There are also papers which relate to George Naish's command of the Anti-Submarine Fixed Defence Station, Fort Agami, Alexandria, 1945-6. Papers relating to his role as Secretary to the Society for Nautical Research between 1947 and 1977 may be found in the archive of the Society at this Museum.

This class is made up of contemporary first-hand narrative accounts, contained in sixteen volumes. Narratives of naval actions include a volume of accounts of the Battle of Beachy Head, 1690, for presentation to the King; and an illustrated pocket-book of Lieutenant Lewis Stephen Davis (fl 1777-1799) containing accounts of various actions including the First of June, 1794, Cape St Vincent, 1797, and the Nile, 1798. There are five volumes relating to wrecks and salvage including an account of the loss of the merchant ship LUXEMBURGH , 1727; of the CENTAUR, 1782, by Captain John Nicholson Inglefield (1748-1828) with the verdict of the court martial, 1783. (A version of this was first published in 1782 in London as Captain Inglefield's narrative concerning the loss of His Majesty's ship the Centaur of seventy-four guns.) There is an account of wrecks and disasters on the north Norfolk Coast, 1880 to 1939, by William John Harman (1854-1944), a local fisherman; and also an account of the wreck of and salvage work carried out on the LUTINE which was sunk in 1799, written in 1898 by the salvage engineer Johan J Fletcher (fl.1893-1900). There are two foreign narratives in this section; one, a French manuscript, is 'Campagne Navale de M de Tourville' (1642-1701), which is an account of the movements of the French fleet in the Mediterranean in 1693, with pen and ink drawings and coloured illustrations of flags, probably written by Captain Longeron of the L'ORGUEILLEUX. There are also four annotated printed works, including the author's copy of the 1790 edition of A History of the late siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783 by Colonel John Drinkwater (later Bethune, 1762-1844) with annotations and additional illustrations, and the galley sheets of The Submarine Peril, published in 1934 by Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935), with manuscript corrections and additions.

Papers of Richard Newcourt, historian and notary, comprising drafts and notes for the first volume of Newcourt's Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense, (published 1708); and three maps of London, one of the City before the Great Fire of 1666 and two plans for its subsequent rebuilding; together with An Explanation of the mapps, and A letter expressing some inconveniences of the old city, and some reasons for the new modellinge of the same.

Papers of Olive North. They include Olive's account of the sinking of the RMS LUSITANIA and her rescue, correspondence shortly before and after the disaster, press cuttings relating to the RMS LUSITANIA and lists of passengers and crew.

Copies, possibly made in the first half of the 18th century and presented to the Court of Aldermen, of surveys and plans originally made 1667-1687 by John Oliver and Peter Mills, City Surveyors, after the 1666 Great Fire.

Correspondence, a television script, press cuttings and photographs relating to signals during World War Two, the Battle of the Atlantic and Operation GRAPPLE, 1956-1996; including correspondence and script for Westward Television documentary on the Battle of the Atlantic and Coastal Command during World War Two, 1969-1971; personal accounts, press cuttings and correspondence relating to the Battle of the Atlantic, 1990-1996; photographs of Operation GRAPPLE, British H-Bomb tests on Christmas Island, for which Oulton was Task Force Commander, 1956-1958; account of the role of Signals in the RAF Coastal Command expedition to the Azores, 1943-1944, written by Wg Cdr F J Mowbray, 1996.

Papers of Sir Alfred Platt, 1968-1986, comprising typescript and photographs relating to The Story of the Manchester Surgical Society, 1970-1971; diaries of trips to the United States of America 1928 and 1946, 1978; typsescript of the lecture The romance of surgery: The Manchester Ship Canal and the birth of accident services, 1968; copy of a postcard to Leslie Turner (FRCS) concerning arrangements for the centenary celebration, 1986; and a presentational folder titled The Transatlantic Connection 1913-1986: A Tribute to Sir Harry Platt by Allan M McKelvie, 7 Oct 1986.

Records of the London County Council Public Control Department relating to Coroners, 1889-1965, including general files relating to the Departmental Committee on Coroners Law and Practice; the Departmental Committee on Coroners; the Coroners' (Amendment) Act, 1926; the Human Tissue Bill; the Suicide Bill; the Committee on Consumer Protection and Consumer Protection Bill; proposals for amendment of law relating to coroners; coroners' qualifications; articles and booklets on the office of coroner; coroners' statistics; cremation regulations; custody of coroners' records; pathologists and toxicologists; fees and payments, both to the coroner and by the coroner; removal of bodies; undertaking of funerals; employment of council's officers as expert witnesses; reorganizations of districts; reorganisation under London Government Act, 1963; proposals to set up one or more post mortem centres in London; unusual cases and inquests; deaths due to poisoning; inquests following motor bus and tram accidents, coal gas poisonings and demolition of buildings; deaths from drowning and removal of drowned bodies; deaths occasioned by starvation; deaths due to tetanus; incidents relating to unprotected fire-grates; accidents through window cleaning; inquests held as a result of air raids (First World War); fire inquests and treasure trove.

Papers relating to staffing, including general papers on the positions of coroner, deputy coroner, assistant deputy coroner and mortuary keeper; papers relating to appointments, including procedures and files on individual appointments; papers regarding salaries, pensions and expense allowances; and the personal files of various coroners.

Papers relating to coroner's premises, including individual coroner's courts and mortuaries; general papers relating to mortuaries; maps showing areas covered by individual mortuaries and statistics relating to the use of mortuaries.