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 relating to railways, 1839-1983, including reports, evidence and petitions relating to the construction of new lines and stations; papers relating to fires, 1522-1974, including papers on the provision of fire fighting equipment, the introduction of fire insurance policies and the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade; papers relating to the Great Fire of London, 1667-1966, including acts, orders and financial accounts relating to the rebuilding of the City of London including receipts from Christopher Wren, papers relating to the investigation into the cause of the Fire, financial accounts of funds to relieve those affected, descriptions and accounts of the Fire; papers relating to Royal and Municipal Commissions, 1816-1969; papers relating to war 1692-1995, including papers relating to the Corporation's activities during World War One; air raid precautions and casualties, Roll of Honour of Civilian War Dead in the City of London and papers relating to the bombing of Guildhall, World War Two and City of London salute to the task force, Falklands Campaign, 1982.

Papers relating to transport, 1663-1985, including hackney coaches and hackney carriages, carts and carmen, stage coaches, river traffic, tramways, omnibuses and buses, subways, Heathrow and Fairlop Airports, the London Underground and the Channel Tunnel terminal in London; papers relating to shipping, 1610-1989; papers relating to trades and crafts, 1510-1991, including bills, wages, regulations, acts and petitions regarding bricklayers, carpenters, carters, founders, glaziers, masons, painters, paviors, plasterers, plumbers, smiths, wireworkers, button makers, butchers, chimney sweeps, hairdressers, ironmongers, spoon makers, paper makers, tanners, tailors, rakers, midwives, engravers, clock makers and printers; papers relating to the Honourable Artillery Company, 1503-1967.

Papers relating to the history of London, 1565-1994, including "An exposicion of the Kinges prerogative collected out of the great abridgement of Justice Fitz-Herbert and other olde writers of the lawes of England" by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 1565, "Londinopolis: An Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, The Imperial Chamber, and chief Emporium of Great Britain: Whereunto is added another of the City of Westminster, with the Courts of Justice, Antiquities, and new Buildings thereunto belonging" by James Havel, 1657, and various other antiquarian and modern books, articles and pamphlets on the history of London; papers relating to health and medicine, 1657-1994, including bills of mortality, papers relating to the outbreak of plague in London, 1665-1666, letters, reports and conference papers relating to the control of cholera; papers regarding provisions, 1607-1990, including warrant authorising the Mayor to receive venison out of the Royal Parks, 1607 and papers of committees investigating the high price of provisions, 1767-1822; papers relating to the government of the City of London and Greater London, 1849-1993; papers relating to the provision and price of gas, 1828-1918; papers relating to the supply of water to the City, 1538-1992; papers relating to the placing, erection and upkeep of statues and monuments in London, 1680-1995; papers relating to weights and measures, 1678-1997, including records of action taken against those using false weights and measures and registers of weighed goods; papers relating to seals and medals, 1285-1995, including examples of medieval seals and register of documents sealed; papers relating to insignia and plate, 1650-1993, including information on the Collar of SS, Diamond Badge or Jewel, Mace, Crystal Mace, Swords, City Purse, Mayoralty Seal, Robes and Sceptre and inventories of City plate; papers relating to the population of the City of London, 1719-1982, including "A compu tation of the increase of London and parts adjacent; with some causes thereof, and remarks thereon", 1719, population returns, 1821-1897 and population studies and articles; papers regarding tolls, 1605-1833, including Acts, bonds, exemptions and leases; papers relating to the postal service, 1741-1938, including examples of early stamps and papers relating to the Penny Post; papers relating to the carrying out of writs, 1460-1965, including writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, subpoenas and jury summons; papers relating to the textile trade, 1674-1995, including orders, rates, inventories, petitions relating to the production of textiles including cloth, lace and wool, bonds of searches and sealers of tanned leather, 1699-1804, and articles on the history of textiles.

Papers relating to probate, 1693-1786, including estate inventories, letters of administration and notes on legal customs; papers relating to the regulation of fireworks and bonfires within the City, 1673-1857; papers relating to archaeological investigations in the City of London, 1972-1989; extracts relating to archery in Finsbury Fields, 1521; reports and articles relating to the armorial bearings of the City, 1216-1973; bullion certificates, 1696-1819; licences issued for the right to use calcium carbide, 1897-1919; papers relating to convex lights, 1692-1694; papers relating to conveyancing, 1770-1948 and various other papers relating to aspects of the administration of the City of London including common soil, conservation, criminal prosecutions, city customs and liberties, the Customs House, erection of hoardings, gifts and presentations, regulation of gunpowder, income tax, the London Building Acts, licensing, lotteries, regulation and licensing of petroleum, precedent books, precepts issued by the Mayor or Common Council, bills for printing and stationery, the Olympic Games, pageantry, proclamations, brewers and public houses, the Shops Act, smoke abatement and clean air, street cleaning, theatres, the unemployed, Viewer's reports, wharves, woods and forests, newspapers and cuttings, fishing, the Festival of the City of London, coffee houses, coinage, the Bank of England and other financial institutions.

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.

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

Royal Navy ship's logs. The earliest log begins in 1737 and the latest in 1917 but the majority, over three hundred volumes, are from the nineteenth century. Being, on the whole, kept privately, the format and size of the volumes vary widely. Over three-fifths of the volumes, where the rank of the keeper can be ascertained, were kept by midshipman or naval cadets, but there are examples of logs kept by other ranks from master's mate to admiral. Many of the logs are illustrated with sketches, maps, diagrams and photographs. Of particular note in this respect are the log of the QUEEN CHARLOTTE, 1790, kept by Lieutenant (later Captain) John Mason Lewis (fl 1790-1831); four volumes kept by Sub-Lieutenant (later Commander) Francis H Boyer (d 1926) on various ships between 1869 and 1876; two logs kept on several ships, 1870 to 1873, together with a sketchbook by Henry Bridges Molesworth (1855-1954), midshipman; and the log of the RALEIGH, 1874 to 1876, by Charles Molyneux Howard Oakley (1858-1876), also when a midshipman. Of the forty eighteenth-century volumes, the earliest is the log of the WINDSOR, 1737 to 1741, signed by her captain, George Berkeley (1693?-1746), including an account of the attack on Cartagena in 1741.

There are also two logs by Rear-Admiral Charles Watson (1714-1757) as captain of the princess louisa, 1746 to 1747, including a description of the battle of Cape Finisterre, 1747; an unsigned copy of the log of Admiral Sir George Pocock on the NAMUR, 1762 to 1763, during the siege of Havana; a log of the WINCHELSEA, 1787 by John Dykes (fl 1776-1805), Master, with sailing instructions and copies of his correspondence, 1789; A log of the BRUNSWICK, 1793 to 1794, up to but excluding the First of June, kept by Captain John Harvey (1740-1794) together with the ship's muster and pay book 1792 to 1794; and three logs kept by Prince William Henry (1745-1837) as midshipman on various ships between 1779 and 1783.

There is a series of four logs of the LEVIATHAN, 1795 to 1799 and 1802, which was present at the attack on Leogane in 1796 and at the Minorca landings, 1798; these were possibly kept by Lieutenant (later Captain) William Buchanan (fl 1794-1833) and one volume has additions in the hand of Commodore (later Admiral) Sir John Duckworth, while the log for 1802 includes an index to his letterbooks and a register for 1800. Finally there are also three logs kept by Richard Caley (d 1799), Master's Mate and later Lieutenant, in several ships, 1781 to 1798, including the BLENHEIM at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 1797. Among nineteenth-century logs, numbering over three hundred, are two by Samuel Wise, Master's Mate, on the POLYPHEMUS, 1805 to 1808, which was present at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805; a log by Admiral Sir Augustus William Clifford (1788-1877) as lieutenant in the TIGRE, 1807 to 1809; a log by Lieutenant Thomas Pickering Clarke (fl 1800-1862) on several ships, 1800 to 1807, including a narrative of the Walcheren Expedition, 1809; and a log of Admiral Sir Stephen Lushington (1803-1877) as midshipman on the GANYMEDE, 1818 to 1819. There is also a log of the SPITFIRE, 1835 to 1839, by Robert R Arnott (fl 1834-1839), Assistant Surgeon, together with a rough medical record, 1839; a copy of the log of the VERNON, 1836 to 1837, signed by Captain (later Rear-Admiral) John W M'Kerlie (1774-1848), together with printed sailing reports of the VERNON and a punishment book, 1834 to 1837; and a log of the POLYPHEMUS while engaged in the suppression of the slave trade, 1853 to 1854. Another log of this vessel, 1855 to 1856, kept by Commander (later Captain) Frederic P Warren (d 1891) records her wreck off Jutland on 29 January 1856. Among the volumes relating to the Crimean War there is a log kept by Midshipman (later Captain) Cecil G S Stanley (d 1891), in the ALBION and QUEEN, 1853 and 1855.

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

Collection of short works of Thomas Scattergood, mostly on physiological subjects. Author's holograph MSS. Produced in Leeds, 1845-1876.

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.

Financial records of the Aircraft Insurance Committee.

Minute book of the Home Office Vehicles Pool.

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.

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.

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

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