Records of Wills, Faber and Dumas Limited comprising sea casualty books, 1916-20 and 1930-50; and a register of claims, 1932-54.

Staff records of Whitbread and Company Limited, including salary books and ledgers giving information on weekly and monthly salaries over a range of time periods along with details of annuities, pensions and superannuation funds. There are also lists of employees from as early as 1841 (some of which are organised according to occupation), attendance books and information on ex-servicemen employed after the First World War along with sick pay and accident report books, and papers from the 1960s and 1970s detailing company employment policy.

Papers collected by Henry Wellcome, comprising fifty volumes and loose papers. The largest group of items is of ships' logs. Those for the Navy include logs for the PRINCESS OF WALES, 1735 to 1737, and ROYAL GEORGE, 1744 to 1759; those for other merchant vessels include the log of the BENSON, on a voyage from Liverpool to Jamaica, 1782, and of the ESTHER, plying between Whitehaven, Hamburg and Virginia, 1794 to 1795. Of a less official nature is an account of the survival of three members of the crew of the EARL TEMPLE, East India Company ship, wrecked on the Cochin China coast, 1766; also the diary of Richard Joyce who served on board the gun brig RICHMOND, was captured, released and served as a midshipman with the East India Company, 1810 to 1816. Shore-based activities are represented by a 'common place book' kept by John Rolt, a chief clerk in the Navy Office, 1806 to 1809, and by the diaries kept by a member of the St Andrews Waterside Mission, Gravesend, working among the crews of merchant ships, 1887 to 1905. Related to education within the Navy are a handwritten copy of the rules and regulations to be observed by the students of the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, 1816; lecture notes on practical navigation, c 1855; and a notebook on gunnery as taught on the EXCELLENT, 1858 to 1859. The reports include the copy of one in Spanish on an expedition against England by Spain, ca.1588; a report on the slave trade, c 1730; and another on the settlements and slave trade on the Gold Coast, c 1824. There is also a copy of landing instructions for the troops in Egypt, 1801.

Records, c1725, 1799-1986, of the United Society for Christian Literature (USCL) and its predecessors, including the Religious Tract Society, comprise:

Executive Committee minutes for the RTS, 1799-1935 (some gaps) (Ref: USCL 1-113), continued under the USCL, 1935-1953 (Ref: USCL 113-122), and other minutes, including copyright, finance, and local associations, for the RTS, 1806-1935, and USCL, 1935-1972 (Ref: USCL 123-149, USCL Add 6, 15, 19-22);

copies of outgoing RTS letters, 1824-1889 (Ref: USCL 150-195); miscellaneous correspondence of the RTS, 1824-1847 (Ref: USCL Add 23-26);

annual reports for the RTS, 1820-1935 (many gaps) (Ref: USCL 311-336, USCL Add 34), USCL, 1935-1962 (Ref: USCL 337-357, USCL/S 69-72, 99-103, USCL Add 38), and RTS (China), continued under the USCL, 1884-1947 (Ref: USCL 366-376);

ledgers and accounts, 1836-1952 (Ref: USCL 196-231);

papers of the RTS, succeeded by the USCL, relating to copyright, 1825-1835 (Ref: USCL Add 1-2); reports of sub-committees on anti-popery, 1839, and new warehouses, 1844 (Ref: USCL Add 3-4); salaries books, 1851-1938 (Ref: USCL Add 5); letters, report and pamphlet relating to the Assam mission, India, 1857-1859 (Ref: USCL Add 7); legacies book, 1911-1986 (Ref: USCL Add 11); USCL register of members, 1946-1963, also including declarations of employee names, 1948-1972 (Ref: USCL Add 16); USCL papers concerning premises in Lusaka, Rhodesia, 1949-1955 (Ref: USCL Add 17); reports on USCL officials' visits to India and Ceylon, Northern Rhodesia, and Zambia, 1950-1969 (Ref: USCL Add 18); papers documenting USCL history, 1927-1976 and undated, including notes, chronology, printed material, and photographs, including the fire damage of 1941 (Ref: USCL Add 64-71);

RTS and USCL printed tracts, c1920-c1950 (Ref: USCL 400-401); annotated listings of RTS publications, 1842-1859 (Ref: USCL Add 39); RTS publications, 1822-1934 and undated (Ref: USCL Add 41-57); USCL publications, 1935-1962 and undated (Ref: USCL Add 57-62); miscellaneous publications, c1725, 1816-1960, including some on the work of the RTS but also including other publications, some by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (Ref: USCL 377-399, USCL Add 40, 63).

There are also records, 1858-1950, of the Christian Literature Society (CLS) for India (and Africa) and its predecessor; and records, 1885-1977, of the UCSL (Scotland) and its predecessors.

Publicity material produced by the Truth and Justice for Richard Chang Campaign.

Records of the Thames Magistrates Court, 1804-1971, including court registers; clerk's letter books and papers; and wreck enquiry notes. Court registers record the date of the hearing, the name of the informant or complainant (often the police), the name of the defendant, a brief note of the offence and the decision of the magistrate.

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.

Papers relating to the City of London, including plans, 1880-1949; article on "Life in the City in 1900", 1981; papers relating to the City Arts Trust, 1962-1964; correspondence regarding ward boundaries, 1957-1959; planning implications of the City's boundary changes, 1994; papers regarding the City and Guilds of London Institute, 1878-1989; articles, brochures, event programmes and certificates, 1952-1998 and papers and reports of the City Day Census, 1881-[1980]. Papers relating to Corporation of London property, including notices of auction, assessments of value and schedule of rentals, 1798-1934. Also records relating to the Guildhall, including histories, papers on the rebuilding of the Guildhall post Second World War, 1865-1997 and lists of preachers at the Guildhall Chapel, 1670-1717.

Papers relating to London, including surveys, plans, maps, drawings, fundraising appeals, letters, reports, photographs, articles, financial accounts, orders of the Court of Aldermen, graphs, brochures, posters, bills and orders for payment, Parliamentary proceedings, presentments of Leet Juries and solicitor's papers, 1449-1993, relating to various subjects including fairs and markets, individual properties, churches and parishes, synagogues, docks, improvement and construction works, trades, the Great Fire of London, the Fleet Ditch, bridges, the Monument, artisan's dwellings, the Silver Jubilee Walkway and the Tower of London.

Papers relating to Southwark, including papers relating to the Bailiff of Southwark, 1564-1844; papers relating to the Aldermen of the Ward of Bridge Without [Southwark], 1550-1957; copy charters relating to Southwark, 1406-[1680]; papers relating to the jurisdiction of the City of London in Southwark, 1462-1899; various petitions, reports, extracts, appointments, correspondence and indentures relating to Southwark, 1726-1845; official guide books to Southwark, [1940s-1965]; petitions to the Court of Aldermen, 1681-1755; papers relating to the Steward of Southwark, 1683-1836 and poor rate assessment, Southwark, 1777.

Papers relating to the United Kingdom including claim of Aldborough, Suffolk for exemption from the duties of Waterbailage Eastward, 1536-1537; copy of a letter from W. F. Bayley, Prebendary of Canterbury, to Sir William Curtis asking for the support of the Lord Mayor in relation to the restoration of Archbishop Sudbury's Tomb, 1828; guide book to Chirk Castle, Wrexham, home of the Middleton family, including Sir Thomas Middleton, Lord Mayor 1613-1614, 1992; map of a freehold farm situated at Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, belonging to the governors of St Thomas Hospital and the trustees of the Freemen's Orphan School, 1870; "Ironbridge and the City Guilds", an illustrated brochure prepared by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust to raise funds from the City Livery Companies, including various illustrations of items from the Ironbridge area to be found in the City of London or with a City association, [1981]; documents presented at the Mayor's Court relating to the bargain or sale, in consideration of £900, of an annual rent of 6 quarters of wheat, Joshua and Ely. Bonhorne, late of Jersey to John Poingdestre of Jersey, 1675; report of proceedings before arbitration between the Rector of Liverpool and the Corporation of London under the 1864 Liverpool Improvement Act, 1868; papers relating to a suit at King's Bench between the Borough of Queen borough, Kent and Edward Skey relating to the oyster fisheries, 1826 and petition 'to the benevolent and humane British Public,' from the Freemen and Inhabitants of Queenborough, being Oyster Fishermen whose trade is ruined, [1820].

Papers relating to overseas matters, particularly addresses and thanks to the Mayor on the occasion of state visits, but also including letter from the Committee of the Association of New York to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, requesting their sympathy and protesting against the tax on tea, 5 May 1775; letter from the American Congress to the Lord Mayor and Livery of London, asking them to mediate in the War of Independence, read in Common Hall, 29 Sep 1775; scroll of friendship presented to the Mayor by the City of New York, 1947; greetings offered to Williamsburg and Richmond on the visit of Mayor Sir Cullum Welch, 1957; reply signed by Colonel Frank Borman, U.S.A.F., NASA Astronaut, to a telegram of congratulation sent by the Lord Mayor on the success of the Apollo VIII flight, 1969; article 'The City and American Independence' by Betty R. Masters in "City Festival" brochure, 1976; article 'The City and America 1776, The Story of the City of London's attempt to avoid the War of Independence', 1976?; notes on freedoms and entertainments connected with America, 1853-1945; article "Transatlantic Threads", paper concerning historical links between the City of London and America, by Alderman G.S. Inglefield, 1964; photograph album of New South Wales, presented to the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of London by G H Reid Prime Minister of New South Wales as a souvenir of the visit of the Colonial Premiers to Great Britain, upon the occasion of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, 22nd Jun 1897; album of photographs of The City of London Pavilion at Brussels Universal and International Exhibition, 1958; order, dated 19 Mar 1672/73, from Charles II, specifying the wording of the discharge or acquittance to be given by the Chamberlain on receipt of each of four sums of £8,500 from the City of Hamburg, the King by his commission of 12 Mar having authorised the Chamberlain to receive £35,000 payable to the King in equal portions in satisfaction for the burning of several ships by the Hollanders in the River Elke on 24 Aug 1666; warrants of the King's Commissioners to the Chamberlain to pay several merchants their proportions of the monies, 1673; reply by her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands, signed "Juliana R.", to an Address of Welcome at a Court of Common Council, 22 Nov 1950; papers of the Special Committee and Deputation to the International Exhibition, Paris, 1855-1856; visit to the City of Prague by Col Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield, Acting Lord Mayor, and a Deputation of the Corporation of London, 1920 and deposition of Henry Ferebrance as to two indentures made between Thomas Freeman and George Freeman in relation to estates in Jamaica, 1674.

Records of the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire comprising minutes, annual reports, summaries of cases, correspondence and related papers. The minutes contain brief details of the applications for, and grants of, awards for individual acts of bravery. The surviving annual reports give further information on the incidents where awards were granted. These are arranged as numbered cases.

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

Manuscript volume containing a draft of a petition of the inhabitants of Russell Street, London, 'whose houses were burnt and blowne up and that lost their goods by the late fire that began in the Theatre Royal' to the Justices of the Peace at Hicks Hall, 1672. The document also contains a list of the men appointed to examine the petitioners, and a list of the petitioners and the value of their losses in goods and property.

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.

Records of the Royal Humane Society comprising:

minutes of the Committee, 1774-1784, 1815-2000 (33 vols); General Court 1820-1947 (4 vols); and Select Committee, 1820-1833 (1 vol); agenda of the General Court, 1893-1954;

case books, 1823-2000 (116 vols); medal registers, [1776]-present, (3 vols);

Secretary's letters out books, 1830-1832, 1838-1840, 1844-1945, 1849-1852, 1856-1861, 1861-1967, (6 vols);

typescript lists of winners of school swimming competition medals [1892-1948], and printed copy of suggested rules for swimming competitions (1 vol);

printed Annual Reports of the Society 1774-present, (62 vols); and Transactions of the Royal Humane Society 1774-[1797] (2 vols);

resuscitation essays, shipwrecks essays and other prize essays, and related papers, 1782-1995; advertisements for lifesaving equipment; Stanhope Medal (gold medal) correspondence, 1806-1974; correspondence relating to the Society bylaws, 1958-1982;

miscellaneous papers 1843-1953 including insurance policies 1843 and 1850, advertisement for post of boatman 1856, plans for a new Boathouse 1901, plans for new Receiving House, 1948, 1950, rules for bathing and temperature chart for bathers 1873;

papers relating to resuscitation methods including cuttings, 1889-1891, including Dr Silvester's method of hypodermic inflations cartoon, n.d, `The true physiological method of restoring persons apparently drowned or dead and of resuscitating still born children', by Henry R Silvester, reprinted from the British Medical Journal, 1858; papers relating to Captain Manby, inventor of lifesaving equipment, including pamphlets, lecture, 1814-1846;

papers relating to resuscitation including files comprising 10 photographs illustrating resuscitation method, [1914-1918]; learned papers on resuscitation, 1908-1987; resuscitation 'how to' leaflets [1940s-1980s]; resuscitation apparatus [1930s-1990s];

press cuttings, 1835-1990 (1 file);

photograph of life-saving apparatus, with news cuttings, 1876 (1file); advertising posters - concerning the removal or destruction of RHS lifebuoys, 1949; appointment of icemen during the skating season and the role of the Society in case of accident (1file); illustrations of the RHS work including copy of The Cottager and Artisan, 1 Dec 1865, featuring drawing of RHS worker; prints of the RHS dinner at the Freemason's Hall, with the procession of the persons saved during the year from drowning [1872]; (2 items)

printed copies of sermons delivered in support of the Society including: Sermon ... to recommend the institution of the Society for the recovery of person apparently drowned, Richard Harrison, London 1775; Royal Humane Society Sermons, 1777-1838 (5 vols)

records of the RHS Receiving House including: journal of John Pritchard, Superintendent, Receiving House, Hyde Park, 1837-1840, a daily record of cases, number of bathers, accidents, and weather conditions (1 vol); Bathing Books 1860-1952, superintendent's register of bathers and accidents, (6 vols); Ice Books 1859-1929, a daily register of ice accidents, skater numbers, ice thickness (2 vols); files including correspondence relating to the post of Deputy Superintendent and a female servant, of the Receiving house, 1843-1957 (2 files); Secretary's correspondence concerning the Receiving House, 1949-1957 (4 files); Receiving House papers, Herbert Williams, Superintendent, correspondence 1844-1849 (1 file); Hyde Park papers - including floor plan of a receiving house, photograph of Horace Montague, Chairman 1896-1910, letter to RHS Sec [1844 - 1854] also papers re finances (1 file); architectural plans for the Receiving House and additions, 1939, 1951 (1 file); boxes containing Receiving House correspondence, including printed illustration, (1 box); papers relating to the Receiving House archive, 1939-1948 and 19th century lifesaving apparatus (1 box);

financial records of the RHS including an Anniversary ticket book - Accounts of tickets given to Stewards, Vice-Presidents and Committee 1832-1849 (1 vol); Legacy Book No 2 1847-1894, recording legacies received (1 vol); auditors minutes 1823-1964 (1 vol); ledgers 1840-1881; 1940-1949 (2 vols); financial accounts and papers, obsolete stock receipts, 1898-1928 (1 file); financial records of the Fothergill Bequest / Anthony Fothergill Trust 1819-1885, 1912 (1file); papers relating to the Fothergill Bequest Fund and Prize Essay, 1933-1838 (1file).

Library Manuscripts comprise manuscript items donated to the Royal Geographical Society. They are chiefly single files or a small number of items which are not large enough to warrant forming a special collection. The papers include, astronomical and meteorological observations, diaries, correspondence, notes, conference papers, reports, articles, photographs, sketches and maps covering all aspects of geography and exploration across the globe and date from 1691 to 1994. Highlights include:

Memorandum on a map of South America, by John Arrowsmith.

Papers of Maj R A Bagnold, 1929-1933, comprising positions, routes and heights in Egypt and letters from Bagnold.

Letters from Sir John Barrow to Lord Melville, 1935-1945 and letters to Barrow from Murzuq, 1822 and J D Dundas, 1818.

Papers of Dr Heinrich Barth, 1846-1952, letters and copy of a sketch map of Timbuktu.

Notes on heights of mountains in America by Capt F W Beechey, 1826.

Letters from the King of Siam to Sir John Bowring, 1855.

Letters relating to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, 1928-1932.

Correspondence and reports of the British Ornithologists' Union Expedition to New Guinea, 1908-1911.

Papers of G Wyman Bury, 1913-1918.

Papers of Capt R F M Crozier, 1836-1906.

Account of a journey to Lhasa and central Tibet by Sarat Chandra Das, 1902.

Papers of Lt James Barker Emery, chiefly relating to Mombassa, 1822-1835.

Plan and elevation of the Screw Yacht FRAM as reconstructed in 1898.

'Narrative of a small party of HMS LEVEN under command of Lt C W Browns sent to explore the Zambesi by one of the survivors, a native of Angola', by Antonio Jozi, 1823.

Journal of Joseph Kaye's voyage from London to Genoa.

Papers and maps relating to William Kennish's exploration in South America for a canal route.

Papers relating to the Kufara expedition led by H W C J Penderel and P A Clayton to Gilf Kebir, 1933.

Papers relating to the Livingstone Award, 1875-1970.

H B Molesworth's diary of a journey to Mokalla (Mukalla), 1893.

Letters from Sir John Morrison to Henry Dundas and others concerning Persia and trade with Persia, 1783-1792.

Narrative of a shipwreck on the southern shores of Arabia by B A R Nicholson, 1836.
Correspondence of Walter Oudney, 1821-1823.

Papers of Adm Sir W E Parry, relating to the Arctic, 1819-1823.

Papers relating to the Pitcairn Islands, 1831-1885.

Annotated 'Code of Naval Signals' belonging to Adm Sir Home Popham, 1799.

Letter from Sultan Husain Sufrari, 1708.

Account of explorations on the coast of Patagonia by B Villarino, 1782.

Travel journals of J Washington, chiefly in South America, 1822-1829.

Letters to A F R Wollaston, 1896-1926.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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).

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Minute book of the Home Office Vehicles Pool.

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).

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.