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Playing the China Card was made in 1999 by Brook Lapping Productions Ltd in conjunction with Channel 4 and PBS.

Brook Productions

Documentary produced by Brook Productions, broadcast as 'The Writing on the Wall'.

Born in 1883; commissioned into Royal Artillery, 1902; served in Southern Ireland, 1902-1906; India, 1906-1909; Royal Horse Artillery (Northern Battery), Royal Artillery, India, 1909-1914; served in Western Front in World War One, commanding Canadian and Indian troops; proceeded to war in France with Secunderabad Cavalry Bde; landed Marseilles, Sep 1914, in command of ammunition column; Adjutant, 2 Indian Bde, Royal Horse Artillery, 1915; Bde Maj, 18 Divisional Artillery, 1915; General Staff Officer Grade 2, Royal Artillery, Canadian Corps, 1917; General Staff Officer Grade 1, Royal Artillery, 1 Army, 1918-1919; Instructor, Staff College, Camberley, 1919 and 1923-1927; General Staff Officer Grade 2 Northumbrian Div, Territorial Army, 1920-1923; Instructor, Imperial Defence College, 1927 and 1932-1934; Commandant, School of Artillery, 1929-1932; Commander, 8 Infantry Bde, 1934-1935; Inspector of Royal Artillery, 1935-1936; Director of Military Training, War Office, 1936-1937; Commander, Mobile Division, 1937-1938; Commander, Anti-Aircraft Corps, 1938-1939; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Anti-Aircraft Command and Southern Command, 1939-1940; Commander, 2 Army Corps, British Expeditionary Force, France and Belgium, 1939-1940; Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, 1940-1941; Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1941-1946; ADC General to King George VI, 1942-1946; FM, 1944; received Freedom of Belfast, 1945; received Freedom of City of London, 1946; Col Commandant, Royal Artillery, 1939-1957, Royal Horse Artillery, 1940-1957, Glider Pilot Regt, 1942-1951, and Honourable Artillery Company, 1946-1954; President, Royal Artillery Association; one of Government Directors of Anglo-Iranian Oil Co, 1946-1956; Director, Midland Bank Ltd, 1947-1963; Chairman, Belfast Banking Co, Ltd, 1947-1963; Director, National Discount Co, 1948-1963, and Hudson's Bay Co, 1948-1959; Chancellor, Queen's University, Belfast, 1949-1963; Constable of Tower of London, 1950-1955; Lord Lieutenant, County of London, 1950-1957; President, Zoological Society of London, 1951-1954; Director, Triplex Glass Co Ltd, 1954-1956 and Lowland Tanker Co Ltd, 1954; President, Corps of Commissionaires, 1960; Commander of Coronation Parade and Lord High Constable of England in Coronation Abbey Ceremonies, 1953; died in 1963.

Eileen Brooke graduated from East London College in 1926 with a BSc in Maths, and in 1929 with a MSc in Mathematics. In 1952 completed a PHD. Carried out statistical analysis work for as Chief of Medical Statistics, Institut Universitaire de Medecine Sociale et Preventive, Lausanne, Switzerland (Corresponding Associate) and earlier in her career at the World Health Organisation.

Pioneer and supporter of public health orientation in mental health programmes. Co-author with G. C. Tooth of 'Trends in the mental hospital population and their effect on future planning', published in the Lancet in 1961, in which it was claimed that, as the result of statistical analyses of current trends, the future needs of beds in British mental hospitals would be halved. A paper which proved influential in shaping Government policy with regard to the future of mental hospitals.

Helen C. Brooke started her training as a Norland Children's Nurse. She undertook further training (CMB) at the Salvation Army Hostel, Clapton, and then worked as a Health Visitor in Birmingham for a year. During the First World War, 1914-1918, she served for two years as a welfare worker to the women employed in Woolwich Arsenal.

Brooke began work in the Child Welfare Department of University College Hospital, London, in January 1919, as Assistant Health Visitor. Her work involved visits to local homes in the St Pancras area, and staffing the Child Welfare Clinic. In the early days of the Department the local inhabitants resented these visits, whilst attendance at the Clinic was perceived as an acknowledgment of parental incompetence. However, `largely owing to Miss Brooke's tact and perseverence [sic]' this attitude was eventually eradicated, and the next generation began to automatically bring their new babies to the Hospital to be checked by the health visitors (UCH Magazine, 1947, p.96). Brooke was promoted to Senior Health Visitor in 1935.

In August 1947 Brooke retired from her post as Health Visitor at University College Hospital, after 28 years of service.

Born 1907; commissioned into the Royal Tank Corps, 1927; Lt, 1930; served with The Scinde Horse (14th Prince of Wales's Own Cavalry), India; service on North West Frontier, India, 1936-1937; Capt, 1937; service with 11 Light Tank Company, Royal Tank Corps, Peshawar, Punjab, and Razmak, Waziristan, India, 1938-1939; served in India and Italy, World War Two, 1939-1945; Maj, 1944; Instructor, Indian Armoured Corps Fighting Vehicles School, India, 1946-1947; retired [1949]; Justice of the Peace; died 1998. Publications: The Scinde Horse (14th Prince of Wales's Own Cavalry), 1922-1947 (Scinde Horse Association, London, 1957).

This is probably the William Brooke (1662-1737) of St John Square, Clerkenwell, who became a director of the South Sea Company in 1721. His brother (possibly Richard Brooke, who was the master of the ship "Reswick" which William Brooke used often) moved to Bermuda. At his death his fortune was estimated at £80,000. He left one daughter who married William Forester of Dothill, Shropshire. The majority of his estate was bequeathed to his grandson, Brooke Forester.

Brookfield Manor Girls' Club

The Brookfield Manor Girls’ Club was founded in 1942 and consisted mainly of girlfriends and sisters of members of the Eton Manor Boys’ Club in Hackney Wick. It initially met in the Eton Manor clubhouse, before moving to other venues in Hackney Wick and Leyton. In the early years, Netball matches were often played on the Eton Manor playing fields known as “the Wilderness” on Hackney Marshes. As with the Eton Manor club, to which it retained links until Eton Manor’s closure, many of the Brookfield Manor members kept close associations to the club and their fellow-members. Brookfield Manor closed in 1991 due to a declining membership.

Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society missionary to the Gold Coast, west Africa, 1840-1845; worked among indigenous people in Canada in the Hudson Bay district from 1847.

Born in 1921; served in Merchant Navy, 1939-1945; Instructor, HMS COLLINGWOOD, 1946-1949; served in Korean War as Deputy Electrical Officer, HMS KENYA, 1950-1952; worked at Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment, 1953-1955; Base Electrical Officer and Staff Electrical Officer on staff of Cdre in Charge, Hong Kong, 1955-1958; Deputy Electrical Officer, later Electrical Officer, HMS EAGLE, 1958-1959; in charge of naval section of Post-Design Division, Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment, 1959-1962; on staff of Director of Fleet Work Study and Management Services, 1962-1965; Technical Application Commander, Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment, 1966-1968; Capt, 1968; Head of Weapon Systems Tuning Group and Assistant Director General Weapons (Naval) Department, 1968-1971; Deputy Director of Fleet Maintenance, Ministry of Defence, 1971-1972, and Director of Fleet Maintenance, 1972-1973; Capt, HMS DEFIANCE and Chief Staff Officer to Flag Officer, Plymouth, 1973-1976; retired list, 1976; died in 1991.

William Edward Brooks was born on 2 February 1879. He was educated at George Street School, Camberwell, which he left in February 1893 at the age of 14. He then obtained the first of a series of clerical posts while continuing his education, attending the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and gaining Department of Science and Arts certificates for building construction and perspective. From September 1896 he was employed in the office of Benaniah Adkim, Surveyor.

In January 1898 he obtained the post of junior architectural assistant with George Vickery, working on large factories, warehouses and office buildings in the City of London. In 1899 he entered the Royal Academy Architectural Schools completing the full course as a prize winner. In 1902 he became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In January 1900 he was appointed an architectural assistant in the Fire Brigade Branch of the London County Council Architect's Department, being promoted to the posts of first draughtsman in July 1900, sub divisional officer in February 1902, and acting divisional officer in January 1903. He played a large part in designing fire stations at Cannon Street in the City of London, Kensington, Lea Green, and Tooting.

William's father Edward Brooks had been appointed engineer at the Orange Street Baths, St Martin-in-the-Fields, in 1894. In October 1896 Edward Brooks became superintendent and engineer of Orange Street Baths while his wife, Ellen, became matron, the family moving from South London to Westminster. William Brooks became much involved with the church of St Martin-in-the -Fields where he met his wife and where he was married on 20 May 1907. From 1912 he and his family lived at 228 Sydenham Road, Croydon.

From 1916 to 1919 William served in the Royal Navy Air Service, later the Royal Air Force. He then returned for the LCC Architect's Department where in 1924 he was transferred to the Schools Section. From 1931 to 1934 he worked on housing, then from 1934 to 1939 he was assistant architect in charge of town planning. In 1939 he was appointed divisional Architect (constructional), and from 1941 he was second officer in the Department. He became a Fellow of the RIBA in 1937. He retired on 31 August 1944 and died on 10 March 1945.

Brooks's Club, 60 Saint James' Street, Westminster, London had its origins in the establishment of Almack's Club in 1764. The foundation of this Club was due to the blackballing for membership at Whites Club of Mr Boothby and Mr James. They left and set up their own facility at 49 Pall Mall, London in a building leased by William Almack and called it Almacks. (No. 50 Pall Mall was also a club, run by Edward Boodle who would go on to establish Boodles Club in Saint James'). This "tavern" was originally frequented by 27 young men called "Macaronis" with the purpose of wining, dining and gambling. As such this Club, like many other clubs in the early nineteenth century, emerged from the tradition of coffee and chocolate houses. (Almack himself then went on to open some assembly rooms in King Street, Saint James').

In 1773/4 William Brooks, wine merchant and money lender, became the Master (manager) of Almacks establishment. In 1776 he commissioned the prolific architect Henry Holland to build a new Palladian style club house which was completed in 1778. (Attempted plans and a perspective of the finished club done by Holland for Brooks are held at the Sir John Soanes Museum, London). At the same time the Club changed its name to take on that of its Master and became known as Brooks's. The interior of this building remained fairly unchanged until 1889 when No. 2 Park Place, Westminster which had been purchased a few years before, was converted and adapted as part of Brooks's.

Brooks's had restricted membership which was by election only and on payment of a yearly fee. In its new location it grew in strength and by 1791 there were 450 members. It counted some of the most prolific social and political figures of the day amongst its membership, including the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Palmerston, Lord Beesborough, William Wilberforce, David Garrick, Horace Walpole, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Richard Sheridan, Beau Brummel and the Prince Regent. The most celebrated member of Brooks's was Charles James Fox. He was elected at the age of 16 while still an undergraduate at Oxford and it is thought that due to his influence and discussions with the Prince Regent Brooks's became a Club with strong Whig sympathies and could be said to have become the unofficial Whig headquarters. ("Whig" was a name applied to adherents of the major English political party of the same name from 1689. It was was later superseded by the term "liberal"). Ironically it was Fox who elected a member of the opposition party for Club membership, the Tory MP William Pitt, later Prime Minister! In contrast to the Whigishness of Brooks's Whites Club nearby was known for its many Tory members, although in practice men were often members of both.

Brooks's was not established as a political club, unlike the Conservative Club or the Carlton, even though it became one and produced countless Prime Ministers and Cabinet members. Its main function was to provide social activities for its members. It was notorious in Fox's time for its gambling with some sessions lasting 22 hours and the stakes being very high. The betting was not only on horses however, as betting books reveal that any topic from war, weather and women were also considered valid bets.

Dining, with fine food, expensive wine and quality tobacco was another important facet to the Club. This is reflected in the establishment of the Fox Club. This was an inner dining club within Brooks's commemorating Charles James Fox. It seems that these dinners were a continuation of the "Whig Club" which existed at Brooks's when Fox was alive. It continues to allow members to follow what Fox stood for. Membership is restricted to 50 and is drawn almost entirely from Brooks's existing members. Two dinners are arranged annually, no speeches are given and no women are allowed to attend.

The amalgamation of Brooks with St. James' Club was the biggest event in the Club's history in modern times. It brought together two very different cultures, Brooks's with its Whiggish, traditional outlook and St. James' which was considered more artistic and cosmopolitan. In 1859 Earl Granville, a "diplomatist", made moves to formalise meetings which had already been taking place as a result of friction at the Travellers Club when most of the corps diplomatique resigned. The diplomatic services were canvassed and a new club was established with some 300 members from the foreign and English diplomatic services. The Club's original inspiration of the diplomatic corp had been wounded by war in 1914 and 1939 and membership numbers declined. Despite improvements to their club house and admitting women for dinner it could not make ends meet and was forced to consider leaving its building in Piccadilly and joining with another club. In October 1975 Saint James' closed its doors and the members went to Brooks's.

Just as Brooks's took in St. James' the latter also acted as a refuge for clubs in need of a home. In the summer of 1940 the Bachelors' Club in South Audley Street, founded in 1881, was bombed out and St. James' took in its members together with Mansfield the barman who had been there since 1902! The two Clubs were not finally amalgamated until 1946. As the names suggests members of this Club had to be bachelors and re-submit an application if they got married. There presence at Saint James' livened the Club up and established backgammon as a key feature of its activities.

St. James' Club had already set a precedent for taking in other clubs such as the Society of Dilettanti. This was founded in 1732 by a group of young men who had visited Italy on a grand tour. They assumed a responsibility to promote art and culture especially fostering an interest in classical antiquity. This lead to the neo-classical movement and the funding of archaeological expeditions. Today the membership is limited to 60 and 6 honorary members. In 1978 a charitable trust was set up by the Society to issue grants for deserving arts projects. The Society did not have premises of its own for a long time and once it did was forced to move around every few years. From 1922 it enjoyed the hospitality of St. James' Club, Piccadilly. On the closure of Saint James' in 1975, when it was almagamated with Brooks's, the Society accepted the invitation to transfer its pictures and hold dinners at Brooks's. This was a very suitable place as since Brooks's foundation in the first decade no less than 40 members were also elected members of the Society. Today the Society holds five dinners a year at Brooks's.

The history of Brooks's is inextricably linked with that of many other clubs, social and political organisations and figures. Brooks's was the youngest of the first three main clubs built before the Napoleonic wars (Whites and Boodles) and did not diminish in stature and importance over the years. The early nineteenth century saw a steady growth in club membership and the growth of numbers of clubs that had permanent and exclusive premises. St. James' Club and Bachelors' Club may no longer exist as a result of their mergers but their legacy lives on. Brooks's continues to develop and grow in number in the 21st century. The Fox Club still holds dinners there, as does the Society of Dilettanti and it remains based in the club house William Brooks commissioned for it more than two hundred years ago.

Born in Chefoo (Yantai), China, 1911; son of Benjamin Charles Broomhall and his wife Marion, of the Baptist Missionary Society, and grandson of the general secretary of the China Inland Mission, Benjamin Broomhall, who married Amelia, sister of its founder James Hudson Taylor; educated at the Chefoo School and at Monkton Combe, Bath, England; received his medical training at the London Hospital; joined the China Inland Mission (CIM) and sailed for China, 1938; married Theodora Janet Churchill, 1942; the couple began pioneering work among the Nosu tribe of south-west China, but were soon forced by the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) to flee to India; after the war they returned to the Nosu for four further years of medical and evangelical work; following several months of house arrest, they were expelled from China by the Communists with their four daughters, 1951; Broomhall's investigations as to whether the CIM could undertake medical work in Thailand led to three hospitals being founded there; also a pioneering missionary among the Mangyan people of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines for 11 years; re-visited Nosuland, 1988; historian of the China Inland Mission; died, 1994. Publications: Strong Tower (1947); Strong Man's Prey (1953); Fields for Reaping (1953); Time for Action (1965); Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century (7 volumes, 1981-1989).

The CTA Archive is the work of the Association’s Hon Librarian, Mr A G Brown. Mr Brown’s order and classification system have been retained throughout. Each accession is divided into three sections:

Section A Books and Published reports, arranged alphabetically by author

Section B Pamphlets, Government Publications, and lectures (arranged alphabetically by author) including letters to the press arranged chronologically.

Section C Articles in press and magazines arranged chronologically

127 boxes arrived from Churchill Archives Centre; there are now 172 boxes.

An additional section of the collection is the CTUN Archive which consists of eighty two boxes.

The collection covers the history of tunnels under the Channel: Brief chronology of the history of the Channel Tunnel:

1802: Albert Mathieu, a French engineer, proposed a tunnel to link France with England, through the chalk under the Channel and using an artificial island on the Varne Bank. The scheme was impractical for Mathieu had little knowledge of the geology of the sea bed nor did he suggest any method of construction. Napoleon Bonaparte expressed some interest and during the fragile Peace of Amiens the plan was a symbol of friendship between the two countries.

1803: An Englishman called Mottray suggested that a submerged steel tube could be built across the sea bed, as opposed to a tunnel through the chalk. Both plans were short lived because hostilities were resumed later in the year.

1830: interest in a fixed link across the Channel was revived by Thome de Gamond, a French civil engineer, who during the following 25 years came up with several plans for tunnel and bridge schemes.

1868: Anglo-French Channel Tunnel Committee founded.

1872: Channel Tunnel Company incorporated and registered in London. The Company remained dormant for several years due to lack of funds.

1878-9: Tunnelling commenced on both sides of the Channel, at Sangatte on the French side, and at Shakespeare Cliff near Dover, where two shafts were sunk and a 2,000 yard tunnel bored out under the sea. Work was halted in 1882 mainly for reasons of defence. Leading military strategists of the day imagined a French army marching unimpeded through the tunnel.

1883: A scheme was finally killed off by the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Lord Lansdowne.

1900-1914: A number of plans in the early years of the century had to be shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War.

1918-1930: Interest in the project was revived after the war. Most military experts were agreed that a tunnel would have been disastrous to Germany and a boon to the Allies. Marshal Foch considered that a Channel Tunnel would have shortened the war by two years. The Parliamentary Channel Tunnel Committee was revived under the Chairmanship of Sir William Bull. In 1930 a Royal Commission came out in favour of the tunnel by a majority vote, but the House of Commons turned down the project by seven votes. However, even if the Commons had been in favour, the committee of Imperial Defence would have prevented the tunnel being built on the grounds that it would have caused some South Coast ports to become redundant.

1947: Formation of the Parliamentary Channel Tunnel Study Group.

1953: Harold Macmillan as Minister of Defence said that there were no longer any strategic objections to the tunnel, thus ending the military veto that had loomed over the tunnel since the 1880’s.

1964: Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport, announced that the British and French Governments had agreed that the construction of a rail Channel Tunnel was technically possible and would represent a sound investment. The two Governments decided to proceed with the project subject to further legal and financial discussions.

1970s: Work started again at Sangatte and at Shakespeare Cliff, but was abandoned in 1975 due to unacceptably high costs.

1984: The British and French Government announced their intention to seek private promoters for the construction and operation of a fixed link without public funding. The Eurotunnel bid was selected.

July 1987: Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand ratified the Fixed Link Treaty.

1994: The Channel Tunnel was opened.

Born in 1902; 2nd Lt, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1923; Lt, 1925; served on North West Frontier of India 1930-1931; Capt, 1935; Maj, 1940; served with Sudan Defence Force, 1943-1943; served in Normandy, 1944, and Germany, 1945-1947; Lt Col, 1947; served in Malaya, 1947-1951; died in 1985.

Dorothy Shelagh Brown (fl. 1942-1945) was held as a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp in the Far East during World War Two, 1942-1945. During this time, she wrote a diary of her daily experiences in this environment.

Brown entered the Navy in 1890 and served in the DREADNOUGHT in the Mediterranean until 1893, when he joined the TOURMALINE in the West Indies. He then joined the VOLAGE in the Training Squadron and took part in the summer cruise of 1896. His next ship was the TRAFALGAR, Mediterranean and Channel Stations, and between 1900 and 1902 he served in the ARGONAUT on the China Station. Brown was promoted to commander in 1905, to captain in 1912 and held a succession of cruiser appointments during the First World War. He then served as head of the naval mission to Greece between 1917 and 1919 and was made rear-admiral in the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1918. In 1922 he was promoted to rear-admiral, placed on the retired list and in 1927 was advanced to vice-admiral.

Post Office Directories from the early nineteenth century describe George Brown as a sailmaker and ship chandler based at 53 Broad Street, Ratcliffe. The letters in this collection do show an involvement with the manufacture of sails and supply of sailing materials but in fact George Brown carried on a much wider business. He appears to have been a shipping agent corresponding with captains of merchant vessels; investing himself and on behalf of others in shipping ventures with a particular interest in South America and the Pacific; buying and selling ships and advising others in such transactions.

Brown eventually left London and spent the latter part of his life in Canada.

Brown was born on 17 Feb 1924. She was educated at private schools, 1929-1937, and Wimbledon High School, 1937-1941. She trained as a Registered Sick Children's Nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London, 1942-1945; undertook general nurse training at King's College Hospital (KCH), London, 1947-1949; and was registered as a Nurse Tutor by the Royal College of Nursing, 1957.
Brown worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital as a staff nurse; in private wards, 1945-1947; as Ward Sister, 1950-1955; and Nurse Tutor, 1957-1961. During 1961-1962, she was employed as an Officer in the Hospitals Department of the Royal College of Nursing, London, and from 1962-1969 was Secretary of this department. Appointed Sister Matron (later Chief Nursing Officer) of KCH in 1970, retiring in 1982. Died 1990.

Born 1910; educated at Marlborough House, Hove, East Sussex, and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon; commissioned into the Royal Navy, 1927; served as Midshipman on HMS REVENGE, Flagship, Atlantic Fleet, 1927-1928; HMS RODNEY, 1928-1929, including voyage to Gibraltar, Jan-Feb 1929; HMS WALKER, 1929; HMS RODNEY, 1929-1930, including voyage to Reykjavik, Iceland, Apr-Jul 1930; Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1930-1931; Sub Lt, 1931; Submarine Course, 1931-1932; HM Submarine OXLEY, 1 Submarine Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet, 1932-[1936]; Lt, 1933; Submarine Commanding Officer's Course, Portsmouth, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Capt of HM Submarine UNITY, North Sea and Atlantic, 1939-1940; Capt of HM Submarine TAKU, North Sea and Atlantic, 1940-1941; Lt Cdr, 1941; awarded DSC, 1941; Staff Officer (Administration) to Adm Sir Max Kennedy Horton, Flag Officer (Submarines), 1941-1942; Commanding Officer, HMS VARBEL II, Midget Submarine Training Base, and Training Officer, Midget Submarines, 1943-1945, including operational training and preparation of X Craft for Operation SOURCE, the attack on the German battleship TIRPITZ, Altenfjord, Norway, Sep 1943, Operation GUIDANCE, the sinking by X Craft of German merchant ship BARENFELS, Apr 1944, and Operation HECKLE, the destruction of a floating dock, Laksvaag, Bergen, Norway, Sep 1944; Lt Cdr (Submarines), HMS VARBEL, 12 Submarine Flotilla, and HMS BONAVENTURE, 14 Submarine Flotilla, operational training and preparation of X Craft for operations in the Far East, 1943-1945; awarded OBE, 1945; acting Cdr, 1945-1947; British Naval Liaison Officer, to US 7 Fleet, Far East, 1945-1946; Staff Officer to Senior Officer, Force S, HMS TAMAR II, Far East, 1946; Deputy British Resident Naval Officer, Shanghai, China, 1946-1947; awarded US Legion of Merit, 1947; First Lt, HMS BELFAST, 1947-1948; First Lt, HMS DUKE OF YORK, Flagship of V Adm Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, 1948-1949; Cdr, 1948; Staff Officer to V Adm Sir Reginald Henry Portal, Flag Officer (Air), Home Fleet, HMS DAEDALUS, Royal Naval Air Station, Lee on Solent, Hampshire, 1949-1951; Executive Officer, HMS GAMBIA, Mediterranean and East Indies, 1951-1952, including service at Port Said, Egypt, during period of unrest, Suez Canal Zone, 1951; Naval War College, 1953; Executive Officer, RN Barracks, Portsmouth, 1953; Capt of HMS BOXER, 1954-1955; Capt of the Fleet, Far East Fleet, HMS TERROR, Singapore, 1955-1958; Member of the Council of King George's Fund for Sailors, 1958-1960; Deputy Director of Service Conditions, Service Conditions and Fleet Supply Duties Division, Director General of Personal Services and Officer Appointments Department, Admiralty, 1959-1960; UK Member for the Military Agency for Standardisation, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), 1960-1963; RN Aide de Camp to HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1962; retired, 1963; Campaign Director, Hooker Craigmyle and Company Limited, 1963; appointed Director, Attlee Memorial Foundation, 1968; died 1979.

Joseph Brown was born in London and worked as a merchant and banker in the Mediterranean and South America; he set up a gold mining company in Melbourne, Australia, in 1852, then moved to Peru and retired to England in 1867; a talented painter. Ann Cox Brown lived in Turkey from 1841-1847 with the Hanson family.

These plans were never implemented. They appear to have been prepared as a student exercise in or shortly after 1935 by the three architects whose names appear on the drawings, K C Brown, R A Fever, and D Crandon Gill. The larger plans are also labelled "School of Planning and Design for National Development".

Myra Eleanor Sadd Brown (1872-1938) was born in Maldon, Essex on 3 Oct 1872. Her parents were John Granger Sadd and Mary Ann Price and she was the tenth of eleven children. The family operated a firm of timber merchants and processors in the hometown of Maldon. Myra Sadd received a private education at a school in Colchester. She met Ernest Brown through her interest in cycling; they were married in 1896. The couple moved to Finsbury Park in London, and then to Hampstead. Myra and Ernest had three daughters and one son. Due to the commercial success of her husband's business Myra was provided with independent means. Myra was raised within a Congregationalist environment; later becoming a Christian Scientist. She was interested in artistic pursuits and avidly enjoyed Shaw's plays. Myra is particularly renowned for being a feminist. It is believed that prior to her marriage she purchased a small property giving her, as a ratepayer, the right to vote. In Hackney, Myra served as a Poor Law Guardian. Furthermore, she was a committed supporter of the women's suffrage movement; being a member of the Women's Social & Political Union. In 1912, Myra was arrested and imprisoned; she went on hunger strike and endured forcible feeding. Myra wrote a great deal on behalf of the suffrage cause; the 'Christian Commonwealth' being one such periodical which published her letters. Later, she became associated with Sylvia Pankhurst's East London Federation of Suffragettes, inviting East London women, travelling by bus, to visit her home near Maldon. Following WWI, Myra became an active member of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (later known as the International Alliance of Women). She travelled widely throughout Europe attending conferences. This activity allowed her to indulge her interest in other cultures and countries, as did her periods of wintering in Italy and Egypt with her husband Ernest. Although Myra herself did not speak a foreign language, she insisted that her children should study French and German. The emerging Commonwealth became another area of interest to Myra. From 1923 she had been involved in meetings, which culminated in the formation of the British Commonwealth League (later the Commonwealth Countries League) in 1925. It was a feminist organisation devoted to the upholding of women's rights in the Commonwealth of which Myra became its Treasurer. In 1931 Ernest died of rheumatic heart disease. In 1937 Myra visited South-East Asia where she was present for the birth of her second grandchild. She then extended the tour to visit Angkor Wat and the Malaysian islands. Myra continued her journey to Hong Kong, planning to return via the Trans-Siberian railway. However, she suffered a stroke and died in Hong Kong on 13 Apr 1938. The British Commonwealth League established the Sadd Brown Library of material on women in the Commonwealth as a memorial to her. It was placed in the Women's Service Library, now The Women's Library. Myra's interest in the Commonwealth Countries League, and the International Alliance of Women, has been continued first by her daughter Myra Stedman, and subsequently by Lady Diana Dollery, her granddaughter, both of whom have been closely involved in the development of the Sadd Brown Library.

Richard Wilson Brown of Bath, attained the MRCS in 1811, and the FRCS in 1843. He was one of the original 300 members admitted to the Fellowship in 1843. He was surgeon to the Bath United Hospital. He died in 1860.

Sir Ernest Henry Phelps Brown, 1906-1994, was educated at Taunton School and Wadham College, Oxford. He was a Rockefeller Travelling Fellow in the USA, 1930-1931, a Fellow of New College Oxford, 1930-1947, Professor of Economics of Labour at the London School of Economics, 1947-1968, and a Fellow of Wadham College Oxford, 1969-1994. His main interests were economics and incomes, and he was a member of the Council on Prices, Productivity and Incomes, 1959, the National Economic Development Council, 1962, and the Royal Commission on Distribution of Income and Wealth, 1974-1978.

Brown was born in Liverpool on 9 February 1903, son of George William Arthur Brown, schoolmaster in Warrington, and Helen Wharram. He attended Boteler Grammar School in Warrington, and entered the University of Manchester on a scholarship to study medicine, where A V Hill, the Nobel prize winner, was his professor of physiology. He took an honours B.Sc. in physiology in 1924, then won the Platt Physiological Scholarship which enabled him to do research with B A McSwiney, earning an M.Sc. (1925). He qualified in Medicine in 1928 (MB, Ch.B Manch.), winning the Bradley Prize and medal for operative surgery. He joined McSwiney as lecturer in physiology at Leeds University in 1928, taking six months' leave to work in Sir C S Sherrington's laboratory at Oxford, and collaborating with J C Eccles. In 1934 Sir Henry Dale offered, and Brown accepted, a post at the National Institute for Medical Research in Hampstead, where he worked with (Sir) John Gaddum and W S Feldberg establishing the cholinergic theory of chemical transmission. In 1942 the Royal Naval Personnel Research Committee was established, and he became involved very successfully with diving and underwater operations, remaining Secretary to the RNPRC until 1949, and then its chairman until 1969. In 1949 he accepted the Jodrell Chair of Physiology at University College London, where he strenghthened the physiology and biophysics departments under (Sir) Bernard Katz and worked with J S Gillespie on adrenergic transmission. He served on various Royal Society committees, becoming Biological Secretary, 1955-1963. In 1960 he accepted the Waynflete chair of physiology in Oxford, becoming a Fellow of Magdalen. He also became a member of the Franks Commission of Inquiry into the working of Oxford University. In 1967 he resigned his chair to be elected Principal of Hertford College Oxford, although he continued with his research group in the pharmacology department. He was responsible for inaugurating the College's major apeal, negotiated two senior research fellowships, and dealt lightly with student restiveness. He married in 1930 Jane Rosamond, daughter of Charles Herbert Lees, FRS, Professor of Physics in the University of London and Vice-Principal of Queen Mary College, and had one daughter and three sons.

Eng V Adm Sir Harold Arthur Brown, born, 1878; educated as engineering student, Royal Naval Engineering College, Devonport, 1894-1899; Deputy Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet, 1930-1932; Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet, 1932-1936; Director General of Munitions Production, Army Council, War Office, 1936-1939; Director General of Munitions Production, Ministry of Supply, 1939-1941; Controller General of Munitions Production, 1941-1942; Senior Supply Officer and Chairman of Armamanent Development Board, Ministry of Supply, 1942-1946; Chairman Fuel Research Board, 1947-1950; died 1968.

Sir George Wilfred Turner, born 1896; Boy Clerk, War Office, 1911-1914; Grenadier Guards, 1916-1919; returned to Civil Service, 1921; Private Secretary, 1929; Assistant Secretary, 1938; Ministry of Supply, 1939-1948, culminating in becoming Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War, 1949-1956; retired, 1956; died, 1974.

Brown entered the Navy in 1894 as an engineer student at Devonport Dockyard, qualifying in 1899 as a Probationary Assistant Engineer. Be became an engineer lieutenant in 1900, engineer lieutenant-commander in 1912, engineer commander in 1917 and engineer captain in 1924. Between 1921 and 1925 he was Assistant Naval Attache in Washington. In 1930 he became engineer rear-admiral and in 1932 was appointed vice-admiral and Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet, until his retirement in 1936.

Born 24 February 1923; educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford; National Service with the Border Regiment, 1942-1945; Assistant Keeper in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum, 1950-1960; Professor of Palaeography, King's College London, 1960-1985; Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, 1956; member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, 1966-1967; Lyell Reader in Bibliography, University of Oxford, 1976-1977; Chairman of the Committee and Trustee, Lambeth Palace Library, 1979; President of the Bibliographical Society, 1986-1987; Fellow of King's College London, 1975; died 19 January 1987.

Publications: editor of The Stonyhurst Gospel of Saint John (Oxford, 1969); Poems (Cambridge, Rampant Lions Press, 1988); A palaeographer's view: the selected writings of Julian Brown (Harvey Miller, London, c1993).

Born in 1923, Brown was a scholar of medieval manuscripts and Palaeography. He wrote and edited several publications towards the end of his life. Some of his most significant papers were published posthumously under the title of A Palaeographer's view - the selected writings of Julian Brown, 1993. He died in 1987.

Born, 1821; entered the service of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in Hatton Garden, London; cared for Spanish sailors visiting the port of London and learnt Spanish; requested the Missionary Committee to send him to Spain; lay agent at Barcelona, employed in educational and evangelistic work; missionary to the Balearic Isles, 1879-1888; returned to England owing to ill health; served at City Road, London, 1888; Brighton, 1890; died, 1899.

The 'Plume of Feathers' is an old public house situated on Plumstead High Street. It may be the same public house referred to in the document.

It is not clear where Brown and Merry where based. However, the documents relate to properties in Harrow, Wealdstone, Uxbridge, Hayes, Enfield and Northolt.

Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952) was Professor-Superintenden of the Brown Institution, which specialised in research into diseases of domestic animals. The Institute was situated in Wandsworth Road, South West London and was destroyed by bombing in 1944. Sherrington was later Professor of Pathology, University of London, and Lecturer on Physiology at St Thomas's Hospital.

Brown, Shipley and Company, merchant bankers, of Founders' Court, Lothbury, originated with the establishment of William Brown and Company, merchants and shippers, in Liverpool in 1810, by William Brown. In 1814 William was joined by his brother James to form William and James Brown and Company. Joseph Shipley became a partner in 1825 and in 1837 the company changed its name to Brown, Shipley and Company. Although originally formed to act as agents for the American business interests of Alexander Brown (William and James' father), the company soon became involved in the exchange and credit business. Its merchant banking interests developed rapidly and by 1860 had become more important than its mercantile and shipping interests. Consequently a London office was opened at Founders' Court, Lothbury, in 1863, where the company has remained ever since. It changed its name to Brown, Shipley and Company Limited upon incorporation in 1946. The Liverpool office was closed in 1888. The surviving archive of the London office dates from 1864.

Until 1914 the company was a branch of the American company Brown Brothers and Company, and partners were individually members of both the American and English companies. In 1914 the articles of association were changed so that each company became a partner in the other. This arrangement became impossible after the Registration of Business Names Act became law in 1916 in England, and new taxation laws became effective in the United States, so on January 1st 1918 Brown, Shipley and Company withdrew from Brown Brothers and Company, and the latter withdrew from Brown, Shipley; but they continued to work in close co-operation as correspondents and agents.

In April 1900 the company opened an office at 123 Pall Mall to deal primarily with letters of credit for American travellers. Records of this branch are catalogued as Ms 20151-153 (CLC/B/032-02). The decline in the issue of letters of credit due to the growth in the use of travellers cheques led to the closure of the branch in 1955.

Both Cobbe and Browne were involved in the nineteenth-century women's movement, whilst Eunice Murray was of a slightly later generation of women activists. Amongst other activities, Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904), journalist, anti-vivisectionist, suffragist and social reformer, was an early member of the Kensington Society, the Enfranchisement of Women Committee and later a founder of the London National Society for Women's Suffrage and a member of the executive committee of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage. Annie Leigh Browne (1851-1936), suffragist, was a friend of Frances Power Cobbe, a founder of the Society for Promoting the Return of Women as County Councillors and a member of the Central Society for Women's Suffrage and its successor, the London Society for Women's Suffrage. Eunice Guthrie Murray (1877-1960) came from a family of Scottish suffragists, and by 1913 was President of the Women's Freedom League in Scotland. Later she became the first woman to stand in a parliamentary election in Scotland.

No information is available on Bertha Browne. Hugh James Rose was born at Little Horsted, Sussex, 1795; educated at Uckfield school; studied at Trinity College Cambridge, 1813-1817 (graduated, BA); ordained deacon, 1818; ordained priest, 1819; curate of Buxted, Sussex, 1819; vicar of Horsham, Sussex, 1821-1830; curate of Little Horsted, Sussex and Uckfield, Sussex; vicar of Glynde, Sussex, 1824-1838; spent a year in Germany for his health, 1824, came into contact with the German rationalistic schools of theology, and published four discourses, 'The State of the Protestant Religion in Germany'; collated to the prebend of Middleton in the church of Chichester, 1827-1833; select preacher at Cambridge, 1828-1830, 1833-1834, and Christian advocate, 1829-1833; a leading exponent of King's College London, and of the idea that religious study and practice should form an integral part of higher education; rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, 1830-1833; met with William Palmer (1803-1885), Arthur Philip Perceval and Richard Hurrell Froude at Hadleigh, 1833 - this `Hadleigh Conference' being an important milestone in the development of the Oxford Movement; the Association of Friends of the Church was formed soon after by Froude and Palmer; founder and first editor of the British Magazine and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information, 1832; chair of divinity, Durham University, 1833-1834; domestic chaplain to Archbishop Howley, 1834; rector of Fairsted, Essex, 1834-1837; perpetual curacy of St Thomas's, Southwark, 1835-1838; Principal of King's College London, 1836; died in Florence, 1838. Publications: include: Inscriptiones Græcæ Vetustissimæ. Collegit et Observationes tum aliorum tum suas adjecit Hugo Jacobus Rose, M A (Cambridge, 1825); The Tendency of prevalent opinions about knowledge considered (Cambridge, 1926); The Commission and consequent Duties of the Clergy; in a series of discourses preached before the University of Cambridge(London and Cambridge, 1828); Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament new edition (London, 1829); Doctrine of the Greek Article applied to the Criticism and Illustration of the New Testament new edition (Cambridge, 1833); The State of the Protestant Religion in Germany; in a series of discourses (Cambridge, 1825); Christianity always Progressive (London, 1829); Brief Remarks on the Disposition towards Christianity generated by prevailing Opinions and Pursuits (London, 1830); Eight Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge at Great St. Mary's in the Years 1830 and 1831 (Cambridge, 1831); Notices of the Mosaic Law: with some Account of the Opinions of recent French Writers concerning it (London, 1831); The Gospel an Abiding System. With some remarks on the "New Christianity" of the St Simonians (London, 1832); An Apology for the Study of Divinity: being, the Terminal Divinity Lecture, delivered in Bishop Cosins's Library, ... Durham (London, 1834); The Study of Church History recommended, being the Terminal Divinity Lecture delivered ... April XV, 1834, before the ... University of Durham (J G & F Rivington, London, 1834); contributed leaders to the British Magazine; editor of the Encyclopædia Metropolitana.