Collection GB 505 AS - Alfred Sherman papers

35 boxes

GB 505 AS 1974-1983 Collection 35 boxes Sherman , Sir , Alfred , b 1919 , Knight , journalist

Sir Alfred Sherman was born on 10 November 1919 in Hackney, London. At seventeen he fought in the International Brigade on the republican side of the Spanish civil war. During the Second World War he worked in field security in the Middle East and after as an administrator in the enemy occupied territories. He studied at the London School of Economics after leaving the army and was a member of the student branch of the Communist Party whilst there.

He graduated in 1950 and briefly became a teacher before going on to become a journalist, working for the Jewish Chronicle. In 1965 he was recruited to the Daily Telegraph where he voiced his opinions on local government. He served as a Conservative councillor in Kensington and Chelsea between 1971 and 1978.

In April 1974 Alfred Sherman co-founded (along with Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher) the Centre for Policy Studies and became its first Director. The Centre was set up to promote free market ideas and influence Conservative thinking. Sherman researched and wrote speeches for both Joseph and Thatcher, becoming her aide and speech writer until 1983. His speeches and journalism included many ideas which are thought of as key to Thatcherism, including curbing trade union powers, cutting taxes and public spending, control of the money supply and reform of the welfare system to reduce dependence on it. Sherman was most influential during the Conservative Party's period of opposition between 1974 and 1979 but he was sacked as the Centre's research director in 1984 after disagreements over the role of the Centre. Sherman believed it shouldn't be too close to the Conservative Party to give it freer range to criticise ministers. Sherman was knighted in 1983 but no longer had access to Thatcher after he left the Centre.

He later became a public adviser to the National Bus Corporation and the Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. He died from pneumonia on 26 August 2006 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Information taken from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.

The collection was donated to Royal Holloway, University of London by Alfred Sherman in 1989.

Papers relating in particular to Alfred Sherman's activities at the Centre for Policy Studies in the period from 1974 to 1983.

None expected.

Original order

All records are open subject to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All records containing personal information about individuals are subject to the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the College Archivist.

English

A PDF item level catalogue is available via the Archives website: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/archives/home.aspx

Sherman, Alfred, Paradoxes of Power: Reflections on the Thatcher Interlude, 2005

The catalogue was compiled by Mr. F.J. Swartz, a graduate of Harvard, under the supervision of Professor G. Alderman, one-time Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at Royal Holloway.

1990s Sherman , Sir , Alfred , b 1919 , Knight , journalist Politics Centre For Policy Studies Political science

The collection was donated to Royal Holloway, University of London by Alfred Sherman in 1989.

Papers relating in particular to Alfred Sherman's activities at the Centre for Policy Studies in the period from 1974 to 1983.

None expected.

Original order

All records are open subject to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All records containing personal information about individuals are subject to the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the College Archivist.

• anglais

• latin

English

A PDF item level catalogue is available via the Archives website: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/archives/home.aspx

• anglais