Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c1930-c1940 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
20 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders, 1886-1966, was born in Reigate and educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a first in zoology in 1908. He was awarded the Naples Table, a scholarship in Biology, and returned to Oxford for a year as a demonstrator. He left Oxford for London in 1910 and, after studying biometrics under Karl Pearson, decided that he did not want a career as a natural scientist and therefore read for the Bar. He became the secretary of the Eugenics Education Society and lived at Toynbee Hall, in the East End of London, where he was a sub-warden from 1910 to 1914. He also took an interest in local politics, becoming a member of Stepney Borough Council. When war broke out in 1914, he attempted to join the London-Scottish Regiment, but the standard of his spoken French was such that he got a commission in the Royal Army Service Corps and was posted to a ration depot at Suez, where he stayed for the duration of the war. After World War One, he returned to Oxford to work in the Zoology department, taking a particular interest in the issue of population. He served on the Royal Commission on Population, 1944-1949. The success of his publication The Population Problem led to his appointment to the Charles Booth Chair of Social Science at the University of Liverpool in 1923. Here he established a reputation for the teaching of social sciences, and furthered the role of social science as a University discipline. In 1937, he was invited to succeed Sir William Beveridge as Director of the London School of Economics, a post that he held until his retirement in 1955. Carr-Saunders was also involved in the Colonial Office's plans to found universities in British colonial territories and the Sudan, chairing a number of committees and commissions between 1947 and 1962. He was knighted in 1946, and created FBA in 1946 and KBE in 1957. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Glasgow, Columbia, Natal, Dublin, Liverpool, Cambridge, Malaya, Grenoble and London, and was made honorary fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, the University College of East Africa, and LSE.
Archival history
No coherent collection of Carr-Saunders's papers has yet been found. Sections A and B consist of papers found in the Old Dead Registry of the London School of Economics in 1980. A small quantity of additional material, listed as Section C, was donated by Sir Alexander's son Dr Edmund Carr-Saunders. These were received as two deposits, namely engagement diaries and letters of congratulation to Sir Alexander on becoming Director of LSE.
GB 0097 CARR-SAUNDERS c1930-c1940 Collection (fonds) 20 boxes Saunders, Sir Alexander Morris Carr-, 1886-1966, Knight economist and educationist
Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders, 1886-1966, was born in Reigate and educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a first in zoology in 1908. He was awarded the Naples Table, a scholarship in Biology, and returned to Oxford for a year as a demonstrator. He left Oxford for London in 1910 and, after studying biometrics under Karl Pearson, decided that he did not want a career as a natural scientist and therefore read for the Bar. He became the secretary of the Eugenics Education Society and lived at Toynbee Hall, in the East End of London, where he was a sub-warden from 1910 to 1914. He also took an interest in local politics, becoming a member of Stepney Borough Council. When war broke out in 1914, he attempted to join the London-Scottish Regiment, but the standard of his spoken French was such that he got a commission in the Royal Army Service Corps and was posted to a ration depot at Suez, where he stayed for the duration of the war. After World War One, he returned to Oxford to work in the Zoology department, taking a particular interest in the issue of population. He served on the Royal Commission on Population, 1944-1949. The success of his publication The Population Problem led to his appointment to the Charles Booth Chair of Social Science at the University of Liverpool in 1923. Here he established a reputation for the teaching of social sciences, and furthered the role of social science as a University discipline. In 1937, he was invited to succeed Sir William Beveridge as Director of the London School of Economics, a post that he held until his retirement in 1955. Carr-Saunders was also involved in the Colonial Office's plans to found universities in British colonial territories and the Sudan, chairing a number of committees and commissions between 1947 and 1962. He was knighted in 1946, and created FBA in 1946 and KBE in 1957. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Glasgow, Columbia, Natal, Dublin, Liverpool, Cambridge, Malaya, Grenoble and London, and was made honorary fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, the University College of East Africa, and LSE.
No coherent collection of Carr-Saunders's papers has yet been found. Sections A and B consist of papers found in the Old Dead Registry of the London School of Economics in 1980. A small quantity of additional material, listed as Section C, was donated by Sir Alexander's son Dr Edmund Carr-Saunders. These were received as two deposits, namely engagement diaries and letters of congratulation to Sir Alexander on becoming Director of LSE.
Sections A and B consist of papers found in the Old Dead Registry of the London School of Economics in 1980. Section A files have LSE Registry numbers and concern School affairs. Section B files were not registered, and relate to his research interests and public service, including outgoing letters, general correspondence and subject files. These include some confidential School business. The general correspondence files (B2) include material relating to organisations such as For Intellectual Liberty and the Eugenics Society, and the subject files include material concerning juvenile delinquency, populations, and the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies. A small quantity of additional material, listed as Section C comprise engagement diaries and letters of congratulation to Sir Alexander on becoming Director of LSE.
This collection is divided into Section A: LSE registered files; Section B: unregistered files - general correspondence and personal files; Section B: engagement diaries and letters of congratulation.
Open
Apply to Archivist.
English
Printed handlist and online catalogue available.
The British Library of Political and Economic Science holds papers of Carr-Saunders in the papers of R H Tawney (Ref: TAWNEY); in the papers of Lord Beveridge Ref: BEVERIDGE); correspondence with the editors of the Economic Journal (Ref: BLPES/RES/6/1/79; 16/13).
Papers of Carr-Saunders are also held by the Public Record Office; Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; National Library of Wales; Rice University: Woodson Research Center; Oxford University: Rhodes House Library. See the National Register of Archives for further details.
Output from CAIRS using template 14 and checked by hand on February 1, 2002 1 Feb 2002; revised 26 Feb 2002 Colonial countries Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies Delinquency Demography Eugenics Eugenics Education Society x Eugenics Society x Galton Institute For Intellectual Liberty Genetics Heredity Juvenile delinquency LSE , London School of Economics and Political Science x London School of Economics and Political Science Political systems Saunders , Sir , Alexander Morris , Carr- , 1886-1966 , Knight , economist and educationist x Carr-Saunders , Sir , Alexander Morris Social problems Social sciences
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Sections A and B consist of papers found in the Old Dead Registry of the London School of Economics in 1980. Section A files have LSE Registry numbers and concern School affairs. Section B files were not registered, and relate to his research interests and public service, including outgoing letters, general correspondence and subject files. These include some confidential School business. The general correspondence files (B2) include material relating to organisations such as For Intellectual Liberty and the Eugenics Society, and the subject files include material concerning juvenile delinquency, populations, and the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies. A small quantity of additional material, listed as Section C comprise engagement diaries and letters of congratulation to Sir Alexander on becoming Director of LSE.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
This collection is divided into Section A: LSE registered files; Section B: unregistered files - general correspondence and personal files; Section B: engagement diaries and letters of congratulation.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Apply to Archivist.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The British Library of Political and Economic Science holds papers of Carr-Saunders in the papers of R H Tawney (Ref: TAWNEY); in the papers of Lord Beveridge Ref: BEVERIDGE); correspondence with the editors of the Economic Journal (Ref: BLPES/RES/6/1/79; 16/13).
Finding aids
Printed handlist and online catalogue available.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Papers of Carr-Saunders are also held by the Public Record Office; Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; National Library of Wales; Rice University: Woodson Research Center; Oxford University: Rhodes House Library. See the National Register of Archives for further details.
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
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Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English