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.

Records of the Union of Synagogues, consisting of articles of agreement, minutes of the conjoint committee of the Great, New and Hambro Synagogues, minutes of the Conjoint Committee for managing the West Ham Burial Ground, correspondence, accounts and burial returns.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Western Synagogue, Marylebone, consisting of registers of kethubot [marriage contracts].

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

The papers of Frederick Parkes Weber, 1886-1962, consist of case notes from his Harley Street and German Hospital practices, some very fine annotated clinical photographs, and (the bulk of the collection) a large number of volumes and bundles dealing with a vast array of diseases and medical conditions, usually accreted around an original paper by Parkes Weber himself. He described how these 'small collections and bundles around kernels of my earliest writings on the subject' evolved in a letter to the Librarian, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 27 Feb 1958: "I was in the habit of surrounding my own writings with manuscript and printed correspondence, and all kinds of cuttings and small articles bearing on the subject. Many interesting autograph letters and small essays have in this way become buried and practically altogether lost." These had become 'gradually very extensive, and many of them have become dislocated and unmanageable'. On examination they have been found to include reprints and cuttings of articles, case notes, notes and annotations, correspondence, and photographs. There is also material on more general philosophical questions, and relating to his book Aspects of Death and other publications, and a little personalia and correspondence. Diaries apparently received with the papers were returned to Parkes Weber late in 1958 to assist in the preparation of the notes published as Miscellaneous Notes (see PP/FPW/D.11) and seem never to have been returned to the Wellcome Library (Parkes Weber to Dr Poynter, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 24 Dec 1958 and 11 Feb 1959). This is a collection of major importance for the medical historian.

Parkes Weber had a very active life during a period of unprecedented developments in medicine. He produced well over 1000 articles, and was particularly interested in rare diseases and conditions: conditions with which he is eponymously associated are Rendu-Osler-Weber disease (familial telangiectasis), Weber's diseases (localised epidermolysis bullosa), Weber-Klippel syndrome (haemangiectatic hypertrophy of limbs), Weber-Christian disease (relapsing febrile nodular non-suppurative panniculitis) and Sturge-Weber-Kalischer disease (angioma of brain revealed by radiography). His papers also include much on more common ailments and phenomena, on balneological and climatological treatment, healthy life-style and the promotion of longevity, social medicine, etc. His associates and colleagues included many of the great names in medicine of his day.

Papers of the London Committee of Licensed Teachers of Anatomy comprising minutes, 1880-1967; financial records, lists of subjects, and correspondence, 1961-1975; and meeting papers, 1965-1969. The archives of the Committee are not complete. Although the minutes date from its beginnings, and there are some other early papers, documentation relating to the distribution and eventual burial or cremation of cadavers only survives from 1942.

Papers of the American College of Surgeons, 1947-1955, comprising 2 volumes containing a list of Fellows of the American College of Surgeons who subscribed to a fund for the Royal College of Surgeons of England, to replace buildings damaged during World War Two, 1947; and a formal letter of condolence on the death of Sir Arthur Keith, 1955.

Manuscript notes by Dame Cicely Saunders for lectures, seminars and conferences, with supporting papers, [1967-2002]; administrative records and statistcs relating to St Christpher's Hospice, travel and appointment diaries, 1963-1984; photographic slides showing the construction of St Christopher's Hospice, Sydenham, 1967; photographic albums and lecture slides of early patients of the Hospice, [1967-1980]; photographs of Dame Cicely Saunders receiving honours from HM Queen Elizabeth II and other leaders and of visits to overseas hospices and conferences with folio Report of tour in the United States of America (1963) by Saunders; academic certificates, awards, medals and gifts to Saunders, [1970-2005]; duplicate articles written by Saunders, 1961-1979; offprints of articles by St Christopher's staff on palliative care, 1970-1975; another accesssion of approximate 25 m of books on palliative care, pain, nursing, religion, ethics and dying; a third accession containing 81 boxes, chiefly correspondence relating to drugs, pain control, palliative care, nursing, ageing, bereavement, grief, AIDS, ethics and the role of religion in end of life care with international correspondence organised by country, articles and reports, patient care notes, recorded conversations with patients, correspondence relating to the administration and support of St Christopher's Foundation, items relating to biography, Cicely Saunders: The Founder of the Modern Hospice Movement (London, 1984), by Shirley du Boulay and material relating to the promotion of the hospice movement in the media.

The collection comprises 44 audio tapes of interviews with the bereaved parents of children with life limiting illnesses, 1995; including a bundle of record cards indexing the tapes with the names of the children, their ages and notes on individual cases.

Letter from James Cosmo Melvill of Hampstead, [London] to F Jennings, Esq, 12 Dec 1849. A letter of condolence on the death of Jennings's father.

Autograph, with signature.

Papers relating to Edmund Belfour, 1814-1965, comprising a photocopy of a receipt signed by Belfour, for the body of Martin Hogan, for dissection by the Royal College of Surgeons, London, 24 Jan 1814.

The Hunter Family Album, early- mid 20th century, comprising a scrapbook containing material relating to John and William Hunter. Including photographs, postcards, letters, drawings, paintings, press cuttings, manuscript notes, and extracts from journals. Subjects covered include Long Calderwood, where William and John Hunter were born; memorial statues, burials and John Hunter's reinterment; attendance at lectures; information relating to their work and their museums; information relating to their places of residence, for example, Windmill Street, Leicester Square, and Earl's Court; and information about the Hunter family.

Diagrammatic plan of Ealing, then part of the County of Middlesex, showing locations of existing and proposed schools, 1950.

Records of Borough Synagogue, consisting of registers of kethubot [marriage contracts], lists of seat holders, chalitza book, financial accounts, and minute books including Burial Society minute book.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Minutes and accounts of the Burial Board, burial registers for the cemeteries at Battersea Rise and Morden.

Jewish book of mourning for Markus Gruenebaum, 1912.

Papers concerning the suicide and murder of German Jewish doctors, c 1933-c 1939, comprising a list detailing the names of such individuals.

Clifford Dobell's personal papers, including protozoology drawings, his reviews of books, original plates and drawings for Dobell's scientific papers. Also, Dobell's papers relating to Giovanni Battista Grassi (1854-1925) and his claim to priority in the discovery of the mode of transmission of malaria.

Physiology Volume 2, c1859-c1880, comprising a volume containing notes of lectures on Physiology; prescriptions for medications, with directions on usage, 1859-1880; a rememberance card for Henry Motherby of Henshall, c1870; and a recipe for cough mixture.

Papers of William Ewart Berry, 1954, comprise six press cuttings regarding the death of Viscount Camrose, 1954; Order of proceedings for the funeral of Viscount Camrose, held at St Paul's Cathedral, 23 June 1954; telegrams between Geoffrey Harmsworth and Molly Camrose regarding the death of Viscount Camrose, 15-28 June 1954.

Letter from James Mann of Linton Park, [Kent] to an unknown recipient, 23 Nov 1840. Discussing soup and coal subscriptions for the poor of Cranbrook, Kent, who were suffering from the failure of the hops; promising to continue the subscription given by his recently deceased [second] wife [died 3 Aug 1840].

Autograph, with signature. On mourning paper.

Papers of Anne Isabella Ritchie, [1912-1913], three letters and one inscribed visiting card (for Lady Ritchie and Miss Hester Ritchie). Two of the letters are addressed to H Remsen Whitehouse and the other to Colonel Rivett Carnac. No year is given on the letters, but dates of 1912-1913 seem plausible: Remsen Whitehouse met Lady Ritchie at Colonel Rivett Carnac's house, Vevey, Switzerland, in April 1912, and two of the letters are written on mourning paper, perhaps due to the death of Sir Richmond T W Ritchie in October 1912.

Papers of Ann Benson Proctor, 1877, comprise a letter to Bryan [Charles Waller], nephew [of Procter's late husband, Bryan Waller Procter], written on the death of his father [Nicholas Waller, formerly Nicholas Procter, Bryan Procter's brother].

Registers and day books of burials in consecrated or church ground and unconsecrated or chapel ground, 1841-1952, showing name, abode, when buried, age, place of burial, when and by whom buried, private vault or grave, purchased monuments and where placed (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilms X64/1-41); fee books, 1902-1966, including remarks, registrar, sub-district, date of certificate, digger, stone, bill number, name of deceased, age, time, depth, received by, minister, undertaker, secretary's signature, price, description of graves, square position (not always), size of coffin, undertaker's commission, amount; registers of private graves, 1841-1941, showing number of graves, description of place of burial, date and consideration of grant, names and addresses of purchasers, name and description of person interred, year and number (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilms X64/42-46); registers of public graves, 1900-1965, showing number, date, name, age and time of burial (registers are not available for consultation, please use microfilm X64/47); register of private grave transfers, 1938-1966, showing transfer number, date, grave number, transfer from/to, address and remarks; correspondence relating to private graves; incumbents' account book, divided parish by parish, 1922-1966, and plans of the graves.

Also deeds and legal papers, 1841-1898; report to Directors by Committee of Proprietors appointed by an Extraordinary Court, to investigate expenditure and general state of the Company's affairs, 1843; report to Directors by Henry George Haywood on proposals for draining the cemetery, 1857; correspondence relating to staffing, sewers and the East London Eastern Extension Railway, 1849-1871; bills, 1841-1897; specification for sewers and roads, with sections, 1884; plans of cemetery including proposed southern extension, 1800s; impression in red wax of seal of Company, 1841; legal records, 1844-1942.

Minute books of the Independent Burial Society.

Records of the West Ham Synagogue, including a register of reserved graves; Board of Management minutes; administrative files relating to premises, marriages, classes, staffing, centenary celebrations and the closure of the synagogue; financial records; membership lists; kethubah books [marriage contracts]; centenary exhibition boards; and a design for a hall.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Federation of Synagogues, 1887 - 1988. The records include a comprehensive set of minutes of the Federation; a less comprehensive but nonetheless interesting collection of minute books from the individual congregations; and minutes of other institutions connected with the Federation. There are also financial accounts, reports, property files (including synagogue plans), notice books and correspondence files which give a fuller picture of life of the Federation; and records of the East London Mikvah Committee; Federation Burial Society and London Talmud Torah Council.

This collection contains a single manuscript volume, the 'Naval Surgeons Casebook'. The volume begins with details of cases, symptoms and cures of Nathaniel Bedford's patients at St George's hospital during 1781. The rest of the volume contains descriptions of cases, sickness, and treatments during his travels whilst a ship's surgeon in the West Indies during 1781-1783.

The collection is divided into four main groups: The first group contains papers relating to William Clift's work as conservator of the Hunterian Museum. This is the largest of the four groups and contains a number of sub divisions such as explanation and display of specimens, expanding the collections, administration of the museum, and correspondence. This group also contains the transcripts made by Clift and others of the Hunterian manuscripts. The second group contains work carried out by William Clift as an illustrator for publications. The third group contains a small amount of personal material that is in the collection. The fourth group contains transcripts and copies of manuscript material by William Clift that is held in other repositories such as the Natural History Museum.

Papers of Sir William Henry Flower, [1845-1883], comprising papers largely created and compiled as Curator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, relating to a collection of birds' eggs, undated; rough list of contents of store bottles, undated; payments for expenses on specimens for the Museum during 1802-1861, 1861; list of additions purchased for the Museum during 1806-1862, [c1862]; summary of principal duties and occupations of museum officers and servants in the absence of the Conservator, undated; salaries and wages for the museum department, 1861; list of specimens presented by Dr Andrew Murray, 1865; list of specimens presented to the Museum by W L Crowther, [1868]; report on the Hunterian documents held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1868; report on the state of the physiological series in the museum, 1869; description of pathological specimens from the bodies of soldiers who died insane, forwarded by Dr William Julius Mickle, 1876; list of preparations from the College Collection, 1876; list of total numbers of preparations in the Museum, 1877.

papers relating to preparations of specimens, duties of Royal College of Surgeons of England, museum staff; catalogues of physiological and pathological specimens; letter to Alban Doran; correspondence with Thomas Stone; correspondence with Edward Shuter, 1845-1883.

The collection represents the contacts through two centuries of a group of men and women of high distinction ramifying through the medical, legal and literary worlds. It forms a not unimportant fund of minor historical material, comprising more than a thousand letters from nearly five hundred writers.

The autograph letters are mounted in 10 large volumes: -

1. Letterbook of John Arbuthnot (1667-1735). The most interesting letters are those of Pope and Swift and their circle written in 1714 when the Queen's death involved the destruction of their political hopes. Letterbook of William Hunter (1719-1783). It includes letters from Tobias Smollett the novelist, from Dr. Johnson thanking Hunter for presenting his book to the King, and from Edward Gibbon 'proposing himself the pleasure of attending some of Dr. Hunter's Anatomical lectures.'

2. Hunter and Baillie family letters and reminiscences, including the letters written by John to William Hunter from active service in 1761-62; poems by Sophia Baillie, Jenner family letters.

   3. Letters to Matthew Baillie from the Royal Princesses. Letters of the Bentham family, including three from Jeremy Bentham. Autograph letter collection includes letters from Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens. 1735 - 1845

3. Denman family collection; autographs collections of Lady Bell and Dr. William Whewell; letters of John Baron, Edward Jenner's biographer; fragment of unpublished music by Mozart; letters from Joanna Baillie's friends including c.1782-1877

4. Letters to Joanna Baillie includes letters from Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth. Various dates

5. William Hunter's diplomas, and letters to him, Hunter family documents, and notes on family history compiled by Joanna and Matthew Baillie. Locks of hair and christening caps worn by Hunter family. Various dates

6. Matthew Baillie's letters to William Hunter includes material relating to treatment of George III and to his wife Sophia (Denman) and his diplomas. C. 1783-1823

7. Matthew Baillie's professional correspondence including notes on illness of George III and on labour of Princess Charlotte. Letter to Helen Hunter Baillie from George Peachy re Matthew Baillie's notebooks (1923). 1783-1923

8. Joanna Baillie's letters and papers relating to her plays, sale of her works, mss. of two stories and a comedy, letters from Mrs Sigourney, Henry Siddons, Anne Hunter, Mary Somerville; Agnes Baillie's reminiscences, prescriptions by Matthew Baillie

9. Princess Mary's letters to Baillie concerning the illness of Princess Amelia, Anne Hunter's autograph poems, libretto of Haydn's Creation; account of death of Princess Charlotte.

   The Hunter Baillie collection comprises also a number of manuscript books, the oldest of which is a commonplace book of the early eighteenth century, giving details of family history of the Hunters. Matthew Baillie's notebooks include: -

Journal of a tour in Europe in 1788 and A short memoir of my life, 1818. 'Some brief observations from my own experience upon a considerable number of diseases', in two volumes. n.d. With these are his casebooks, fee-books and other professional notes, including details of his attendance on King George III. Baillie records that his total annual fees mounted from £121 in 1792 to £9,995 in 1815.

Diary of a resurrectionist, 1811-1812, probably Joshua Naples, describing his activities supplying bodies to anatomists in London, including to St Thomas's and St Bartholomew's Hospitals.

Papers of John Abernethy, 1807, comprising a letter from Abernethy to Mr Reece, Surgeon at Cardiff, 17 Mar 1807, regarding the case of the death of a child, and the opinion of Dr Hunter.

Cours de Maladies internes, traittées par M.re Petit, Docteur et Professeur de Médecine au Jardin du Roy. Vol. II. This contains Partie 3: Maladies séreuses, and Partie 4: Maladies de cacochimie non virulentes. V. This contains Partie 5: Fistules. Poisons. This is followed by: Cours de Médecine pratique, Partie 1. Généralités. Playes, Maladies des yeux. Louis (Antoine) [1723-1792] Mémoire sur la certitude des signes de la mort. This MS. contains notes of Petit's lectures, etc. written by a student named Poinsot, whose signature is found on each title-page and at the end of sections. Produced in Paris.

Records of the Great Synagogue, consisting of minutes of the Committee of the Great Synagogue; Vestry minutes; Financial Committee minutes; Building Committee minutes; laws and rules of the Great Synagogue; letter books; wills and bequests; registers of distribution of unleavened bread at Passover and of Passover flour; title deeds for property at Duke's Place; financial accounts; financial accounts of the Burial Society; papers relating to charities; notices and circulars; and registers of kethubot [marriage contracts] and chalitzah undertakings.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Hambro Synagogue, consisting of administrative records including minutes and letter books; financial records; membership payments; records of charities; records of the Burial Society; photographs and registers of kethubot [marriage contracts].

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Minute books of the Liverpool Protective Assurance and Burial Society.

Accounts book of the Most Friendly Burial Society.

Minutes of the Withington Friendly Burial Collecting Society.

Papers of William Crooke including:

MS 123

Collection of 27 Greek stories, manuscript notes, [c 1895].

MS 124

Collection of 118 Indian stories, told by various people; recorded and translated by W. Crooke and others, manuscript notes, [1895].

MS 125

Notes on religion, magic, rites, customs, prehistory, etc. with particular reference to India, [and] part of a manuscript of a new edition of Popular religion and folklore in northern India, [1890-1921].

MS 126

Papers, notes and correspondence on death, funeral and the soul, including material used in Religion and folklore of Northern India, and draft chapters and articles.

MS 127

Material for a glossary of Indian terms arranged in alphabetical order and supported by notes, references and correspondence.

MS 128

Correspondence between Crooke and John Murray, publishers. London and accounts relating to Things Indian, by Crooke, 1906-1923.

MS 129

Loose notes and references by Crooke including on Finger folklore; Hair and Swinging rites.

MS 130

Bibliographies, notes, papers, references and cuttings gathered by Crooke.

MS 131

Notes on folklore, magic, rites and customs, including prehistory, mainly India.

MS 132

Lecture notes and papers by Crooke, 1915-[1923].

MS 133

Draft of a history of Rajput society or of Rajputanas, [1908-1915].

MS 135

Notes for a lecture, 'Cults of Mother Goddess' and correspondence concerning cow worship and cattle veneration.

MS 136

Annotated typescript draft of book entitled, The folk-beliefs of the Homeric poems.

MS 137

Notes and correspondence pertaining to edition The Diary of John Fryer's voyage in the Hakluyt Society series and notes and correspondence pertaining to Fanny Parkes' 'Wanderings of a Pilgrim', 1908-1916.

MS 138

Papers relating to an entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica by Crooke: 'Saints and martyrs (Indian)' including a glossary of saints and martyrs.

MS 139

Correspondence, including detailed description of native cloths and wooden and stone vessels, 1900-1921.

Papers of Reginald Yarnitz Freeson, 1985-1991, comprise correspondence and cuttings regarding the death of Josef Mengele, including a copy of the original Brazilian police forensic report of the body exhumed in 1985 said to be that of Mengele (1411/44) and a descriptive list of the key letters (1411/1). Correspondents include the German Ambassador to Great Britain, the Frankfurt Public Prosecutors Office; the Director of the US Office of Special Investigations, Washington; the Brazilian Ambassador to Great Britain.

Papers of Iris Murdoch, 1984-1996, comprising photocopies of correspondence from Murdoch to Janine Canan, discussing arrangements for meeting, thanking her for various gifts, asking after Canan's poetry writing, reflecting upon the death of Murdoch's mother and remarking on Canan's work as a poet and essayist.

2 letters from Oonagh Lahr of 9 Wilton Road, Muswell Hill, London to Mr Lewin. (1) Concerning the death of her father, Charles Lahr, 25 Aug 1971. (2) Discussing the book trade and arranging to meet Mairin Mitchell, 2 Sep 1971.

Papers of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Stillbirth and neonatal death/management of perinatal deaths working party, comprising background papers and correspondence, 1983-1984; President's background papers and correspondence, 1978-1985; Committee chairman's correspondence and papers on publication of report, 1984-1986; background literature and chairman's papers, 1983-1984; Chairman's correspondence and papers, 1984-1985; Report of the RCOG Working Party on the Management of Perinatal Deaths, with circulation list, 1985; minute book of the working party, 1984.