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Personal and working papers of Dame Frances Amelia Yates, historian, 1899-1981, including diaries, family documents, notes, working papers, lectures, articles, books, reviews, correspondence and photographs. Topics covered include: Influence of Italy and Italian on English Life, Humanism; Academies; Hermetic Tradition; Occult Philosophy; Neoplatonism; Enlightenment; Shakespeare, Ramon Llull; Giordano Bruno and Art of Memory.

Records of the Wolley family of Clifton, Bristol, including diaries and notebooks of Thomas Lamplugh Wolley, including account of travels in Europe visiting Germany, Belgium, France and Italy, and account of military service; family letters; financial accounts; and genealogical notes.

Papers of Arnold Talbot Wilson, 1911-1940, comprising a journal and other papers of the then Capt A T Wilson, in Luristan, South West Persia, 1911-1912, with a supplement of miscellaneous notes and correspondence numbered 1-24 and reviews and related correspondence, 1928-1938, relating to Wilson's book The Persian Gulf, (Oxford, Clarendan Press, 1928).

Diaries of Herbert M Willmott, covering his work in India, 1921-1923; his retirement including travels in France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Germany, Belgium and Austria, 1923-1939; and life in war-time Kensington, 1939-1947.

Diaries recording William Halle's daily life, working as an artist and at the Telephone Exchange. He writes about trying to sell paintings to galleries, organising exhibitions and records his worries over money, his health and his sister, who lived in South Africa. The diaries also record his thoughts on various friendships and sexual relationships.

Diaries of Edward Wilding, 1926-1929, comprising diary in four volumes, illustrated with photographs, postcards, etc, of voyage to South America and a journey to Corriented and Posada on the River Parana and its tributaries, 1926 and diary in five volumes, illustrated with photographs, postcards etc, of a voyage to South America and a journey up the River Parana and in northern and western Argentina, 1929.

Records of John Whitwell, general merchant, comprising account books, 1815-22; memorandum books, 1819-20; letterbooks, 1817-1818 and 1821-1823; business diary, 1821-1822 and correspondence with business associates and family, 1819-1829.

Records of the West family. This collection comprises papers, 1811-1911, many dating from the 1840s to the 1870s, including material relating to cotton presses, engines, pumps, etc, 1816-1891; printed reports of West's Patent Press Company Ltd, 1873-1911; papers, 1824-1870, largely relating to domestic and manufacturing premises in St Pancras, including notices of railway companies relating to intended lines; correspondence and various other family papers (accounts, bills, diaries, notes, drawings, probate papers, etc), 1811-1878, including material relating to voyages and time spent in India (including Bombay) by family members, also including material relating to the estate of Robert Stephen Kitson, and material relating to attendance of family members at King's College School, King's College London, and London University; letters patent and specification for improvements in working railway signals, 1863; bundle of letters from Mr W Notter (box-office keeper in Covent Garden), 1825-1839, 1853-1855.

Copies of the travel journals of Sir David Wedderburn, 1866-1892, including Vol 1: 1866, United States, Canada, Atlantic passages; Vol 1A: 1868, Ireland; 1873, France, Germany, Luxembourg; Vol 2: 1869, Hungary, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt; Vol 3: 1870-1871, France, Spain, Gibraltar; 1873, Algeria; Vol 3A: 1871-1872, France, Switzerland, Italy; Vol 3B: 1872-1873 Austria, Channel Islands; Vol 4: 1874, Ceylon. Australia; Vol 5: 1874, Australia, and New Zealand; Vol 6: (Missing); Vol 7: 1876-1877 India; Vol 8: 1877-1878, Ceylon, Java, China, Japan; Vol 9: 1877, Japan and USA, June 1878 Iceland; Vol 10: 1878 Denmark, Russia, Greece, Italy: Vol 11: 1880, Brittany, Ireland, Russia, Pyrenees; Vol 12: 1881-1882 South Africa and a 'Life Sketch' of Sir David Wedderburn 1835-1882, by D A Percival.

Poulett Weatherley's diaries of journeys through Lake Bangweulu region: Vol. 1 Oct 1889-Jan 1899; Vol. 2 Jun-Jul 1898 and Jan - Mar 1899 and 16 watercolours and pencil sketches of central Africa.

Photocopies of the diaries of Elizabeth Tyrrell (1769-1835) and of her daughter Elizabeth (b 1802). Also photocopy of a Tyrell family pedigree spanning 1545 to the 20th century.

Personal papers of James Barr, employee of Trumans Ltd, including Transport and General Workers Union cards and papers, Truman's Sports Club rules and fixture lists, and papers relating to the company including redundancy scheme, annual excursions, regulations and agreements, 1939-1989; handbooks, programmes, rules, fixture lists and posters for the London Breweries Amateur Sports Association and the Highgate Harriers Athletic Club, 1951-1979; issues of company publications including 'The Black Eagle', the 'Truman Times', '1666', 'Truman News', 'Truman Topics', 'Watney Truman News' and 'Stag and Eagle' (Watney Combe Reid publication), 1948-1989; annual reports and pension scheme information, 1977-1989; and issues of 'The Master Brewer' and 'The National Brewery Museum Chronicle', 1968-1986.

Personal papers of Reverend Charles John Todd, navy chaplain, comprising certificates of ordination as a deacon and priest, 1878-79; commission as a Navy chaplain, 1881; letters written home from Navy ships from Zanzibar, Suez, Sudan, India, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], and Japan; diaries and notebooks describing hunting expeditions in Ceylon and East Africa; diary of a diplomatic mission to King John of Abyssinia [Ethiopia], 1884; newspaper cuttings; photographs of Todd; and a description of Todd's Navy service, 1976.

Personal diaries of John Thornton, merchant and member of the Clapham Sect. One journal has entries only on Sundays and records religious thoughts; while the others provide a record of daily events (including business, charitable activities and social events) interspersed with religious musings. Also drawing of the coat of arms of Lord Slane, described as an ancestor of the Thorntons.

The Sandhurst examination marks from 1913 (ACC/2360/005) appear to have no connection with the journals and the coat of arms.

Papers of Sir Henry Frederick Stephenson. There are letterbooks for 1868 and 1880 to 1883, and a printed account of the court martial following the loss of the RATTLER. Most of the collection relates to the Arctic expedition, 1875 to 1876. It includes Stephenson's diary in three volumes, a letter-book, a book of general proceedings of the DISCOVERY, a rough survey book and a scrapbook, with letters and orders from Nares and some other loose papers. There are also printed volumes of the official reports of the expedition and of earlier arctic expeditions.

Papers collected by the antiquary George Scott. As well as catalogues of Scott's library (and many printed books) the collection includes George Scott's financial accounts; extracts from forest laws; abstracts of Treasury accounts; register of Queen Elizabeth I's out-letters; orders relating to the Cinque Ports; and a book of prescriptions. Also a diary of scientist Robert Hooke, 1671-1683. Please note this diary is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Assistant Director (Heritage).

This collection consists of the diaries of two members of the Scott Turner family, the widow of Major Henry Scott Turner and her youngest son Cecil. Mrs. Turner's diaries cover the years 1885 to 1888 and record social engagements, domestic incidents and local events. Her daily routine is highlighted by visits, walks and outings to church, parties, and occasionally the theatre. She mentions friends and neighbours by name. The activities of her sons are prominent, but she appears to reserve her deepest affection for Cecil, her youngest. She rarely records her innermost feelings in the diaries, and allows her sons to write up entries. In the first diary she writes "End of 1885 which has had its troubles-tho' they may not be recorded here" (ACC/1385/001a). Events of national interest are only noted in passing, for example the Queen's jubilee celebrations in 1887 and the death of the German Emperor on 9 March 1888. The diaries provide a glimpse into the day to day existence, at times dull and humdrum, of a middle class woman of the late Victorian era.

After an education at Rugby and Oxford, Cecil Turner became a solicitor in London where his uncle Harcourt was a partner in the firm of M and H Turner, 22 Sackville Street, Piccadilly (ref. Law list, 1889). A letter dated 1911 found in one of the diaries is addressed to M C S Turner Esquire, 199, Piccadilly (ACC/1385/039, 31 December). For the most part Cecil only mentions his work briefly, with an occasional reference to a law suit or other business. His diaries are a record of his daily activities for 59 years, from the age of 27 to that of 85. They contain accounts of social engagements, particularly outings to the theatre and art galleries, visits to and from friends and relations, the state of the weather, his health, and domestic incidents. He made many visits, both at home and abroad, including voyages to South Africa where his soldier brother Henry was killed in 1899. He had many friends among the gentry and spent holidays shooting, walking and bicycling and attended country house parties. In his later years he became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith and his diaries reflect the great comfort he gained from this. As the years pass he is increasingly reminded of mortality and, with the death of his sister-in-law Dora in 1946, he is the last member of his immediate family left alive. Although the diaries comment on outside events, such as the progress of the two world wars, they are essentially the personal record of a professional gentleman, reflecting the minutiae of middle-class life in a rapidly changing world.

Microfilm diaries of Mrs Inge Samson, 1934-1942, the first part covers life in Germany and the second life in Great Britain. They are written in a manuscript gothic script.

Papers of Sir Nowell Salmon, comprising diaries from Nowell Salmon and his wife Emily Salmon, and three diaries from Sophie Saunders. The collection also includes letters belonging to various members of the family between 1857 and 1961.

Papers of Isabella Roth, 1902-1970s, comprise her personal documents including a copy of her birth certificate, testimonials, and naturalisation certifcate; Isabella Roth's writings including her diary, 'philosophical thoughts' and poems and photographs presumably of Isabella Roth and family.

Personal papers of Robert W Ramsey, including diaries (some with glued in event programmes, invitations and newspaper cuttings); commonplace books and household financial accounts; articles by Ramsey on historical and literary subjects; poems and sketches; Ramsey family pedigree, 1688-1904; research on the Cromwell family; and general correspondence.

Small group of papers of Joseph Payne (1808-1876) and of his family including his sons (Joseph) Frank Payne (1840-1910) and John Burnell Payne (1839-1869) and his father-in-law the Rev John Dyer. The collection comprises Joseph Frank Payne's personal copies of the volumes of his father's work which he edited, namely Lectures on the History of Education (1892) and Lectures on the Science and Art of Education (1883); bound copy of Joseph Frank Payne's Harveian Oration, entitled 'Harvey and Galen', 1897; manuscript journal of Joseph Payne, Jan-Apr 1825; sermon given by Edward Steane on the death of the Rev John Dyer, 1841; printed testimonials in favour of Rev John Burnell Payne, candidate for the Profressorship of English Literature and History at Owen's College, Manchester, 1866; photograph of Joseph Payne; printed sermon given by William Steadman on the death of the Rev James Dyer, 1797; family notebooks, 1821-1828, some on literary subjects; correspondence, including of John Burnell Payne with Mrs Lewes [George Eliot]; various notes, journal entries, reflections and verse in different hands.

Papers of Ordinary German women, [1938-1944], comprise copies of diary entries praising the Führer and written by a German woman whilst expecting her child and after his birth, at and near Bielefeld, Westfalia, 1938-1939, and a manuscript collection of essays in praise of Hitler and the German Volk by Frau E Hennig, [1944].

Papers of Vice Admiral R Don Oliver. They consist mainly of family correspondence, but there are some official service documents; Vice Admiral Robert D Oliver's recollections; files of personal papers from the 1960s and 1970s; papers of both his first wife, Mrs Torfrida L.A. Swann (nee Huddart) and the Huddart family, and those concerning his second wife, Mrs Marion Joyce Glendinning Van de Velde; diaries for 1960-1978; newspaper cuttings and photographs. There are also papers belonging to his father, Colonel William James Oliver, and his uncle, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Francis Oliver: these include Sir Henry Oliver's recollections, 100th birthday letters and letters of condolence to his wife, Dame Beryl Oliver, on his death in 1965.

Papers of Sir Henry Francis Oliver, they include papers relating to the establishment of the Navigation School, and to the Dardanelles Operations, 1915 to 1917; included in the latter are minutes and notes by Churchill. There is also a Report of the Grand Fleet Committee on Officers' Pay and Prospects, 1919. Other letters and papers span Oliver's career, 1914 to 1965, although thinly. There is a diary, 1925 to 1927, a draft autobiography and official service documents.

Papers of Frederick North. The collection consists of his diaries in the ALERT, 1878 to 1882. There are also photograph albums relating to North in the Department of Pictures.

Records of Mark Noble, pump and fire engine manufacturer, comprising a diary and the donor's transcript and notes. The diary is unsigned, but the donor has identified the author from a patent mentioned in the text and from records at The National Archives relating to the activities described. The entries are mostly accounts of travel and meetings in London, Kent and Berkshire to arrange finance, materials and trials of a pump, with little technical or personal content.

Diaries, 1902-1919 [1916 missing], of surgeon in South Kensington, noting calls on patients and their visits to him, personal appointments, and personal financial accounts.

Dorothy Newhall papers: Diaries and photograph album of service as a nurse in the Serbian Army and Sanitary Inspector with the Serbian Relief Fund, World War One.

Personal diaries of Stephen Monteage, accountant, 1733-1764.

Records of William Mawhood, woollen draper, comprising: diaries, 1764-90; cash account and note book, 1771-2; estate, legal and family papers, 1606, 1709-96; and letters and other papers relating to the diaries, 1875-1910.

Papers of Adml Thomas Leeke Massie, including copies of his official letterbooks, 1842 to 1861, logs, 1831, 1833 to 1836 and 1850 to 1854, and diaries, 1847 to 1849 and 1862 to 1880. There are also official service documents and twenty-one letters written to his family, 1826 to 1828 and 1840 to 1841.

Louisa Martindale collection, 1872-1964. The collection consists of Section A: a little personal correspondence, papers, articles, speeches and lectures by Louisa Martindale, and some personal material including notes on the glaucoma which eventually blinded her, 1872-1960; and Section B: papers concerning the Medical Women's International Association (founded 1919) of which Miss Martindale was President from 1937 to 1947. As well as her own correspondence in this capacity, 1937-1946, there is one file of the correspondence of Mme Montreuil-Strauss, Secretary of the Medical Women's International Association at his period. (Louisa Martindale destroyed the vast bulk of her case records at the time of her retirement from practice around 1950, those remaining were destroyed by her executors after her death).

Papers of Cpt Frederick Marryat. They consist of sketches, a diary, 1808 to 1821, his signal book and an album of official letters and press cuttings, 1808 to 1841. There is also his prayer book and other personal relics.

Papers of Sir Albert Hastings Markham, including a log, 1856 to 1874; a diary, 1875 to 1876, and an admiral's journal, 1892 to 1894. For the TRIUMPH, 1879 to 1882, there is a night order book, a captain's information book, a remark book and a letterbook. There is a night order book for the HECLA, 1879 to 1885, a remark book for the ACTIVE, Training Squadron, 1888, a telegram book and reports for the Mediterranean, 1892 to 1894, and press cuttings and photograph albums. The papers include correspondence on the voyage of the ROSARIO; official correspondence, 1886 to 1889, 1892 to 1893; papers relating to the collisions in which Markham was involved; letters and papers on Antarctic exploration and on Markham's literary work. Finally, there is Markham's semi-official and private correspondence throughout his career. This includes letters from his cousin Sir Clements Markham (1830-1916).

Papers of Admiral Sir Charles Madden, consisting of the War Diaries of Madden, August to December 1914, and his Grand Fleet Diaries, kept in his official roles, 1914 to 1918, and official service documents, 1877 to 1900.

Also service documents of Sir Charles Madden, 2nd Bt., 1924 to 1946.

Transcript of the diaries (originally in six volumes) of Louis Löwenthal, 9 Jan 1874-12 Jan 1881. The first part of the diary is written whilst he resides in the Jewish Hospital, recovering from an unspecified operation. The remainder of the diaries deal with day to day life at his family home in Sophienthal, Berlin, Leipzig, and other locations.

Records of the Legge family, earls of Dartmouth, including letters to the Countess of Dartmouth (Lady Frances Legg?) from her children and family members, 1809-1836; letters from Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, and her household, 1828-1856 (Lady Caroline Legg was lady-in-waiting to the Duchess); general family letters, 1820-1856; diaries and travel diaries (Italy and Germany) of Lady Caroline Legg, 1815-1836; papers of Lt Col Edward Legge including correspondence, travel diaries (Switzerland, Crimea, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Germany, France, Italy), 1853-1877; military notes, army diary and papers concerning service in the Coldstream Guards, 1855-1875, note books and memoranda books, undated; papers taken from Afghan commander Ayub Khan's camp at Kandahar, 1880.

The collection also includes notes on the history of the Legge family, some letters and scrap-books relating to other members of the family; and other papers relating to Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, including letters to her from Queen Victoria, Leopold King of the Belgians, and the Duke of Wellington, 1839-1841.

Papers of Felix Langer, 1933-1941, comprise three volumes of diaries plus enclosures. The diaries contain mostly sparse notes often barely legible. A large part of the content relates to books.

Papers of Sir John Donald Kelly, consisting of reports on the unsuccessful attack on the Goeben; on the Dardanelles, February to May 1915, and on a German raider in West Indian and South American waters, December 1916 to March 1917. There are orders relating to the Dardanelles, 1915, to the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, 1918, to the Chanak incident of 1922, to the Invergordon mutiny in 1931 and to Kelly's final commands. The letters are mainly official but the private correspondents include Prince Louis of Battenburg (1854-1921), 1903, Earl Beatty (1871-1936), 1918 and 1932, Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900- ), 1929, Sir Roger Keyes (1872-1945), 1930 to 1931, and Lord Chatfield, 1932 to 1936. In addition, a small collection of fifteen letters, 1831 to 1847, relate to Captain, later Vice-Admiral, William Kelly (c 1795-1874), and are mostly concerned with the attack on the forts of Tamatave, Madagascar, in 1845. William Kelly is believed to have been a relative of Sir John Kelly.

Papers of Sir William Archibald Howard Kelly, consisting of a draft of his memoirs which is very detailed until 1933; after this period it has only a few notes and observations on Turkey. The diaries for 1899, 1901, 1903, 1905 to 1907, 1910, 1914 to 1916, 1919 to 1921, 1923 to 1929 and 1931 to 1933 are also detailed. The correspondence forms two groups; the first, 1914 to 1917, includes letters from Earl Beatty (1871-1936), Admiral Tyrwhitt (1870-195T) and Lord Jellicoe (1859-1935); the second group, 194G to 1944, includes those from Admirals Cunningham (q.v.), Harwood (1888-1950) and Willis (1889-1976). Some notebooks, news cuttings and articles complete the collection.

Papers of Charles Johnstone, consisting of eighteen diaries, 1880 to 1897, 1890 and 1895 excepted, which describe all the major events of Johnstone's life in detail. His logs cover the years 1858 to 1864, 1866 to 1867 and 1871 to 1873. There are official letters among the loose papers as well as letterbooks, 1883, 1892 to 1894, 1896 to 1898, and many of these refer to Madagascar and to the Victoria and Camperdown collision; for the latter affair there is Johnstone's own vindication of his conduct. The printed papers, including news cuttings, refer to Borneo and Madagascar and to the education of naval officers.

Papers of Margaret Ismay, consisting of twenty-seven diaries kept by Mrs Ismay, 1881 to 1907. There are also a number of items deposited on loan in 1965 by Mrs Ismay's daughter-in-law, Mrs Julia Ismay. They consist of four diaries kept on a voyage to South America in 1856 by T.H. Ismay and also diaries kept by his son, Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), on a journey round the world, 1887 to 1888.

54 manuscript, narrative diaries, relating to Isacke's career in the UK, India, South Africa and France, 1893-1943.

Two diaries of the Reverend C Wilfred Howard.

This exceptionally interesting collection consists of the archives of a London business family, the Howards, and their relations by marriage, the Eliots. The family were based in London, with homes in the City and various places round about, but they also had property and connections in several other parts of England.

The chief interest of the collection is in its quality as the personal record of a group of prosperous manufacturing and merchant families who were members of the Society of Friends. The Eliots were merchants and their account books, which cover both business and private expenses, together with letters and memoranda, reflect a picture of "City" life in the Eighteenth century. They attended the Change, Lloyd's and Child's and Jonathan's and other Coffee Houses, and dealt with a variety of business including trade overseas in cotton and duck cloth and Cornish tin and invested in "a voyage to Lima" and other merchant shipping ventures (including that of the Tuscany, unfortunately "Taken by the French and carried into Marseilles" in 1757). (See especially numbers 905, 928, 929, 944, etc.).

There is interesting material relating to John Eliot's estates supplemented by John Eliot's letters (e.g. Numbers 988-1011), which also mention a "good season" for pilchards, the decline of the docks at Topsham, the appropriation by the Government of some sugar pans near Exeter to use for French prisoners, etc. John's sister Mariabella also purchased in 1765 Pickhurst Farm, Hayes, Kent (Nos. 376-475).

There are amongst this collection a few letters and papers of later Howards, including an interesting pocket diary in which Samuel Lloyd Howard, grandson of Luke, jotted (unfortunately rather roughly in pencil) memoranda and sketches of impressions of his visit to America in 1854 (No. 1618). At sea his ship rescued the crew of the Hannay of Whitehaven, loaded with salt and flying a distress signal-"lay to and took all off, boy, baggage, chronometer, barometers and all".

At all periods the family kept in close touch with their relations in all parts of the country, including the Hows of Aspley, Bedfordshire, the Paces of Westmorland and London, the Leathams of Yorkshire as well as with fellow Quakers. This gives the collection a national rather than a local interest-indeed the family were not primarily associated with any one locality.

A curious document amongst the collection is a receipt dated 1824 for 8. 15s from R. Smith for freeing Hamma Fie, slave to Bentoo Demba, and signed with the mark of Madeba, Alcaide of "Birkow" (No. 1617/p.12). The Society of Friends Committee for African Instruction supported some missions, and Richard Smith, a friend of Luke Howard, was in Africa in the 1820's.

Quaker marriage certificates, of which there are several examples (eg. Nos. 117, 565, 1273, 1274, etc) give full details of both parties and are signed by members of the Meeting as witnesses. Birth certificates (e.g., Nos. 1275-1286, 1390-1393) give the date of birth and name, and were signed by witnesses to the baby's birth. The Society of Friends was in advance of both the State and established Church in respect of such documentation.

Diaries of Wilhelm Hollitscher, a Jewish refugee in England, 13 Jun 1939-16 Oct 1943. Hollitscher begins his diaries by remembering his last days in Vienna, but soon turns to a discussion of the political news of the day. In this case a secret meeting between Hitler and Mussolini. Hollitscher is furious about Hitler's treachery, abandoning South Tyrol as a gift to Mussolini. From this time on Hollitscher chronicles the political, and later, military developments and the diaries become a history of the period seen through the eyes of a Jewish emigrant living in England. The tense months leading up to the war, the declaration of war and the war itself are described. Likewise is the landing of Rudolf Hess; the bombing of English towns and later of German ones; Stalingrad; and even events in the Pacific and China.

Comments on the political situation are regularly interspersed with notes on family and friends, most of whom, seem to have escaped Austria. Letters written and received and the more mundane events of daily life at Petts Wood are recorded faithfully.

Hollitzer is very conscious of the fate of the Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland and he notes any news he receives. On the fourth anniversary of his arrival in England he is grateful for four years of a 'blessed old age' and for the fact that his children and grandchildren are safe and healthy. In 1943 he mentions heart troubles, difficulties in sleeping and cramps. The diaries close rather abruptly on 6 October 1943.

Papers of Admiral Henry Dennis Hickley, consisting of two short diaries and a watch bill from HMS DIADEM; appointment papers detailing the rise of Henry Dennis Hickley from Ordinary Seaman in 1857 to Admiral of Her Majesty's Fleet by 1892; Navy pay records and statements of service; letters and telegraphs between Hickley and the Admiralty from 1869 to 1890; and a small number of documents relating to the domestic life of the Hickleys between 1842 and 1888. The address book of his wife, Mrs H D Hickley, also features in the collection.

Papers of Lieutenant John Dennis Hickley containing several papers relating to J D Hickley's education and training; a few short letters written just before his death; his naval records from 1876 to 1886; as well as a short pamphlet entitled 'An Account of the Operations on the Benin River in August and September, 1894', written by Hickley and printed by Royal United Service Institution. However, the majority of material on Lt. Hickley deals with the circumstances of his death and burial, apparently a reflection of a Victorian obsession with tragic heroes.

Diaries of Anthony Heap, 1928-1985. The intention of the diarist does not seem to have been to record all the details of his life nor of the world around him. Some major world events are noted, and it is possible to derive some idea of life in London during the Second World War though not of the progress of that war. He recorded the deaths of statesmen and of people connected with the theatre of whom he wrote brief obituaries. He also recorded strikes and similar national events. From the 1960s the increasing cost of living receives frequent comment. Local and national elections are noted.

On the personal side the events which the diarist recorded, apart from reviews of performances and books, fall into a few main categories. He recorded expenditure and savings; his physical ailments (including the near-fatal attack of peritonitis which led to him being in hospital at the outbreak of war and which, with a later rupture, rendered him unfit for military service); the scouting and outdoor activities which he pursued as a youth and young man; his friendships, both male and (far fewer) female, and his family; and the weather.

From 1937 (Acc 2243/10) the diaries are kept in bound notebooks which the diarist paginated. The diarist recorded his attempts to secure a supply of these. The first diary is a pocket diary (Acc 2243/1) issued by Henekys Ltd., wine merchants, and the Sound and third (Acc 2243/2-3) Boy Scouts pocket diaries. Those for 1931-1932 are bound notebooks (Acc 2243/4-5) and those for 1933-1936 (Acc 2243/6-9) are Letts's office desk diaries. The first and second diaries are written in pencil, the third in ink, and the fourth and fifth in ink and indelible pencil. All the others are in ink. Every diary has been covered in brown paper by the diarist. All are in very good condition. There is evidence that the diarist corrected some entries throughout (usually spelling) but it is not known when.

A collection of material relating to Harry Cusden Ltd. The collection includes business diaries kept by Harry Cusden, 1919-1943, papers relating to the running of the business including numerous documents relating to war damage repairs, the purchase of the properties, leases, etc. The series also contains personal papers, share certificates and customer correspondence. There is a large collection of photographs including photographs of the exterior of the shops, window displays, staff and staff outings, as well as a large collection of miscellaneous photographs showing family, friends, holidays, events etc. Many of these photographs are unidentified and undated. There is also a series of various price lists and advertisements for the business, trade cards, ephemera relating to Harry Cusden's role as Councillor, newspaper cuttings and other pieces of ephemera.

Diary of actor John Pritt Harley, 1858.