Letter from Sir Samuel Romilly of Gray's Inn, London to John Baynes (also of Gray's Inn), Embsay Kirk, near Skipton, Yorkshire, 2 Sep 1785. Regrets but excuses Baynes's silence: '... if [the lakes in Cumberland] are half as beautiful as they are described to be I dont wonder yt you cannot turn yr attention to anything yt is enveloped in y smoke of London... I have heard a gr[ea]t deal since you have been gone abt our friend y Count [i.e. Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau] tho not from himself or his belle amie [Henriette-Amélie Van Haren, Madame de Nehra]. That great deal, however is only a great many books wch he had written ...'. Mentioning a work of Mirabeau's that had been banned in France. 'Have you seen [John] Adams, the American ambassador [later US President]? I dined y o[the]r day in compy with him and his wife and w[ha]t is much better his dau[ghte]r who is so pretty ... As for y Fa[the]r he is quite M. l'Ambassadeur and seems afraid to say any thing without mystery lest one sho[ul]d find out yt he is not of a higher order of beings that oneself'. Discussing the state of patent law in respect of new inventions and examines way of making it more beneficial to patentees. Concludes with remembrances 'to our good friend Dome'.

Autograph, with signature. Endorsed with the name: Thomas G Whytehead.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to Mr [?George] Moffatt, 23 Dec 1845. 'Not a word passed between [Earl] Grey and me upon any other subject than corn - I called on him solely for the purpose of urging the Whigs to stick to our principle, and to explain that the League could not swerve a hairs breadth from its path of Total and Immediate to suit any party. This is all that passed - [Viscount] Palmerstons name was of course never mentioned or referred to ... The Whigs are lower than ever by this exhibition of impracticableness at a moment when every other question ought to have been suspended at least till they had dealt some-how or other with that food crisis which alone called them into place and alone warranted them in assuming a power which otherwise they did not possess. At such a time to squabble over seats at the Council board! If I had been Lord John [Russell], history should have rather said of me that I had sent into the parish vestryroom for a dozen select men of the parish to form my cabinet, until I could in my place in Parlt. birng on the total repeal of the corn law, than that I had allowed any two or even twelve men to stop me in my course when once pledged to such an undertaking'.

Autograph, with signature.

Papers of Henry Thring, 1st Baron Thring, relating to the establishment and constitution of the Royal College of Music (RCM), 1877-1883, mostly comprising correspondence of Thring (mainly his office copies) and members of the Committee of Management of the National Training School for Music, Prince Christian's Executive Committee of the Royal and National College of Music and the Council of the RCM, particularly in regard to the drafting and granting of the royal charter to the RCM, with manuscript and printed drafts of the charter of the RCM and regulations of the RCM. The papers also include a small quantity of material relating to Thring's RCM Building's Sub Committee to report on the heating, ventilation and drainage of the new RCM building, 1889; the minute of condolence of the Council of the RCM on the death of Lord Thring, 14 Mar 1907; correspondence relating to the donation of the Thring papers to the RCM, 1951.

The collection consists of working papers relating to Buchanan's professional career as a forensic psychiatrist in the UK, [1984]-2001, chiefly research papers relating to the Special Hospitals Service Authority and psychiatric reports relating to Maudsley Hospital patients.
Section 1 comprises papers arising from the daily administrative operations of Maudsley Hospital London. Section 2 contains research notes, questionnaires and criminal record 'multiple enquiry forms' produced from the Home Office Offenders Index. This material relates to an unpublished study conducted by Buchanan from 1992-1995 of discharged special hospital patients convicted of violent re-offences. The findings, intended to inform the decision making of those entrusted with the care of special hospital patients, were funded by the Special Hospitals Service Authority. There are also confidential psychiatric reports (see ref 3/1 to 3/6), produced by forensic psychiatrists at Maudsley Hospital, London. The reports evaluate an individual's competency to stand trial, defences based on mental diseases or defects (for instance the "insanity" defence), and sentencing recommendations. Section 4 contains questionnaires relating to a project funded by the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation focused on developing the Maudsley Assessment of Delusions Schedule to provide a more accurate and effective way of assessing patient's delusions. Section 5 consists of papers relating a psychiatric case assessed by Buchanan in his capacity as a member of the Serious Untoward Incident Panel of the Hounslow and Spelthorne Community and Mental Health NHS Trust. The collection also includes photocopies of articles from medical publications and on-line resources compiled by Buchanan which relate to the ethical connotations of patient confidentiality in connection with medical trials and research (see ref 6/1).

Manuscript volume containing a memorial concerning proposed alterations to the laws relating to bankruptcy and the ranking of creditors in Scotland, [1716], protesting against the adoption of English laws in Scotland.

Correspondence of William Carey, John Campbell, Jospeh Hume, Thomas Babington Macaulay and John Philips, 1805-1847, comprising a letter from Joseph Hume to John Campbell, Apr 1843, regarding the petition from Montrose against the Factory Bill; a letter from Thomas Babington Macaulay to an unknown recipient, 6 Apr 1847, regarding the probable loss of his seat in Parliament; a letter from John Philips of Aberdeen to his brother, 19 Apr 1815; a letter from William Carey of Calcutta, to his father, 31 Dec 1805, describing conditions in India; and a letter from John Campbell to his "Christian Brethren" in Copenhagen, 7 Jan 1807.

Manuscript transcript of an Act of Parliament (16 and 17 Charles II, c.11) for making the river Medway navigable in the Counties of Kent and Sussex, copied in c1740.

Letter from Richard Cobden of Manchester to F Buloz, Esq, Paris, 19 Dec 1845. Answering Buloz's request for a collection of the National Anti-Corn Law League's publications for an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Cobden explains that 'no complete collection of [tracts, articles, pamphlets and advertisements] has been preserved - Nor has there been any history of the League written in England.' He promises to give full information and 'copies of all our publications which are preserved' to a visitor 'if recommended by you'. He recommends Bastiat's Cobden et la Ligue [printed by Senlis, Paris, 1845]. 'I may also add the Monsr Fonteyrand ... paid us a visit here a few weeks ago to whom I explained the machinery of our organisation ... I am not sure that he would feel at liberty to assist in furnishing an article for your publication - But he is more competent than any other person in France to do it correctly - At all events, I wish you would see him ... and say that I shall be obliged if he will allow you to have access to the publications which I gave him and afford you all facilities in his power for preparing a description of the League ...'.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Thomas Joplin of Gravesend, [Kent] to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Baronet and MP, 14 Feb 1844. 'It is these distresses that give life and power to the Anti-Corn Law League, although the Corn Laws have nothing to do with them.

Autograph, with signature.

Records, 1902-1977 and undated, of and accumulated by the Restatement of African Law Project (RALP), School of Oriental and African Studies, comprising papers of RALP relating to administration, including minutes; and research material, such as notes, publications, theses, and other collected papers, on tribes and places including Basutoland (Lesotho), Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia and Zambia, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Tanzania, and Uganda, relating to customs, aspects of law including succession, slavery, marriage and divorce, land tenure, legal systems, including customary law, legislation, courts, and particular legal cases.