Letter from Sir Joseph Banks of Soho Square, London to Lord [?Sheffield], 10 Feb 1815. In favour of a Corn Law. 'We ought, however, to consider that by purchasing foreign Corn, we ... hazard the horrors of Famine by becoming dependant [sic] on our natural enemies for our food ...'. The first paragraph appears to be in Banks's own hand and the remainder in that of an amanuensis or copyist.

Letter from Richard Cobden to Mrs Drummond, 16 Shamrock Place, Edinburgh, 12 May 1845. Thanking her for a present to his young daughter. Referring to [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, who 'is now I fear a little under the shade, in consequence of his Maynooth vote, with some of his constitutents', and to the bazaar given by the National Anti-Corn Law League at Covent Garden.

Autograph, with signature. With the original envelope (with a decorative border in the form of wheat ears), bearing the seal of the National Anti-Corn Law League.

Letter from Sir Robert Peel to Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8 Jan [1846]. Making an appointment to discuss the Corn Laws.

Autograph, with signature.

This series consists of a collection of arbitration cases between the Postmaster General and private telegraph companies; memoranda by heads of Post Office departments and their correspondence, records of the Central Telegraph Office, lighthouses and lightvessels, circuits and codes, mobile facilities for telegraphs at race meetings and special events; Letters Patent taken out by inventors and specifications of inventions.

Collection of manuscripts relating to bankruptcy, 1850-1851, comprising answers to questionnaires circulated by the Committee for the Improvement of the Law of Debtor and Creditor from business firms in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. Many of the replies are on printed questionnaires addressed to the Chairman of the Committee, William Hawes, MP.

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.

Papers of John Gunn, 1926-2002, including extensive correspondence, notes, memoranda, funding applications, lecture presentations and press cuttings. The collection includes: files concerning the administration of the Institute of Psychiatry and its Department of Forensic Psychiatry, 1975-2000 (including policy, planning, funding, assessments and staffing), and the running of the Denis Hill Unit forensic in-patient service, Bethlem Royal Hospital, 1985-1998; published articles, book, chapters and book reviews by Gunn, 1966-2001, on topics including epilepsy, aggression, sex offenders, mental health legislation and suicide prevention in prison; research and research applications, 1966-2001, on topics including epileptic offenders, violence, and the discharge and subsequent care of Special Hospital patients; psychiatric questionnaires and assessments, 1967-1988; files relating to the Home Office, chiefly 1966-2000, and relating to the treatment of mentally disordered offenders, also copy medical evidence given to the Wolfenden Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, 1954, and papers relating to the May enquiry, 1989-1992, into the convictions for IRA bombings in Guildford and Woolwich, 1974.

Prison Service correspondence and reports, 1975-2000, covering the provision of secure psychiatric units and psychiatric care of the general prison population; papers, 1975-2000, relating to the UK Special Hospitals (high security psychiatric hospitals), and to Grendon experimental prison for offenders with antisocial personality disorders; correspondence, meeting papers and background information on the impact of amendments and proposed amendments to UK mental health legislation, 1972-2000, including the Floud Committee on dangerous offenders, 1976-1981, and the work of the Parliamentary Mental Health Group in formulating policy to restrict the spread of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), 1987-1988; reports and correspondence, 1972-2001, relating to the conduct of psychiatry, psychiatric facilities and prison welfare in countries including Australia, China, Egypt, Greece, Ireland and Turkey; papers, 1967-1999, relating to the Effra Trust, founded by Gunn in 1974 to provide accommodation and support to homeless male ex-offenders suffering from physical or mental disability.

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).

This collection is divided into 3 sections:

1. Local Bye-laws, 1904 - 1913: copies of local bye-laws governing child labour made under the provisions of the Employment of Children Act (1903), which were sent to the Committee by local authorities, including several licences and some correspondence and ephemera.
2. Questionnaires, 1913: responses to the questionnaire entitled 'Employment of Children Inquiry', distributed to every local authority in Britain in 1913.
3. Miscellanea, c1885 - 1914: the bulk of the material collected by the committee for the report on child labour, including correspondence with local government officials, copies of local bye-laws, sample street trading licences and certificates, statistics on street trading, child labour and juvenile crime, and cuttings from local newspapers relating to the regulation of working children.

Deeds, Acts of Parliament, Statutes and Regulations relating to Royal Holloway College, 1883-1962, including a printed copy Deed of Foundation, 11 Oct 1883, and amendments, 26 Apr 1906; printed 'Rules and Regulations...in the Deed of Foundation, with amendments', Apr 1912, and further printed and manuscript amendments, 1925, 1939, 1940 and 1946; charter of a Grant of Arms to Royal Holloway College, May 1944; Royal Holloway College Act, 30 Jul 1949, and amended Act, Apr 1962. Records of meetings, including bound volumes containing Minutes of Governors' (Council) Meetings, 1886-1971, with indexes; Chairman's Agenda books relating to meetings of the Board of Governors, the Council and their Committees, 1887-1965; bound Attendance Registers for the Board, Council and Committees, 1889-1965. Reports and papers of the Board of Governors (Council), notably printed Governors' Reports, 1888-1891; termly Principal's Reports to the Governing Body, 1887-1969; report of a conference on University degrees for women, convened by the Governors of Royal Holloway College, 1898; printed report of a Committee appointed by the Governors to consider the question of instruction in the College, 1901. Printed annual accounts, 1896-[1985]. Registers of the use of the College Seal, 1949-1970.