William Cobbett – Farmer, Political Journalist, Father, Rebel!

In tribute to Cobbett’s first rural ride 200 years ago, this small exhibition showcases a few of the treasures held in the Nuffield College Library & Archive collections

Exhibition at Nuffield College Library

Born in March 1763, the son of a farmer and innkeeper, William Cobbett was an English agriculturalist, journalist, and political reformer.

200 years ago today, October 29th 1821, William Cobbett embarked on the first of a series of journeys, by horseback and on foot, throughout southern England to see for himself the rural conditions and the plight of the agricultural labourer. The journals that he kept detailing his observations were published as articles in the Political Register between 1822-1826 before being collected together and published as Rural Rides, his most famous book, in 1830. Cobbett began publishing his weekly Political Register in 1802. Nuffield College Library holds the whole run of the Political Register from 1802 to 1835 courtesy of G.D.H. Cole.

William Cobbett, the Political Journalist

After enlisting in the army at the age of 20 in 1791, and receiving an honourable discharge in 1791, Cobbett’s life became rebellious. Trying to draw attention to military corruption, he was forced to flee to America in 1792 where he stayed until 1800. It was there that he started his career as a journalist, publishing under the pseudonym “Peter Porcupine”. In 1810 Cobbett was found guilty of treasonous libel and spent 2 years in Newgate Prison. This didn’t stop Cobbett’s desire for political reform. Cobbett brought out a cheaper edition of the Political Register in 1816 which became known as the “Twopenny Trash” (incomplete copies found at Special Cobbett 1831). Fearing arrest for sedition in 1817, Cobbett fled once again to America, returning to England in 1819. In later life, following the passing of the 1832 Reform Act, Cobbett was elected Member of Parliament for Oldham, a position he held until his death a few years later in 1835.

William Cobbett, the Father

“I do not remember a time when I did not earn my living. My first occupation was, driving small birds from the turnip seed, and the rooks from the peas.” (G. D. H. Cole, The Life of William Cobbett (London, Home and Van Thal, 1947), p. 16).

It would seem that Cobbett’s children took after their father. He had seven surviving children from his marriage to Anne (Nancy) Reid – Anne, William Jr., John (JMC), James, Eleanor, Susan, and Richard.  They wrote many letters to each other, some of which by William Jr. to John contain doodles of various pursuits and fanciful stories. The exhibition case below showcases the Library’s collection of the Political Register and Rural Rides and letters from the Cobbett collection held in Nuffield College Archive.

Exhibition case showcasing two copies of the Rural Rides, a 1822 Political Register, a doodle by William Cobbett Jr. and letter, containing illustration of a fence, giving directions for managing the farm during Cobbett’s imprisonment in Newgate

If you wish to find out more about the Cobbett collection held in Nuffield College Archive please go to:

https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/library/special-collections-and-archives/archive/

or scan the QR code to load the Cobbett handlist:

QR code for Cobbett collection

Should you wish to read a digitised version of Cobbett’s Rural Rides a copy can be found here:

https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/ds4uo7/oxfaleph014512984

You will need to be signed in using your Oxford single-sign on.

League of Nations collections at Nuffield

Members of the Commission of the League of Nations. [Wikimedia Commons]

January 10th 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the League of Nations, established by the Treaty of Versailles the previous year. The League was the first international organisation whose main aim was to maintain world peace via collective security, disarmament, arbitration and sanctions. During the period of its existence it held many conferences and commissioned and published extensive research into conflicts and the political and economic conditions of the world. However, it was unable to stop the military aggression that preceded World War II and ceased to function during the war. Consequently the League was dissolved on April 18th 1946, to be superseded by the United Nations.

 

Nuffield Library collections

Nuffield Library has a sizable collection of League of Nations papers and publications. They may be found in the Library Extension at the bottom of L staircase, in the second bay on the right, at shelfmarks X LN…. though some publications are also located with the United Nations collections at shelfmarks X UN…, largely for titles which continued under the auspices of the UN. Not all of the collection is catalogued on SOLO so please feel free to email library@nuffield.ox.ac.uk for more information.

Many of the publications held by Nuffield were issued by the Economic and Financial Organization who carried out extensive research and convened multiple conferences on economic matters throughout the period of existence of the League. With contributions from the many outstanding economists who were members of the staff of the Secretariat or commissioned by the Secretariat to investigate particular matters, this documentation “furnished a noteworthy cross-section of the economic thought of this period ”.

 

We also hold material relating to the League of Nations in our archival collections, particularly in the papers of Alexander Loveday and Henry Clay.

Alexander Loveday was a member of the League of Nations Secretariat from its beginning and continued to work for them until it was dissolved in 1946. He became the Director of the Financial Section and Economic Intelligence Service (between 1931 and 1939) and the Director of the Economic, Financial, and Transit Department between 1939 and 1946.

AL 2/36 Letter from J.A. Salter concerning the first meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations. 30 August 1919.

Henry Clay was involved in producing publications and pamphlets for the League of Nations throughout its existence. He was instrumental in publishing from the League of Nations’ first World Economic Conference in 1927 and helped to publish output from the Economic Consultative Committee and the Economic Committee of the League.

Elsewhere in Oxford and online

The Bodleian Libraries also hold a substantial collection of League of Nations documents in the Official Papers reading room at the Bodleian Law Library. Most but not all of their collection is catalogued on SOLO, and researchers are welcome to email official.papers@bodleian.ox.ac.uk to enquire about other documents.
The Official Papers Librarian has created an online guide to the Bodleian’s League of Nations collections, as well as pointers to other sources of League of Nations material, at https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ln.

The Bodleian Libraries’ Special Collections include a number of archives of individuals who were involved in the League of Nations: Sir Arthur Cowley, Willoughby Hyatt Dickinson, Gilbert Murray, Baron Lugard of Abinger, Dame Margery Freda Perham, and Sir Alfred Zimmern. More information about these collections can be found via the League of Nations online guide and enquiries may be directed to specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

The main League of Nations archives are located in Geneva as part of the United Nations archives. They have recently embarked upon a digitisation project, which will upon completion provide online access to around 15 million pages. More information about the League of Nations archives in Geneva, and access to material digitised so far, may be found on the UN Library website at http://libraryresources.unog.ch/leagueofnationsarchives.

Find out more

• League of Nations Library (1996), The League of Nations, 1920-1946: organisation and accomplishments: a retrospective of the first organisation for the establishment of world peace. qJX 1975.U
• Hans Aufricht (1951), Guide to League of Nations Publications. X LN 1
• Patricia Clavin (2015), Securing the world economy: the reinvention of the League of Nations, 1920-1946 HC 57.C
• Susan Pedersen (2015), The guardians: the League of Nations and the crisis of empire JZ 4871.P
• George Scott (1973), The rise and fall of the League of Nations JX 1975.S
• F.P. Walters (1952), A history of the League of Nations qJX 1975.A6.W

The Archive of Sir Henry Clay – collection items numbered and handlist now fully accessible online!

Starting in January 2019, the renumbering of the Clay collection and the expansion of the handlist took longer than anticipated. Naively it was thought that the numbering may only take 6 weeks (!) based on the evidence gathered from the partially expanded 2008 handlist. However, numbering the individual leaves of notes and copious amounts of pamphlets and publications resulted in the project lasting 10 months rather than the 6 weeks predicted. Over 10,000 individual documents later, with 81 boxes numbered, handlist entries expanded and 45 previously numbered boxes checked, the main collection is finally ready for researchers.

Who was Sir Henry Clay?

Sir Henry Clay (1883-1954) was an Economist, academic and Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford (1944-1949). He was one of the founders of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a research body which looks into the influence of economics and social policy on ordinary lives with the aim to help shape social policy for future generations.

Origins of the Clay collection

The collection came into the College’s possession after Clay’s death in 1954. It was believed to have been deposited by one of his sons, J. A. Clay, however we do not have any records about the original deposit; we only have a set of correspondences between J. A. Clay and the Library dated from September to December 1954. The collection holds material on Clay’s working life, his time with the NIESR (1938-1952) and a small amount of family material.

Physical history of the collection

The collection was originally listed when the material was moved into archival boxes in the 1950’s and remained that way for more than 50 years. In 2008 there was an attempt to expand the original handlist and number the collection items however this was only partially completed (boxes 16-59). This task was picked up again at the beginning of this year with the remaining boxes (60-126, 1-15) listed and the collection items numbered. The boxes which had previously been numbered were then reviewed and updated. This work was done for the main section of the collection (boxes 1-126), with the second section (C1-23) kept as originally listed. Further investigation needs to be undertaken to see whether this section would benefit from more in-depth listing and numbering.

All 149 boxes of the Clay collection

Images © Nuffield College Library

 

Sir Henry Clay Exhibition

To mark the end of this project, the Library put together a small exhibition showcasing some of the material in the Clay collection.

It includes three posters on ‘The Man’, ‘Scholar’, and ‘The NIESR’.

‘The Man’ showcases Clay’s life and portrays interesting family content such as the bedtime contract he made his wife, Gladys, sign (although the reason behind this is unclear). He married his first wife, Gladys Priestman, in 1910 and second wife, Rosalind Wrong, in 1951 after Gladys’ death in 1941. There are also some sweet letters from Clay’s sons, Anthony and Gabriel, from when they were at school.

‘Scholar’ showcases Clay’s academic life from early beginnings as a Fellow of New College, Oxford (1919-1921) to becoming Nuffield College’s Warden (1944-1949). In between Clay was Stanley Jevons Professor of Political Economy (1922-1927) and Professor of Social Economics (1927), both at Manchester University. The archive collection holds 36 boxes of pamphlets and publications Clay published, and publications he collected or was given. As well as publications, the collection is predominantly made up of Clay’s handwritten notes on various subjects. He was a prolific note taker and would use scrap paper to write down his thoughts on a subject or to plan lectures and talks for his students.

‘The NIESR’ displays the material Clay collected on the NIESR and the correspondence he partook in when he was President (1949-1952). The NIESR correspondence dates from 1951 to 1952, and particularly highlights ‘The Appeal’ whereby Clay was vital in establishing deeds of covenant with many companies – securing the Institute’s research capabilities in the years after his death. Clay was involved in the Institute from its founding in 1938 to becoming Chairman of the Council from 1940 to 1949.

Sir Henry Clay Exhibition at Nuffield College Library (Images © Nuffield College Library)

 

Sources:

Nuffield College Archive – Clay Collection

Oxford DNB

Who’s Who

The Loveday collection – handlist now fully accessible online!

Starting in November 2018, the Loveday collection had 3 boxes of material left to be added to the collection, having originally been reorganised after some of the material was taken out of the archive in 2011. As well as adding the remainder of material back into the collection, there was the handlist and index of correspondents that needed to be double checked and updated. This was quite some undertaking, with over 4000 individual correspondences, and 50 boxes worth of material to go through.

Origins of the Loveday collection

The collection was originally deposited into the archive by Thomas Loveday, Alexander Loveday’s son, in 1972. It was 56 archive boxes worth of material and included family photograph albums and personal diaries, as well as material from his time in the League of Nations (1919-1946) and as the Warden of Nuffield College (1950-1954). 

The collection was boxed and ordered in the early 1970’s, with the first digital handlist posted online in 2004. In 2011 some material was taken out of the collection by a relative of Loveday, specifically the photograph albums containing pictures of his grandchildren and other personal family items which added up to roughly 5 boxes worth, predominantly from the beginning of the collection. It was then deemed necessary to reorder the material and change the format of ordering by dividing the correspondence and documents up by the year of their creation. This created a more logical order for the remainder of the collection and would help with dealing with specific enquiries looking for correspondence by a particular person or for a specific time period. 

Finishing the reorganisation process

The first process was to identify where the remaining material was to be added to the collection. After this had been done, boxes 1 to 54, were then looked at in turn. Firstly to check that the material was in order either alphabetically or chronologically, and then to update and add to the index of correspondents. This enabled the collection to be whittled down to 50 boxes of viewable material and 1 box of fragile material. The index of correspondents also grew as a result to 50 pages long!

This is the physical collection now! So three months after starting, the newly revised Loveday handlist can now be accessed online and the reorganised collection is ready for researchers.

 

 

Nuffield’s newly expanded Trotskyist collection – including 13 boxes of additional material!

Starting in August 2018, the addition of Trotskyist material to the existing Archive collection was quite an undertaking. It was found that three separate donations made by two individuals had yet to be added to the existing collection; where one of the uncatalogued donations was received back in the 1970’s! Over 1000 individual documents later, taking two and a half months to complete, and adding another 13 boxes to the existing collection, it is hoped that the newly expanded collection will generate more research visits for a previously underused archive.

Nuffield College Library – the tower is the home to the lending collection as well as housing the Archive on the 9th floor! Image copyright – Nuffield College Library

Who was Trotsky and what is Trotskyism?

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a Russian politician and one of the founders of the Soviet Union who developed a new branch of Marxist theory known as Trotskyism. He became an enemy of Stalin after they disagreed on socialist principles, leading to Trotsky splitting from Stalin and his party. Stalin had him assassinated in 1940.

Trotskyism, in very simple terms, is the idea that worldwide revolution by the working classes is key to creating socialist societies on a global scale. Where Stalin’s and Trotsky’s ideology differed was that Stalin believed that singular state socialism in the Soviet Union was more achievable than Trotsky’s worldwide socialism. The ideas of Trotskyism can be seen as the opposition of Stalinism.

A brief explanation of Trotskyism can be found on Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Origins of the Trotskyist collection

Originally the collection was purchased from Dr Brenda Grant in 1964. It contained 18 boxes of material and a miscellaneous collection of European, non-European and British newspapers.

Original Trotskyist collection. Images copyright – Nuffield College Library

The collection of material dated mainly from 1937 to 1954 and consisted of internal bulletins, leaflets, conference papers and a little correspondence. The main parties covered in the material were the Socialist Workers’ Party (USA), Socialist Workers’ Group, Revolutionary Workers’ League: USA and the Revolutionary Communist Party. There was also material from various publications, including the ‘Socialist review’ and ‘Workers’ international news’.

The collection was ‘typed up’ and boxed in brown archival boxes soon after it was deposited and remained that way for over 40 years. Researchers would enquire by letter to the Librarian about the collection of Trotskyist material they had heard Nuffield College held, and the Librarian would write back detailing the collection briefly. This process could take up to a couple of months, from the first enquiry to visiting the archive. To aid researchers, a digital handlist was created for this collection in 2011, making it more widely accessible to potential researchers and students.

Front cover of the digital handlist of the Trotskyist collection at Nuffield College Library. Image copyright – Nuffield College Library

Further developments

Between 1976 and 2014, Nuffield College Library received multiple donations by Roger Rosewell. His addition was a collection of material dating mainly from 1967 to 1979 and consisted of a large amount of correspondence, promotional campaign material, internal bulletins, conference and committee papers, minutes and faction papers. The main party covered in the material was the International Socialists, with supplementary material from the opposition and internal factions. The collection also included a comprehensive run of the journal ‘International socialisism’ dating from 1960 to 1977.

Furthermore, in 1988, Nuffield College Library aquired a donation by Di Parkin. Her addition was a collection of material dating mainly from 1973 to 1981 and consisted of internal bulletins, conference papers, a little correspondence, committee minutes and socialist campaigns. The main parties covered in the material were the Workers Socialist League including the Leninist Faction and the Spartacist League. Also of interest was a small collection of material by the Workers Socialist League on women and families from 1975 to 1979.

It is these collections of materials which have been added to the original collection and is now freely available to researchers. These collections remained in their original delivery boxes until August 2018, when the Library finally got round to starting the task of adding them to the digital handlist and redepositing them into grey archival storage boxes.

This is the finished result!

All 31 boxes of the Trotskyist collection. Images copyright – Nuffield College Library

Sources:

Nuffield College Archive – Trotskyist Collection

BBC News – What is a Trotskyist?

Encyclopaedia Britannica – Trotskyism

Wikipedia(!) – Trotskyism

 

New book release and exhibition – Social Progress in Britain, Anthony F. Heath

‘Social Progress in Britain’ is a new publication written by Anthony F. Heath, the Director of the Centre for Social Investigation (CSI) at Nuffield College, with contributions from Elisabeth Garratt, Ridhi Kashyap, Yaojun Li, and Lindsay Richards.

Released on Thursday 27th October 2018

 

Taken from CSI briefing papers tracing social change in Britain since Sir William Beveridge’s 1942 report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, this book investigates the progress made by Britain to address ‘Beveridge’s Five Giants’;

Want ; Disease ; Ignorance ; Squalor ; Idleness.

LIBRARY EXHIBITION

The library is currently displaying a small exhibition about ‘Social Progress in Britain’, William Beveridge and Beveridge’s Five Giants. The exhibition can be found at the library entrance and includes locations for texts by and about Beveridge in the library, and the chance to pick up a promotional code for 30% off the OUP RRP!

 

SIR WILLIAM BEVERIDGE (1879-1963)

William Beveridge (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Born in 1879, Beveridge was a pioneer in social reform. Beveridge was an exhibitioner at Balliol College in 1897 where he graduated with first-class honours in mathematical moderations (1898), classical moderations (1899), and literae humaniores (1901). He later gained a fellowship at University College in 1902 and successfully became the Warden of University College in 1937. In the intervening years, Beveridge became a civil servant, reaching the rank of Assistant Secretary before the First World War broke out. In 1919, Beveridge resigned from the civil service and became the director of LSE, then a small college, expanding the reach of the social sciences at LSE. [3]

His impact within government and academia was widespread, paving the way for his most famous work and a legacy that still survives and thrives today.

SOCIAL INSURANCE AND ALLIED SERVICES 

His defining work Social Insurance and Allied Services, also known as the Beveridge Report, informed the structure of the welfare state in Britain after the Second World War.

Beveridge’s idea was to “provide as far as possible a unified system of income maintenance to cover needs arising from a variety of causes” [1]

Beveridge’s programme for overcoming his ‘five giants’ were in the form of a free NHS, family allowances, governmental backed full employment policies and universal subsistence social insurance for all classes, for life. Beveridge’s plan paid off as his report became the backbone of the British welfare state legislation between 1944 and 1948. Although the government were not particularly enamoured with his report initially, the public were and helped to sell over 70,000 copies in just a few days! [3]

BEVERIDGE’S FIVE GIANTS

WANT

“material progress, particularly with respect to household income” [2]

The reduction of Want in a society influences the four other ‘giants’ highlighted by Beveridge as the means to provide social security. Want can be eliminated when the basic needs of society is met economically.

Chapter 2 ‘The Fight against Want – material prosperity, inequality, and poverty’ addresses the changes made in Britain to reduce Want and examines the possibility of a resurgence of Want in the 21st century.

DISEASE

“health and life expectancy” [2]

Chapter 3 ‘The Fight against Disease – life expectancy, disease, and lifestyle’ addresses the changes made in Britain to increase life expectancy and examines the necessary changes to lifestyle needed for a healthier Britain.

IGNORANCE

“educational participation and standards” [2]

Chapter 4 ‘The Fight against Ignorance – participation, standards, and non-economic outcomes’ addresses the changing standards of ignorance in the 21st century and examines the development of Britain’s education system.

SQUALOR

“housing conditions, especially overcrowding” [2]

Chapter 5 ‘The Fight against Squalor – overcrowding, homelessness, and affordability’ addresses the change of housing systems in Britain and examines the current housing crisis in relation to previous crises.

IDLENESS

“unemployment and enforced inactivity” [2]

Chapter 6 ‘The Fight against Idleness – unemployment and discouraged workers’ addresses Britain’s unemployment trend and discusses the change of unemployment rates between gender, education, age and ethnic groups.

 

References:

[1] Cole, G.D.H. (1942) Beveridge explained: what the Beveridge report on social security means. London: The New Statesman and Nation. Page 15.

[2] Heath, A.F., et al. (2018) Social progress in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Page 9.

[3] Oxford DNB – Beveridge, William Henry, Baron Beveridge.