[Thomas Burt, trade union leader and Radical Member of Parliament.] Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Secretarial Letter Signed to A.G.L. Rogers, Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, regarding the composition of publicity leaflets.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Under Gladstone Burt served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1892-1895. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers, and written while Rogers was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department (a sort of public relations department), a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. The four items, all addressed to ‘Dear Mr Rogers’ and signed ‘Thos Burt’, are all bifoliums in good condition, folded for postage. ONE (2 June 1892): 2pp, 12mo. With regard to an LPD publication, he regrets that he ‘cannot do the leaflet’. Not only does he have ‘more work on hand than I can get through, my having a member of the Royal Com[mission] inquiring into the subject hampers me’. He does not think he could ‘with propriety write publicly on the subject at a time when I am engaged with others in preparing the Report’. TWO (2 February 1893): 4pp, 12mo. A ‘rush of correspondence’ has left him without a ‘spare minute’. He is enclosing a letter from one of his constituents, ‘in the hope that you may be able to forward him some leaflets bearing upon the points he mentions’. Burt’s own paper ‘on the Mines Reg Act (that I wrote for you) might be useful, and I have no doubt you have something on Free Education, and the other questions referred to’. He asks if there is ‘a cheap edition of Mr John Nohle’s book’. He ends with reference to the return of a book and the settling of an account. THREE (11 February 1893). 2pp, 12mo. In thanking him for his ‘kind letter, & for yr prompt attention to my request’, he is returning a cheque. FOUR (11 October 1893). 4pp, 12mo. In a secretarial hand, with Burt’s autograph signature. He is ‘away from the Board of Trade until Parliament re-assembles’, and is consequently ‘not in a position myself to verify all the facts contained in the enclosed pamphlet’. He believes ‘the facts given are strictly accurate except under the heading Seaman’s Wages’. As ‘chairman of the departmental Comttee that enquired into the subject’, he makes suggestions towards the way ‘the beginning of that paragraph should, I think, be somewhat modified’. He knows ‘that steps are now being taken to extend the system to foreign posts. If the leaflet is not issued before I return to the B of T, I will make further enquiry, should you so desire, with a view to ensure absolute correctness.’