CONSERVATIVE

Collection of material relating to Captain Rex Davis's Conservative candidacy for the 'National Government' coalition in the Wednesbury By-Election, 1932. Including manuscript and typescript letters, telegrams, fliers, report and photographs.

Author: 
[Captain Rex Graham Davis (d.1953), MC, Conservative candidate for the 'National Government' coalition in the Wednesbury By-Election, 1932]
Collection of material relating to Captain Rex Davis's Conservative candidacy
Publication details: 
1932. [Wednesbury and London.]
£325.00
Collection of material relating to Captain Rex Davis's Conservative candidacy

108 items, in a variety of formats, and including 17 Autograph Letters Signed; 14 Typed Letters Signed; 47 telegrams (on 51 leaves), a 'Statement of Election Expenses', a mimeographed 'Agent's Report. Year 1932' (4to, first 3 pp only); 3 election fliers; an 'Admission Ticket' to Davis's 'Adoption Meeting'; a printed notice by Davis 'To All Primrose Leaguers'; and seventeen black and white photographs. All but a few items laid down in a folio cloth scrapbook by W. Straker Ltd, London. All texts clear and complete, with the collection in fair condition on aged paper.

Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Ernest Hatch [Sir Ernest Frederic George Hatch] (1859-1927), British Conservative politician
Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch
Publication details: 
Both 1915, and both on letterhead of the Government Commissioner for Belgian Refugees, London.
£38.00
Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch

Both good, on aged paper. Both docketed and with the Society's stamp. ONE: 14 October 1915. Folio, 1 p. Regarding a 'special examination in English, for Belgian refugees'. TWO: 21 October 1915. 4to, 1 p. Headed 'Examination for Belgians in the English Language'.

Striking original large coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster, captioned 'Watchman, What Of The Night?', showing Uncle Sam, a Chinaman and a Russian removing 'British Capital' from a factory while the watchman John Bull sleeps.

Author: 
[Conservative Party; Liberal Party; Free Trade; British General Election, 1910; political caricature]
Coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster
Publication details: 
[1910?] Numbered 109. 'Published by The National Union of Conservative & Constitutional Associations, St. Stephens Chambers, Westminster, S.W. & Printed by David Allen & Sons Ld. 180 Fleet St. E.C.'
£350.00
Coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster

Lithograph. Landscape, 51 x 76 cm. In fair condition and worthy of framing, although aged and with a few small holes. John Bull, in a watchman's hut with a flag on his knees, dozes before the fire of Free Trade, while Uncle Sam and a jolly Chinaman remove a stretcher bearing a heavy load of 'BRITISH CAPITAL' from the factory gates of 'BRITISH INDUSTRIES', closely followed by a Soviet with a swag bag. Presumably produced in the build-up to the British General Election of 1910.

Printed facsimile of circular letter to clergymen from 'A J B Beresford-Hope', as Chairman of the Marriage Law Defence Union', writing in opposition to the Married Women's Property Rights Act of 1882.

Author: 
Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope (1820-1887), conservative politician [the Marriage Law Defence Union; the Married Women’s Property Rights Act of 1882]
Beresford-Hope, facsimile letter,  Marriage Law Defence Union
Publication details: 
18 September 1883. 20 Cockspur Street, London SW.
£56.00
Beresford-Hope, facsimile letter,  Marriage Law Defence Union

12mo, 1 p. In good condition. Laid down on a page removed from an album. Addressed to 'Rev. and Dear Sir', and calling the recipient's attention to an 'enclosed appeal' (not present), and asking that he 'would kindly put it up in your Church'. 'It speaks for iself and I can only add that the efficiency of the opposition to the disastrous change of law must greatly depend on the means at the disposal of those who are contending for an old domestic purity.'

Manuscript document, naming those 'present' and 'Tickets disposed of' at a 'Mass Meeting Berwick [on Tweed]', 1897.

Author: 
[Northern Union of Conservative Associations, mass meeting, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1897]
Northern Union of Conservative Associations, mass meeting, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Publication details: 
Document dated 15 October 1897.
£95.00
Northern Union of Conservative Associations, mass meeting, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Folio, 1 p. Docketed on reverse: '15 Oct 1897 | Mass Meeting Berwick | Tickets disposed of'. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. In double-column, in at least two hands. Additions in pencil and blue pencil. The Times, 16 October 1897, carried a report of the event, described as the 'greatest political gathering ever held in Northumberland outside Newcastle-upon-Tyne'. Apparently a document produced in the run up to the meeting.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eustace G Cecil') to 'Mr. Chittenden'.

Author: 
Lord Eustace Cecil [Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne-Cecil] (1834-1921), British Conservative politician
Publication details: 
10 October [no year]; on letterhead of Knowsley, Prescot.
£28.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Recomending shares in three companies of which he is chairman, before discussing personal matters. 'Evelyn is prospering as much as an expectant & comparatively briefless barrister can [...] Arthur Balfour is doing very well - & is holding his own - & more than his own - spite of misrepresentation - downright falsehood - & the tricks which politicians in these days seem so proud'. Laments the 'standard of morality', and apologises for the 'long sermon'.

The Chelsea Herald. Progressive Conservatism, Local Interests and Social Reforms. Circulating throughout the Borough, in Chelsea, Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham.

Author: 
The Chelsea Herald, newspaper [Horsley Woods, proprietor; progressive Conservatism]
Publication details: 
No. 1. Vol. 1. 16 February 1884. 'Printed and Published by the Proprietor, Horsley Woods, at his Steam Printing Works, 207, King's-road, and Manresa-road, Chelsea.'
£45.00

Tabloid, 16 pp. Unopened. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper, with chipping to edges. Editorial, headed 'The Work Before Us', lays out the position of the new paper: 'It will be the duty and ambition of the "CHELSEA HERALD," while neglecting no local interest, while carefully protecting local enterprise from ignorant and intolerant dictation, to do all in its power to strengthen the hands of the True Popular Party of England in the National Legislature of the land.' Reports include 'Alleged Starvation of a child' and 'Jobbery in Fulham'.

Handbill headed 'UNIONIST SONGS. FOR POLITICAL MEETINGS. To be sung to Popular Airs. WORDS BY "VAN." '

Author: 
Van' [Ulster Unionism; Unionist; Conservative Party]
Publication details: 
March 1892; Published by the Conservative Publication Department, St. Stephen's Chambers, Westminster, S.". [Printed by the "Birmingham Daily Gazette" Co., Limited.]
£100.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 22 x 14.5 cm), 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On lightly-worn and aged paper. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat. Five songs: 'The Union Jack. Air "Nancy Lee." ', 'The Shamrock, Thistle, & Rose. Air "The British Grenadiers." ', 'The Unionists' song. Air "The Mermaid." ', 'Here's To Our Cause. Air "Drink, Puppy, Drink." ' and 'Loud Roars The Gladstone Thunder. Air "Bay Of Biscay." '

Typed Letter Signed ('Willoughby de Broke') and Autograph Letter Signed ('W. de B.') to Ormsby-Gore, concerning his desire to 'write a history of the Die-Hard affair'.

Author: 
Richard Greville Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1869-1923) [William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore (1885-1964), 4th Baron Harlech; The Parliament Act, 1911]
Publication details: 
17 and 30 December 1913; both on letterhead of Compton Verney, Warwick.
£150.00

Text of both letters clear and complete, on aged, grubby paper. The 'Diehards' were a group of right-wing Conservative peers who attempted unsuccessfully to thwart Liberal legislation to limit the right of veto of the House of Lords over Commons legislation. (See G. D. Phillips, 'The Diehards: Aristocratic Society and Politics in Edwardian England', Cambridge, Mass., 1979.) TYPED LETTER: 17 December 1913. 4to, 1 p. He is going to try to write the history of the affair '[b]efore things fade altogether from my memory', and asks if OG has 'any papers, or letters, or diaries'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Herbert Fisher') to 'My dear Gore', the first conferring upon him an honorary fellowship, and the second containing an assessment of Ormsby-Gore's son David.

Author: 
H. A. L. Fisher [Herbert Fisher; Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher] (1865-1940), English historian and Warden of New College, Oxford [William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore (1885-1964), 4th Baron Harlech]
Publication details: 
7 October 1936 and 12 March 1937; both on letterheads of 'The Warden's Lodgings, New College, Oxford'.
£65.00

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: 4to, 1 p. Begins 'The College today at its Special General Meeting did itself the honour of electing you to an Honorary Fellowship. We trust that it may not be unacceptable to you to be thus associated with our Society. There are no duties, save that of wearing a surplice in Chapel on Sundays and Feasts of the Church.' He thanks Gore for his 'generous words' of the previous day. Letter Two: 4to, 2 pp.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Beattie. MD.') to the editor of the 'Naval and Military Gazette'.

Author: 
William Beattie (1793-1875), Scottish physician and poet
Publication details: 
13 August [1858]; St James's Street, London, on embossed letterhead of the Conservative Club.
£56.00

16mo (11 x 9 cm) bifolium, 3 pp, 16 lines of text. Mourning border. Good, with slight discoloration to the external pages. He is sending a manuscript 'At the suggestion of the Author, an officer residing in Paris'. If 'on examination' the recipient considers it 'unsuitable for the pages' of the Gazette, he asks for it to be returned to him at 13 Upper Berkeley Street 'when your messenger happens to pass that way'. The author 'is a man of high character and well acquainted with Paris & the Parisians'.

Satirical political handbill, in the form of a funeral service, entitled 'Death & Burial of the Whigs, and Resurrection of the Tories.'

Author: 
T.' [English political satire; Sir Robert Peel; British General Election of 1841; Lord John Russell]
Publication details: 
No date, but produced following the General Election of 1841. 'Lowe pr. Dorrington st. Leather-lane.'
£125.00

Printed in three columns of small type on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 22.5 x 18 cm. Text clear and complete on grubby, worn, creased and foxed paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Autograph Signature ('Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe'), written for autograph hunter J. H. Hall.

Author: 
Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (1786-1880), English diplomat
Publication details: 
Without place or date (but after his ennoblement in 1852).
£28.00

On piece of paper, 11 x 17.5 cm. Lightly creased, and with a little spotting at head. Reads 'Autograph | of | Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe | given to Mr J. H. Hall | at his request.' It is curious that Canning should have thought it necessary to emphasize that the autograph was not unsolicited.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, to the publishers Williams & Norgate.

Author: 
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil (1830-1903), 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, British Conservative Prime Minister on three occasions
Publication details: 
25 January 1897; on letterhead 20, Arlington Street, S.W. [London].
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Good. Purple receipt stamp in top left-hand corner. 'Lord Salisbury requests Messrs. Williams & Norgate to send him Harnack's "Die Chronologie der Altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius". Also another volume he published 3 or 4 years ago on the same subject - the "Geschichte".' One presumes that the present British Prime Minister is equally cultured.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Stanley') to Lord Henry George Charles Gordon-Lennox (1821-1886), Conservative Member of Parliament.

Author: 
Edward Henry Stanley (1826-1893), 15th Earl of Derby [as Lord Stanley], English Conservative politician
Publication details: 
5 September 1868; Paris.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'Private' and addressed to 'My dear Henry'. Describes Lennox (a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli) as 'a sanguine man'. 'If you thought as I do of the result of the "hundred days" between the present time and the trial of strength in Dec. you would hardly care to move.' He has 'heard nothing from Disraeli of his intentions about the Irish office', but if the opportunity arises he will do what he can to help Lennox. In 1866 Stanley had become Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in his father's third administration.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs Burns'.

Author: 
Lady Dorothy Macmillan
Publication details: 
No date; on letterhead '14 CHESTER SQUARE | S.W.I'.
£33.00

Wife (1900-66) of the Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and daughter of the Duke of Devonshire. Three pages, 12mo. Grubby, creased and stained (perhaps with tears?). She was 'up in Stockton' the previous week, and heard that her correspondent's son was ill. 'Having children of my own, I know how very precious they are & how terribly one feels it when anything is wrong with them. It is dreadful when one sees such little things ill & one feels it is so cruel that it should happen to them.

Two Autograph Signatures on fragments of letters.

Author: 
Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Conservative politician (1798-1890). Both stained by glue from mounting, and with traces of mount adhering to reverse. The first, on paper roughly two inches by half an inch, reads 'Thos. F. Fremantle'. The second, on paper roughly four and a half inches by one inch and a quarter, reads ' | Sir, | Your obedient Servant. | Tho F Fremantle | J. J. Kaune Esq.'

Telegram to [Charles?] Tarleton.

Author: 
Charles William de la Poer Beresford, Baron Beresford
Publication details: 
Handed in at Portsmouth B', and bearing stamp from Uxbridge, Harefield, 26 November 1909.
£35.00

Naval officer and Conservative politician (1846-1919), nicknamed 'the member for the navy'. Dimensions roughly 5 1/2 inches by 9 inches. In poor condition: browning and with several closed tears. Reads: 'From the older Charlie to the younger Charlie may all good luck attend you fighting for tariff reform national defence and relief of the unemployed Beresford'.

1 Typed Letter Signed and 3 Autograph Notes Signed to journalist and author [Myer Jack] Landa.

Author: 
Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha, Baron Hore-Belisha
Publication details: 
Letter, 1 May 1939, on Secretary of State for War letterhead; note 1 undated [docketed 'Nov 1931?'], on blind-stamped Commons letterhead; note 2, 4 June 1935; note 3, 6 November 1936; notes 2 and 3 on blindstamped Ministry of Transport letterheads.
£80.00

British politician (1893-1957), who gave his name to the 'Belisha Beacon'. All four items signed 'Leslie Hore-Belisha'. In the letter (1 page, 4to, in good condition) he thanks Landa for his note and says he 'should be most happy to do anything I could for you in the matter of the Tribunals. These, however, will come under the Ministry of Labour and not under the War Office. I think, therefore, it would be well if you get into touch with Ernest Brown.' All three notes 1 page, 16mo, and all three in good condition.

Autograph Letter Signed to Alfred Hill.

Author: 
John Somerset Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton
Publication details: 
19 June 1857; Eaton Square.
£25.00

English Conservative politician (1799-1880). 4 pages, 16mo. Creased and somewhat grubby, with minor damage at head of one leaf caused by previous mounting, but in good condition overall. He has received his correspondent's note and will 'be glad to aid the objects of the conference in any manner in my power'. He cannot however 'comply with the request of the Committee that I will preside over Section B. on Tuesday next'. He has to 'present the prizes at the Society of Arts on that morning'. There is also 'important evidence in a Committee of the H. of Coms.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Seymour Teulon.

Author: 
Sir Richard Baggallay
Publication details: 
The first, 1 October 1874, Aldingbourne House, Chichester, but on letterhead '10, Old Square, | Lincolns Inn. W.C.'; the second, 27 August 1874, on letterhead '55, Queen's Gate, S.W.'
£125.00

English judge and Tory politician (1816-88; DNB). Both letters 3 pages, 16mo, and both in good condition. Interesting letters giving his views on an important matter.

Note signed to Blundell Maple,

Author: 
Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
Publication details: 
July 1885, with letterhead 10 Downing Street, Whitehall.
£25.00

Conservative politician (1818-87). 2 pp, 12mo. In the handwriting of an amanuensis. "I have promised Mrs Moncrieff, the writer of the enclosed letter, to mention the name of Silas to you. / If you could see your way to meeting her wishes, I should feel grateful to you on her behalf. I am not personally acquainted with Mr. Silas." Signed "Iddesleigh". Creasing from paperclip, and with four pieces of gummed paper adhering to the recto of the blank second leaf.

Typed letters (x 2) signed to Peter Barling of the Cricket Society,

Author: 
Alec Douglas-Home.
Publication details: 
11 May and 26 October 1966, both on his House of Commons letterhead.
£50.00

Baron Home of the Hirsel. Conservative prime minister (1903-95). Both letters one page, 12mo. In the first he says he will accept Barling's invitation to the Autumn Dinner as long as "nothing prevents me from being with you that evening". In the second he thanks Barling for further details of the dinner, and reiterates his hope "that nothing will crop up in the House of Commons that evening which might prevent me from attending". Both letters have two punch holes from previous keeping in a ring binder. Two items,

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