[Sir William Beveridge, ‘Architect of the Welfare State’.] Five Typed Letters Signed to educationalist T. Lloyd Humberstone, discussing Charles Holden’s Senate House design for London University's ‘Bloomsbury Site and, the ‘Toynbee days’,

Author: 
Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963), ‘Architect of the Welfare State’, Liberal Party social reformer and economist [T. Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), educationalist; Beveridge Report, 1942]
Publication details: 
The five letters dating from 1933, 1937, 1948, 1953, 1954. Three from Oxford (Master’s Lodgings, University College; two from Staverton House) and two from London (London School of Economics; Voluntary Social Service Report).
£250.00
SKU: 23766

See Beveridge’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Humberstone was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The five items are in good condition, lightly aged. All five signed ‘W H Beveridge’. ONE: 29 June 1933; The London School of Economics and Political Science, Aldwych, London. 1p, 4to. Folded twice. Thanking him for his book on ‘the Bloomsbury Site’. He does not agree with his ‘objection to Holden’s design (so far as I can judge I think it is very remarkable and very fine)’, but thinks that ‘the stirring up of discussion and interest in the matter is a good thing’. He ends in the hope that Humberstone’s Leverhulme Fellowship application will be successful. TWO: 29 December 1937; The Master’s Lodgings, University College, Oxford. 1p, 8vo. Folded twice. He thanks him for sending ‘the proof of your interesting review of Lord Haldane’s Life’. He is also interested in Humberstone’s opinion about ‘the London University site and buildings problem’, regarding which he himself has no ‘practical concern’. He is sad that Holden’s original scheme will not be carried out, ‘though I imagine you may be glad’. His view is that ‘there are many gardens in London and that on the other hand there could only be one University headquarters, and I have seen nothing to better Holden’s scheme.’ He is pleased not to have to ‘disagree with you practically on this issue’. THREE: 17 February 1948; on Beveridge’s letterhead of Voluntary Social Service Report, Universal House, Buckingham Palace Road, London. 1p, 8vo. He thanks him for the proofs of his article on ‘University representation’, which he should have ‘kept and studied’ had there been any chance of his taking part in the debate on the matter in the House of Lords. He gives the details of his forthcoming trip abroad with his wife. ‘In the circumstances, though I should have been happy to take your proofs with me for reading on the way to New Zealand, I feel bound to return them as you may find some other peer who could make better practical use of them.’ FOUR: 3 December 1953; Staverton House, Oxford (on cancelled Edinburgh letterhead). 1p, 4to. He is glad that Humberstone found time to read his ‘Power and Influence’: ‘You, I know, would look at the Bloomsbury chapter in some ways, I think, one of the most interesting though it seldom gets mentioned by reviewers’. He continues: ‘Acquisition of the Bloomsbury site has not, of course, accomplished all that you and I dreamed of but at least it gives the University a home of its own and though perhaps not everything now on the site is beautiful there are some beautiful things.’ He also thanks Humberstone for his ‘booklet on University Controversies’. Beveridge does not himself think that he will be returning ‘to London controversies’, but he will ‘hope to study it when the agonies of moving house from Edinburgh and establishing ourselves in Oxford are over’. He finds it ‘very pleasant’ to remember Humberstone ‘from Toynbee days’, which were ‘the beginning of all good things for me and I think for many others’. Postscript mentions ‘points possibly needing correction’. FIVE: 5 May 1954; on letterhead of Staverton House, Oxford. 1p, 12mo. Thanking him for his ‘letter and pamphlet on the “Battle of Trafalgar Square”’. He is ‘desperately busy preparing to sail to New York’, but he will take Humberstone’s ‘Address for pleasant reading on the boat’.