BIRDWOOD

[‘I abominate woman in politics’: Sir George Birdwood, Indian administrator and naturalist.] Autograph Letter Signed to [Fagan?], regarding his foundation of Primrose Day, dislike of the Primrose League, and political predictions.]

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood] (1832-1917), British administrator in India, naturalist and author [The Primrose League]
Publication details: 
23 October 1906; 119 The Avenue, West Ealing [London].
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 11pp, 12mo, with three of the pages written lengthwise. On three bifoliums. In good condition, folded once. The hurried loose handwriting of this long letter presents a considerable challenge: even the signature (‘Geo Birdwood.’? ‘Gen Birdwood.’?) and the name of the recipient (‘Fagan’?) are doubtful. The letter begins with a reference to the ‘extract from Lady Dorothy Nevills - Reminiscences - given in the cutting from the Globe of yesterday enclosed in your kind note of today’.

[Lord Thomson, Minister for Air in Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour Government.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Thomson’) to Sir Reginald Hart, praising his ‘advanced views on politics’.

Author: 
Lord Thomson [Christopher Birdwood Thomson] (1875-1930), army officer and Minister for Air in Ramsay MacDonald Labour Government, killed in R101 airship disaster [Sir Reginald Clare Hart (1848-1931)]
Publication details: 
2 April 1924; on letterhead of 12 St James’s Court, Buckingham Gate, S.W.1 [London]
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir Reginald’. After sympathizing with him on his indisposition he writes: ‘I always felt that you really had more advanced views on politics than most of the Generals in the British Army, and what you say in your letter does not surprise me therefore in the least.’ He ends with regards to Lady Hart and the Harts’ daughter. Autograph postscript: ‘Ps. Ps. forgive type written letter.’

[ The Gouzenko Affair, Canada, 1945; start of Cold War ] Typed contemporary document titled 'The Story of Igor Gouzenko', with covering note referring to 'Mr. Birdwood'.

Author: 
The Gouzenko Affair, Canada, 1945, and The Kellock–Taschereau Commission, 1946 [ Christopher Bromhead Birdwood (1899-1962), 2nd Baron Birdwood? ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [ London? Circa 1947. ]
£450.00

[2] + 17pp, 8vo. Lacking the conclusion (one page). On seventeen leaves of paper stapled together, with covering typed note on slip, reading 'PLEASE RETURN TO MR. BIRDWOOD'. The covering leaf carries two sets of initials, one in pencil and one in ink, both ticked through. This may suggest official distribution, but the tone of the document makes it more likely to have been a personal statement, presumably by Birdwood. Aged and worn, with rusting to staples.

[ Sir George Birdwood, Anglo-Indian naturalist. ] 14 Autograph Letters Signed (12 of them 'George Birdwood') to H. B. Wheatley and Sir Henry Trueman Wood of the Royal Society of Arts, with reference to Sir William Lee-Warner and Sir Thomas Holdich.

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [ Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood ] (1832-1917), Anglo-Indian naturalist, colonial official and author [ Sir Henry Trueman Wood; H. B. Wheatley; Royal Society of Arts ]
Publication details: 
Five letters from 1901, four of them on letterhead of the India Office, Whitehall; one from 33 Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill. Nine letters from 1913, all from 5 Windsor Road, Ealing.
£220.00

The 14 letters total 72pp. The collection is in good condition, lightly aged. Most items docketed and with the Society's stamp. The correspondence relates to Society business, from a strongly Anglo-Indian viewpoint. Letters of 26 May and 2 June 1913 are each 12pp. Long, and concern the relative merits of Indian colonial official Sir William Lee-Warner (1846-1914) and the geographer Sir Thomas Holdich (1843-1929), to be chairman of the Society.

[ Herbert Mills Birdwood, Anglo-Indian botanist. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'H. Birdwood') to H. B. Wheatley of the Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
Herbert Mills Birdwood (1837-1907), Anglo-Indian botanist and jurist [ H. B. Wheatley [ Henry Benjamin Wheatley ] (1838-1917), Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts ]
Publication details: 
Both from Dalkeith House, Cambridge Park, Twickenham (one on letterhead). 25 January and 12 June 1901.
£80.00

Both items in good condition, on grey-paper bifoliums, the first with the Society's stamp and both docketed. ONE: 25 January 1901. 1p., 12mo. Concerning the binding up of his copies of the Society's journal, and the supply of missing parts. TWO: 12 June 1901. 3pp., 12mo. Concerning his 'promised letter' for 'Friday's Journal': 'I cannot hope to have a proof sent me, but if you accept the letter & should be correcting a proof yourself & would, when ordering a proof, order a spare copy for me to see at your office, I shd. be greatly obliged & wd. call in tomorrow afternoon to look through it'.

Autograph Note Signed ('George Birdwood') of the British colonial administrator in India, George Birdwood, informing the recipient that he is sending the addresses of various individuals.

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood] (1832-1917), British colonial administrator in India, naturalist and author
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the India Office, Whitehall. 19 June [no year].
£32.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper with light staining (affecting the signature). In a difficult hand. He is sending 'the addresses of the friends & relatives of the <?> Brownes, Bunny, & Cassidy', but 'cannot get those of <?> or Higginson'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir George Birdwood ['George Birdwood'], a reference for William Martin Wood, editor of The Times of India, in his application to become Examiner in Political Economy at University College London.

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood] (1832-1917), English administrator in India [William Martin Wood, editor of The Times of India; University College London]
Publication details: 
19 March 1887; No 7 Apsley Terrace, Acton.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 47 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. As 'an intimate personal friend from 1865', Birdwood endorses Wood's application, stating that he was 'a frequent Examiner in political economy for Bombay University' between 1874 and 1880. He explains that Bombay University took in 'the greatest interest' in the subject, and 'always endeavoured to secure the best qualified examiners, - having the whole Civil Service, beside the Educational Department to select from', and that they 'always preferred' Wood.

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