MILNER

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He apologises for an engagement that will keep him ‘out of Town’ on the date proposed. Reads: ‘My dear Joyce / I should so much have enjoyed coming to your party, & it was very kind of you & Olive to think of it / Yours affec[tion]ately / Milner’.

See the entries for Milner and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Dear Mr Ross' and with good bold signature 'Milner'. The subject of the letter is the philanthropic ‘settlement’ Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel, founded in 1884 by Canon Barnett and Henrietta (DBE), his wife.

On both sides of 16 x 12.5 cm leaf, with rounded edges, torn from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Firmly and elegantly written on one side, just over the centre: 'Lovat Fraser.' Towards the head of the other side, in a large somewhat untidy hand, with intermittent underlining: 'Curzon of Kedleston'. Beneath this: 'Milner'. No other writing on either side.

An interesting collection of material relating to the preparations for the historic first Secret Session in the House of Lords, from the papers of Neville Digby Bosworth Smith (1886-1964) of the Privy Council Office. The material dates from the five days preceding 25 April 1916, when the House of Lords having voted in favour of the measure, it held a secret session to debate a motion regarding conscription following the passing of the Military Services Act 1916. (For a contemporary account of the parallel proceedings in the other house, see Sir C. P.

See the separate entries on the Gibsons in the Oxford DNB, which notes 'her eclectic salons, attended by diplomats, writers, politicians, and, after 1848, European exiles. Regular guests included Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo, Lady Morgan, the Disraelis, Cobden, and Louis Napoleon'. (Dickens wrote part of his last novel, 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', at the Gibsons' London house.) The present item is from the papers of Arethusa's mother Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), wife of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

2pp., foolscap 8vo. 54 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Addressed to 'The Hon. T. L. Graham, M.L.C., Prime Minister's Office, Cape Town.' Taylor begins by thanking Graham for his 'courteous letter' and is pleased to find that he has not been misunderstood. 'While siding with Dr. Smart it was on purely personal grounds that I wrote you. I cannot say that a number of your constituents differ from you; I do not know.

4tp bifolium: 3 pp. Text clear and complete on aged and lightly-creased paper. The first page is headed by the crest of the City of London. Gives the timetable for the ceremony, and the routes to be followed by the holders of 'three distinct Cards [white, pink and blue] assigning seats in different localities'. 'The Prime Warden and Wardens of the Fishmongers' Company will present Lord Milner with the Freedom.

4to: 2 pp. Mourning border. Good, though a little grubby with fold lines and tear from spike hole at inner corners. Date, address and signature by Onslow, the rest in a secretarial hand. He received Raglan's letter of 25 February, 'forwarding an application from Mr. Llewllyn Phillips for employment in South Africa'. 'Mr. Chamberlain has hitherto refused to forward applications for employment to the High Commissioner, except in cases where Sir Alfred Milner has specially asked for candidates'.

The collection is in very good condition, with a few staple and pin holes. Gray's letters are signed 'Milner Gray' and occasionally 'Milner'. All but the first two, which are on Society of Industrial Artists letterheads, are on Design Research Unit letterheads. An early letter (5 April 1949), to Kenneth Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, apologises for and explains a 'difficulty' which has arisen 'over the fees we estimated for completing the necessary working drawings and supervising construction of the permanent display screens for the Society's headquarters'.