Scope and content
Lansbury's personal and political correspondence; correspondence between Lansbury's
biographer, Raymond Postgate, and others after his death; correspondence and papers
on subjects of interest to Lansbury, including schools, the Labour Party, unemployment,
agriculture, India, the 1931 Cabinet Crisis, and the Metropolitan Police; photographs,
personal and official, and caricatures from the press; press reviews of Lansbury's
published works; printed matter, including articles, pamphlets, speeches and leaflets
by or concerning Lansbury, election addresses, and personal ephemera. Volumes 1 -
26 consist of the personal and political correspondence and papers used by Lansbury's
son-in-law, Raymond Postgate, in researching The Life of George Lansbury, published in 1951. These papers were presented to the British Library of Political
and Economic Science by Professor Postgate in 1950. Volumes 27 - 30 were added to
the collection some time later, and volume 31 consists of three files of personal
correspondence which were added to the collection in 1994 and one file found in 1999.
Record creators history
Rt Hon George Lansbury, 1859-1940, left school at the age of fourteen and worked as
a clerk, a wholesale grocer and in a coffee bar before starting his own business as
a contractor for the Great Eastern Railway. In 1884 he emigrated to Australia with
his wife and children, but did not find the experience satisfactory, returning home
in 1885 to enter his father-in-law's timber merchant business. Lansbury was involved
in politics from an early age, first as an active Radical and then as a Socialist.
He became a borough councillor in Poplar in 1903 and Labour MP of Bow and Bromley
in 1910. In 1912, he resigned to fight the seat as an Independent and a supporter
of suffrage for women. He was re-elected in 1922 and held the position of leader of
the Labour Party from 1931 to 1935. Lansbury was greatly interested in the causes
and prevention of poverty and unemployment. He was a member of the Central Unemployed
Body for London and also a member of the Royal Commission on Poor Law, where he signed
the minority report. In 1929 he became the first Commissioner of Works and also established
the first Poor Law Labour Colony and the first Labour Colony for the Unemployed (apart
from the Poor Law and under public control) at Hollesley Bay. He was also a founder
of the Daily Heraldand its editor from 1919 to 1923.
Processing information
Output from CAIRS using template 14 and checked by hand on March 27, 2002
System of arrangement
This collection has been arranged in 31 volumes:
SECTION I. The main body of George Lansbury's personal and political correspondence
and papers in one chronological sequence, 1877 - 1940:
1. 1877-1900.
2. 1901-1906.
3. 1907-1909.
4. 1910-1911.
5. 1912, January - June.
6. 1912, June - December.
7. 1913-1917.
8. 1918-1928.
9. 1929-1930.
10. 1931-1932.
11. 1933, January - March.
12. 1933, March - September.
13. 1933, October - December.
14. 1933, December.
15. 1934-1935.
16. 1936-1938.
17. (ff. 1 - 274) 1939-1940.
SECTION II. Correspondence between Professor Postgate, Lansbury's son-in-law and biographer,
and others after the death of George Lansbury, arranged alphabetically by correspondent,
1940-1950:
17. (ff. 275 - 377) 1940-1950.
SECTION III. Correspondence and papers grouped as found, under subject headings, 1913-1937:
18. a. i) Limit Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd. 1913-1914, and ii) Victoria House
Printing Co. Ltd., 1917.
19. b. Voluntary school problem, 1928-1931; c. Labour Party manifesto and programme,
1929.
19 - 20. d. Unemployment, 1929-1935.
20. e. Unemployment and migration, 1929-1930.
21. f. Claude Leigh papers: Metropolitan Housing Corporation Ltd, "Augusta Johnson
Centre", 1929-1930; g. Honorary positions held by George Lansbury, 1929-1931; h. Unemployment
and agriculture, 1929; i. Maplescombe Valley model village scheme, 1929-1931; j. Agricultural
policy, 1930-1931.
22 - 24. k. India, 1930-1937.
25. n. George Lansbury: "Cabinet crisis of 1931", 1931; o. Means test, 1931-1935;
p. Metropolitan police, 1933; q. National Hospitals for Dentures, 1935-1936.
SECTION IV. Photographs, c1889-1939:
26. Photographs and caricatures, c1889-1939.
SECTION V. Press reviews, 1928-1938:
27. Press reviews of Lansbury's published works, 1928-1938.
SECTION VI. Additional, 1880-1940:
28. Additions to sections I and II, 1880-1940.
29. Additions to section III concerning the poor and unemployed, c1904-1911; unemployment
and pensions, 1929; India, 1932; and the Cabinet crisis of 1931, 1930-1931.
30. Printed matter, including articles, pamphlets, speeches and leaflets by or concerning
Lansbury, 1892-1938; election addresses, 1894-1935; periodicals, 1906-1914; Christmas
cards, 1909-1930; and material relating to memorial services, 1933-1940.
31. Reports on the Poor Law and Ireland, 1908-1909, and additional personal correspondence,
1920-1924.
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Rights to access and re-use digital objects:
Unknown
COPYRIGHT IS HELD BY THE LIBRARY
Other finding aids
Printed handlist available.
Extent
30 volumes and four files
Keywords
Subjects:
Accommodation
Agriculture
Building design
Building standards
Caricatures
Construction engineering
Dentistry
Drawings
Economics of education
Educational finance
Employment
Government
Housing
Local government
Medical sciences
Migration
Pensions
Political science
Politics
Poor Law administration
Public administration
Social security
Social services
Surgery
Unemployment
Visual materials
Geographic names:
India South Asia
Ireland
London England
Maplescombe Valley Kent England
Personal names:Lansbury George 1859-1940 Labour politician Leigh, Claude M, fl 1929 Postgate, Raymond William, 1896-1971, socialist historian and journalist
Corporate names: Labour Party Limit Print and Publishing Co Ltd Metropolitan Housing Corporation Ltd Metropolitan Police Victoria House Printing Co Ltd
Language of the material
English
Record creator
Lansbury, George, 1859-1940, Labour politician
Content provider
British Library of Political and Economic Science