Tag Archives: #explorearchives

Denis Healey obit.

The recent death of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey at the age of 98 reminded me of a curious connection in the Roy Jenkins archive. Not only were Healey and Jenkins Labour Party and ministerial colleagues but in 1986, The Times commissioned Jenkins to revise what turned out to be Denis Healey’s very premature obituary.

Typescript of page 9 of Roy Jenkins' revised obituary of Denis Healey, © Roy Jenkins estate

Typescript of page 9 of Roy Jenkins’ revised obituary of Denis Healey, MS. Jenkins 440, © Roy Jenkins estate

Corrected typescript insertions for Roy Jenkins' revised obituary of Denis Healey, © Roy Jenkins estate

Corrected typescript insertions for Roy Jenkins’ revised obituary of Denis Healey, MS. Jenkins 440, © Roy Jenkins estate

This newly released file [see MS. Jenkins 440] contains multiple manuscript and typescript drafts of the obituary, as well as Jenkins’ notes and research, including photocopies from The Times regarding Healey’s famous phrase “they must be out of their little Chinese minds”.

Enclosed with the file is a letter from John Grigg, obituaries editor for The Times, calling the final version “a masterpiece in the genre”. It’s by no means the only acclaimed biographical work by Roy Jenkins. A life-long author as well as a life-long politician, he specialised in political biography. He wrote well-received books about Attlee, Dilke, Truman, Asquith, Gladstone, Churchill and Roosevelt and (not least) his own memoir, A Life At The Centre (1991). You can find drafts and related papers for his books and his journalism (including more obituaries) in the Roy Jenkins archive at the Weston Library. He also wrote five pieces for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, including articles on his former Labour colleagues Harold Wilson and Tony Crosland [DNB subscription required].

Europe, Cricket and Detective Fiction: a letter from Harold Macmillan

Ava Anderson, Lady Waverley, (1896-1974) was a renowned society hostess and confidante. Among her papers at the Bodleian Library is a collection of letters from Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) which provide a fascinating insight into his political career 1947-74. Harold Macmillan’s friendship with Lady Waverley provided him with a confidential sounding board for his thoughts. This particular letter dates from 12 August 1961, whilst Macmillan was Prime Minister.

Macmillan mentions that he has applied to join the European Community. Achieving British membership was a key part of his government’s foreign policy. However, Charles de Gaulle would veto British entry in 1963, fearing that an Anglo-American alliance would dominate Europe. It would be another ten years until Britain joined the European Community in 1973.

It is not all serious politics. Writing to Lady Waverley whilst she was on holiday in Italy, Macmillan jokingly suspects that their correspondence is under surveillance by the Italian authorities. His abhorrence of thrillers and detective novels, and his delight in seeing his children and grandchildren create a really human picture of the former Prime Minister.

The letter also includes a poignant account of his visit to see an elderly Winston Churchill at his home at Chartwell, where Macmillan is saddened to see the decline of a once powerful statesman.

These letters to Lady Waverley show us Macmillan through his own words, and provide a personal complement to Macmillan’s own archive, which is also held at the Bodleian, on deposit.

Image of the first page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 95r

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 95r
Reproduced with kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

Second page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 95v

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 95v
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

Third page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 96r

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 96r
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

Fourth page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 96v

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 96v
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

Fifth page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 97r

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 97r
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

Sixth page of the letter, shelfmark MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 97v

MS. Eng. c. 4778 fol. 97v
Reproduced with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Harold Macmillan Book Trust.

A catalogue of other papers of Lady Waverley held by the Bodleian is available online.

Explore your Archive

Next week the Bodleian Libraries will be participating in the Explore Your Archive campaign. Now it in its third year, Explore Your Archive is an annual campaign deliverd by The National Archives and the Archives and Records Association to promote the UK archives sector.

From Monday 16 November through to Friday 20 November the Archives and Manuscripts blog will feature daily posts on some of our current work and items from our collections selected by staff.