Personal Correspondence of Charles Booth and Mary Catherine Booth (1860-1916) and Macaulay family correspondence (1800-1850)
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TitlePersonal Correspondence of Charles Booth and Mary Catherine Booth (1860-1916) and Macaulay family correspondence (1800-1850)
Reference codeMS797/I
Date1800-1916
Scope and ContentThe correspondence consists of (a) Macaulay letters and (b) Booth letters.
(a) The Macaulay letters in the collection are presumably those papers which descended to Mary Catherine Booth, perhaps from her father, Charles Zachary Macaulay. Among the papers are:
(i) c80 letters of Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838), most of them to his nephew Kenneth Macaulay (1780-1841) in India. These are personal letters, containing much information about Zachary Macaulay's family some details of his public life, and some information about Kenneth Macaulay's life in India [MS797/I/5587-5670].
(ii) 19 letters written by Thomas Babington Macaulay (Lord Macaulay), most of them to his brother, C Z Macaulay, with a few to his sister Hannah (Trevelyan). Politics, social life, India and the writing and publication of the 'History' are among the subjects mentioned [MS797/I/5513-5532].
(iii) A series of journal letters written by Thomas G Macaulay (c1842-c1864), the son of C Z Macaulay, describe the life of a young army officer in India during the years 1859-1862. They are written in a lively and informal style, and provide an unusual, if not unique, chronicle of army life in India during this period [MS797/I/5533-5586].
(iv) c450 letters from C Z Macaulay (1813-1886) to his daughter Mary (Mrs Charles Booth) provide a picture of his life and thoughts, mostly during his years of retirement (1866-1886), together with much information about friends and acquaintances, and the daily life of the period [MS797/I/4967-5463].
(b) The Booth letters, comprise the following:
(i) c1000 letters from Charles Booth [MS797/I/1161-2308], nearly all to his wife. Many of them were written from abroad, and describe in great detail his travels in the Americas (the United States and Brazil) on business and in Europe, usually on holiday. Information about Alfred Booth and Company's business is mostly to be found in the letters from abroad. Letters written while Booth was in England are perhaps more concerned with family matters but contain details of his work and news of friends and acquaintances.
(ii) Further information about Charles Booth's life may be found in letters addressed to him. There are letters from business associates, including his brother Alfred Booth [MS797/I/59-73], Thomas Fletcher [MS797/I/4865-4868], Esme Howard [MS797/I/4930-4931] and Henry Romilly [MS797/I/5961-5965]. A number of letters from Ernest Aves [MS/797/I/20-39] and Jesse Argyle [MS797/I/6-18] with a few from George Duckworth [MS797/I/4839-4848] are concerned with work on 'Life and Labour of the People in London'. Others relate to Booth's public work on pensions, housing etc, or contain criticism of his writings. The correspondents include Lord Aberdare, E A Browne, Joseph Chamberlain, Sir Edward Hamilton, Octavia Hill, Sir Charles Loch, Alfred Marshall, A C Humphreys-Owen, Lancelot Phelps, Lord Playfair, B S Rowntree, Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith, J A Spender, Francis Stead, James Stuart, Beatrice Webb, H G Wells and Theodore Zed.
(iii) Mary Catherine Booth's letters (c1400, mostly to Charles Booth [MS797/I/3141-4565]) are more domestic in character, with information about household matters and the children. Friends and acquaintances are often mentioned, public affairs discussed and advice about Booth's work, both business and public matters is frequently given, in reply to his questions. A number of the letters from neighbours, friends, and relations were written to Mary Booth on her husband's death in 1916. The writers include Anstey Guthrie, Sir James Barrie, (writing to G.M. Booth), Frederick Harrison, Sir William Rothenstein and his wife and Virginia Woolf.
(iv) Many letters from three of Charles Booth's children are included in the collection. There are c1000 letters from Antonia Mary Booth (1873-1957) [MS797/I/76-1150], which complement the letters of her parents, particularly in providing information about the Booth family and contain many details of social and intellectual life with some information about Charles Booth's work. Two smaller groups, c600 letters from Margaret Paulina Booth (1879-1970) [MS797/I/2442-3140] and c400 letters from George Macaulay Booth (1877-1971) [MS797/I/2312-2423] are similar in content to Antonia Booth's letters. Their letters, written in the 1950s are mainly concerned with the Simeys' book about Charles Booth. [MS797/II/86].
(a) The Macaulay letters in the collection are presumably those papers which descended to Mary Catherine Booth, perhaps from her father, Charles Zachary Macaulay. Among the papers are:
(i) c80 letters of Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838), most of them to his nephew Kenneth Macaulay (1780-1841) in India. These are personal letters, containing much information about Zachary Macaulay's family some details of his public life, and some information about Kenneth Macaulay's life in India [MS797/I/5587-5670].
(ii) 19 letters written by Thomas Babington Macaulay (Lord Macaulay), most of them to his brother, C Z Macaulay, with a few to his sister Hannah (Trevelyan). Politics, social life, India and the writing and publication of the 'History' are among the subjects mentioned [MS797/I/5513-5532].
(iii) A series of journal letters written by Thomas G Macaulay (c1842-c1864), the son of C Z Macaulay, describe the life of a young army officer in India during the years 1859-1862. They are written in a lively and informal style, and provide an unusual, if not unique, chronicle of army life in India during this period [MS797/I/5533-5586].
(iv) c450 letters from C Z Macaulay (1813-1886) to his daughter Mary (Mrs Charles Booth) provide a picture of his life and thoughts, mostly during his years of retirement (1866-1886), together with much information about friends and acquaintances, and the daily life of the period [MS797/I/4967-5463].
(b) The Booth letters, comprise the following:
(i) c1000 letters from Charles Booth [MS797/I/1161-2308], nearly all to his wife. Many of them were written from abroad, and describe in great detail his travels in the Americas (the United States and Brazil) on business and in Europe, usually on holiday. Information about Alfred Booth and Company's business is mostly to be found in the letters from abroad. Letters written while Booth was in England are perhaps more concerned with family matters but contain details of his work and news of friends and acquaintances.
(ii) Further information about Charles Booth's life may be found in letters addressed to him. There are letters from business associates, including his brother Alfred Booth [MS797/I/59-73], Thomas Fletcher [MS797/I/4865-4868], Esme Howard [MS797/I/4930-4931] and Henry Romilly [MS797/I/5961-5965]. A number of letters from Ernest Aves [MS/797/I/20-39] and Jesse Argyle [MS797/I/6-18] with a few from George Duckworth [MS797/I/4839-4848] are concerned with work on 'Life and Labour of the People in London'. Others relate to Booth's public work on pensions, housing etc, or contain criticism of his writings. The correspondents include Lord Aberdare, E A Browne, Joseph Chamberlain, Sir Edward Hamilton, Octavia Hill, Sir Charles Loch, Alfred Marshall, A C Humphreys-Owen, Lancelot Phelps, Lord Playfair, B S Rowntree, Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith, J A Spender, Francis Stead, James Stuart, Beatrice Webb, H G Wells and Theodore Zed.
(iii) Mary Catherine Booth's letters (c1400, mostly to Charles Booth [MS797/I/3141-4565]) are more domestic in character, with information about household matters and the children. Friends and acquaintances are often mentioned, public affairs discussed and advice about Booth's work, both business and public matters is frequently given, in reply to his questions. A number of the letters from neighbours, friends, and relations were written to Mary Booth on her husband's death in 1916. The writers include Anstey Guthrie, Sir James Barrie, (writing to G.M. Booth), Frederick Harrison, Sir William Rothenstein and his wife and Virginia Woolf.
(iv) Many letters from three of Charles Booth's children are included in the collection. There are c1000 letters from Antonia Mary Booth (1873-1957) [MS797/I/76-1150], which complement the letters of her parents, particularly in providing information about the Booth family and contain many details of social and intellectual life with some information about Charles Booth's work. Two smaller groups, c600 letters from Margaret Paulina Booth (1879-1970) [MS797/I/2442-3140] and c400 letters from George Macaulay Booth (1877-1971) [MS797/I/2312-2423] are similar in content to Antonia Booth's letters. Their letters, written in the 1950s are mainly concerned with the Simeys' book about Charles Booth. [MS797/II/86].
NotesPlease note that this is a higher-level description, which describes a significant number of archives within the Booth papers. It should NOT be used when ordering archives for research.
Conditions governing accessOpen, subject to the conditions outlined at fonds level.
System of ArrangementAlphabetical by surname of sender, and then chronologically. [NB: no division is made between the Macaulay letters and the Booth letters].
Level of descriptionseries