TitleSir Stephen George Tallents
Reference codeICS79
Date1918 - 1957
Creator
- Tallents, Sir Stephen George (1884-1958) civil servantMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator
Stephen George Tallents was born on 20 October 1884, eldest son of George William Tallents, a barrister. He was educated at Harrow, Balliol College, Oxford and Grenoble. He began his career as a civil servant at the Marine Department of the Board of Trade in 1909 before being transferred to assist Sir William [later Lord] Beveridge and Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith in establishing labour exchanges. He served in the Irish Guards in 1914-15, and was badly wounded. Following his recovery he worked first in the Ministry of Munitions, then in the Ministry of Food, where in 1918 he was appointed Principal Assistant Secretary and a member of the Food Council at the time when rations were first being introduced. In 1919 he was appointed the Chief British Delegate for Relief and Supply of Poland, and then British Commissioner for the Baltic Provinces, where he had some success in helping to restore order. He returned to Britain in 1920 to become Private Secretary to Viscount Fitz-Alan, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, at a critical period in Anglo-Irish history, and was then Imperial Secretary for Northern Ireland, 1922 to 1926. He was briefly Secretary to the Cabinet Committee dealing with the General Strike. In 1926 Leopold Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies, chose Tallents to be Secretary of the Empire Marketing Board (Amery was the first Chairman), apparently because of his reputation for being an imaginative, yet effective, civil servant. The Empire Marketing Board (EMB) was established in May 1926 to develop and market food and goods produced in the Empire and to promote the idea of the Empire. It had three principal activities: support of scientific research, promotion of economic analysis, and publicity. Research took up a significant proportion of the EMB?s work and budget; it assisted 126 agricultural and medical research projects during its life. It issued numerous Intelligence Notes, pamphlets and surveys, made links with buyers and produced analyses of markets to help producers. However, it was Tallents? interest in selling the idea of Empire that formed the rest of his career. The EMB organised press and poster campaigns, exhibitions, shopping weeks, Empire shops, lectures and radio talks. Most famous was the EMB film unit led by John Grierson, reputed to be the creator of the documentary film. Following the demise of the EMB in September 1933 Tallents was appointed Public Relations Officer for the General Post Office (on whose Publicity Committee he had served since 1931). His work there included development of a Post Office film unit under Grierson and brought him the Cup of the Publicity Club of London - then the advertising world's highest honour - in 1935, a rare achievement for a government official. He then moved to the BBC as a Controller (Public Relations, 1935-40; Overseas Services, 1940-41). He later served as Public Relations Officer to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, 1943-46. In the 1940s Tallents also wrote a history of the EMB, 'Empire Experiment', which was never published. Stephen Tallents was knighted in 1932. He was the President (1947-49 and 1953) and Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations. Following his retirement from public service he was involved in a company producing architectural models. He died on 11 September 1958. His publications included The Projection of England, a pamphlet published in 1932 in which he called for a 'school of national projection' that would present England to the world, Post Office Publicity (1935) and Man and Boy (1943), an autobiographical work.
Scope and ContentThe papers of Sir Stephen Tallents relate mainly to his role as Secretary of the Empire Marketing Board (EMB). The material covers the Board's origins, some of its activities, including the "Buy British" campaign, the EMB Film Unit and liaison with the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Melbourne, Australia, its administration and break-up. Files include reports, correspondence, notes, memoranda, EMB publications and press cuttings. There are also papers relating to Tallents' book about the EMB, "Empire Experiment", including draft chapters, notes and correspondence. Other material consists of reviews of Tallents' "The Projection of England" (1932) and to his period as Public Relations Officer at the General Post Office (1934 - 1936). There is also material relating to documentary film producer John Grierson, including correspondence, press cuttings, articles and publications and correspondence with Leopold Amery relating to his autobiography "My Political Life" (London 1953) and his links with the EMB.
Conditions governing accessOpen, but access to some archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act or the Data Protection Act and some files may be closed. Please contact Special Collections for details. At least 24 hours notice is required for research visits.
Extent5 boxes
System of ArrangementThe papers were first sorted in 1972 by Professor J.M. Lee of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Mr T.W. Tallents and then listed at the ICS. The material is arranged in folders which appear to have been created by Tallents. This arrangement has been maintained by the Archivist and the material has been described to item level. The original file covers have been retained where possible and their titles/subject used. The original file numbers are not reflected in the catalogue reference numbers.
Finding aidsA pdf copy of the catalogue is attached to this description.
Papers of Edward Mayow Hastings Lloyd (1889-1968), Assistant Secretary, Empire Marketing Board, (Ref ICS49)
Level of descriptionfonds