IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0096 AL135
Held at: Senate House Library, University of London
Title: Plimsoll, Samuel and Lushington, Godfrey: letters, 1873-1878
Date(s): 1873-1878
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 2 items (2 sheets)
Name of creator(s): Plimsoll | Samuel | 1824-1898 | politician and shipping reformer
Lushington | Sir | Godfrey | 1832-1907 | Knight | civil servant
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Samuel Plimsoll was born in Bristol in 1824. He was brought up in northern England. He became a clerk and later a businessman before entering parliament as Liberal MP for Derby in 1868, retaining the seat until 1880. Plimsoll was concerned with the struggles of the poor and with sailors' interests. He spoke out against the common practice of overloading ships with goods and devised the Plimsoll line, marked on ships to show the safe depth at which they may sit in the water. Plimsoll gym shoes, so-called because their outer rubber band is reminiscent of a Plimsoll line, are indirectly named after him.
Godfrey Lushington was born in Westminster in 1832. He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford. His father, Stephen, was a judge and his twin brother, Vernon, was an eminent lawyer; both twins were strongly influenced by Auguste Comte's positivist philosophy. An early supporter of the labour movement, Godfrey Lushington was one of the first teachers at the Working Men's College in London, founded in 1854. He became a civil servant, rising to permanent under-secretary at the Home Office in 1885, and was knighted in 1892. On his retirement, Sir Godfrey became an alderman of the London County Council from 1895 to 1898.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
(1) Letter from Samuel Plimsoll, of Royal Hotel, Sheffield, to [J E] Davis, Esq [?of the Home Office], 29 Nov 1879. 'I would gladly come to you but I am so well known in Sheffield that there is great danger of frustration of my object if I do. Could you come here for a little while? ...'. (2) Letter from Godfrey Lushington, [Under-Secretary], Home Office, to J E Davis, Esq, 25 Oct 1878. Both letters are autograph, with signatures.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
See hard copy catalogue.
Conditions governing access:
Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Please contact the University Archivist for details. 24 hours notice is required for research visits.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Typescript catalogue available in the Library's Palaeography Room.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
See archivist
Immediate source of acquisition:
Found inserted in a copy of Plimsoll's Shipping Survey Bill - classmark: [G.L.] 1873
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
On negative microfilm - reference: MIC 242/2.
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Anya Turner.
Date(s) of descriptions: Aug 2008