IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0347 D104
Held at: Wandsworth Heritage Service
Title: Geoffrey Haines Collection
Date(s): 1899-1981
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 30 files
Name of creator(s): Please contact the Archive for further information.
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Geoffrey Haines was born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1899 before his family moved to London. He was educated at St Paul's school. In December 1917 he joined the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps at Whitehall before being sent to Cambridge. In 1918 he had a severe case of Spanish Influenza and subsequently never saw action. After the war he moved to London and worked firstly as an account in his father's company before getting a job as accountant with the London Association for the Blind where he was to remain for the rest of his career. He married Olive in June 1927 and they moved into a house in Balmuir Gardens Putney before moving to Larpent Avenue in Putney in 1934. Their daughter Anne was born in 1928. During World War Two Geoffrey was an Air Raid Warden for the B7 division in Putney and later became a Bomb Reconaissance Officer alongside his wife Olive. The Warden's Reporting Post was in his front room at Larpent Avenue. In 1956 Olive Haines was appointed Mayor of Wandsworth and their daughter Anne was her Mayoress. He had a keen interest in antique coins and he built up an impressive coin collection which he sold to the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham in 1965. He received an OBE in 1968 and was also made Vice-President of the Blind Association after thirty-seven years of working there. He was the Treasurer of the Royal Numismatic Society and was a member of numerous other institutions. Geoffrey was also involved with the Masons and held several key positions at the Lux in Tenebris lodge and within the larger organisation including Deputy Chair of the Royal Masonic Institute, a position he held for 18 years. He died on 14 September 1981.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
The collection is comprised mainly of twenty-six volumes of Notes and Recollections written by Geoffrey Haines. He began writing the volumes in 1969. Each volume contains a biographical account of his life and other interests from his birth in 1899 onwards. The last volume in 1981 continues until ill health forced him to stop. His wife Olive Haines continues the diary until Geoffrey's death in September 1981. The volumes contain accounts of his work, family life, his role as an Air Raid Warden in Putney in World War Two, holidays, his involvement with the Masons and particularly his interest in trains and rare coins. His wife Olive was Mayor of Wandsworth from 1956-1957 and the volumes describe in detail Olive's work with the council and duties carried out in her role as Mayor. The volumes are illustrated with newspaper cuttings, photographs, postcards and other items of ephemera. The collection also contains two books concerning rare coins.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
Conditions governing access:
This material is only available in the Wandsworth Heritage Service search room at Battersea Library. Please contact Heritage Service staff for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
Finding aids:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Please contact the Archive for further information.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note:
Finding aid created by export from CALM v8.0.2.40 Archives Hub EAD2002. Entry amended by Barbara Ball
Date(s) of descriptions: April 2011