Album of press cuttings of Leon Freedman, prospective Labour candidate for Dudley

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0372 LABOUR HISTORY MANUSCRIPTS/60
Held at	: Bishopsgate Institute   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/library ›
Full title	: Album of press cuttings of Leon Freedman, prospective Labour candidate for Dudley
Date(s)	: 1937-1938
Level of description	: Fonds
Extent	: 1 folder
Name of creator(s)	: Freedman | Leon | fl 1937-1938

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

no further information

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Leon Freeman of Finchley Road 1937-1938. Album of press cuttings regarding the candidacy of Leon Freedman, Labour’s candidate for Dudley. Charting the period from when he made his first public appearance 'in the borough' as the new Labour candidate in June of 1937 to his 'attack on ''Jelly Fish Government''' and his 'biting similes' in reply to 'Premier’s Birmingham Speech' [Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain], taking part in 'Labour’s Peace Crusade' in the years leading up to the Second World War, with reported speeches against 'Britain [as] an arms profiteers' paradise' and criticising Government policy. A headline from 20 May 1939 reads, 'Challenging Speech at Netherton Labour Bazaar: Prospective Candidate Attacks Budget, Declares Conscription Unnecessary'. Several letters to the editor of the Dudley Herald. In June of 1940 Freedman resigned his candidature, citing 'his reason being that he is now unable to devote any attention to the borough. Mr Freedman, who is a barrister and has secured an appointment under the War Office, was a military representative in the northern district of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the last war'. In a manuscript letter marked 'Copy' written by Freedman to a Mr Connolly, Freedman states that '… my withdrawal of my Candidature at Dudley, was the only proper thing to do. It may have the result of eventually brining them to some sort of unity and a more common sense attitude towards the real situation … a house divided against itself, makes both the positions almost impossible'. Most clippings from the Dudley Herald, Birmingham Express and Star, but also Essex and Thurrock Gazette and Grays and Tilbury Gazette. The final item details legal proceedings of a case for slander that seems to have nothing to do with Leon Freedman, dated April 1945, [22pp] [June 1937- April 1945].

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

no further arrangement required

Conditions governing access:

Apply to Archivist

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying and digital photography (without flash) is permitted for research purposes on completion of the Library's Copyright Declaration form and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Finding aids:

Copy of handlist available in Library Reading Room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

information to come

Allied Materials

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Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
May 2014