LYTTELTON, General Sir Neville Gerald (1845-1931)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0370 NL
Held at	: Queen Mary, University of London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/ ›
Full title	: LYTTELTON, General Sir Neville Gerald (1845-1931)
Date(s)	: c.1782-1940
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 81 boxes plus 3 outsize boxes and 7 index card boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Lyttelton | Sir | Neville Gerald | 1845-1931 | Knight | General
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

General Sir Neville Lyttelton born the third son of the 4th Baron Lyttelton, of Hagley Hall in Worcestershire, 1845; his mother was sister-in-law of William Gladstone; educated at Eton College; entered Rifle Brigade, 1865; helped to suppress Fenian rising, Canada, 1866; Secretary, Oregon Boundary Dispute Commission, Canada, 1867; ADC to Viceroy of Ireland, 1868-1873; served in Jowaki Expedition, India, 1877, and in Egyptian Campaign, 1882; appointed private secretary to the Secretary of State for War in the Liberal Government, 1880; Military Secretary to Governor of Gibraltar, 1883-1885, and to Governor of Bombay, 1885-1890; 2nd in Command, 3 Bn, Rifle Bde, Jullundar, India, 1890-1893; Lt Col, 1892; commanded 2 Bn, Rifle Bde, Dublin, Ireland, 1893-1895; appointed Assistant Adjutant General War Office, 1895; Assistant Military Secretary, War Office, 1897-1898; commanded brigade during Nile Expedition, Sudan, 1898; commanded 2 Infantry Bde, Aldershot, 1899; commanded 4 Infantry Bde, 2 and 4 Divs, South Africa, 1899-1900; served in Natal, 1901-1902; Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, 1902-1904; Chief of General Staff and First Military Member of Army Council, 1904-1908; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, 1908-1912; appointed Governor of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 1912; published Eighty years: soldiering, politics, games (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1927); died, 1931. He married Katherine Stuart-Wortley in 1883 and they had 3 daughters, of whom Lucy (1884-1977) a writer and poet, married Charles Masterman (1873-1927), the Liberal politician.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Personal papers of the Lyttelton family containing correspondence of Neville Lyttelton, Katherine Lyttelton and daughters Lucy, Hilda and Hermione to and from family and friends, including photographs and ephemera. Also includes a sub-fonds containing additional personal papers of the Grenfell and Lyttelton families.

Neville Lyttelton to family, 1852-1909, 1911-1924; Family to Neville Lyttelton, 1852-1930; Neville Lyttelton to his wife Katherine 1883-1926; Katherine Lyttleton to her family, 1867-1927; Family to Katherine Lyttelton 1886-1916; Katherine Lyttelton to her husband Neville 1883-1926; Friends to Katherine Lyttelton 1877-1940; Various correspondence with friends, predominantly with Katherine Lyttelton, but also Neville Lyttelton, 1888-1938, including Sir Edward Grey, Lady Dorothy Grey, Lady Pamela Grey, George Curzon, Lord Alfred Milnes, Violet Gascoyne Cecil, Patrick Duncan, John Morley, Dorothy and Janet Ward, Alfred Lyall; Various family correspondence c1850-1937, including letters between Lucy Masterman and Katherine and Neville Lyttelton, Hilda Grenfell and Katherine and Neville Lyttelton, Arthur Grenfell to family and Hermione Hichens and Katherine and Neville Lyttelton. Includes letters exchanged between Neville and Katherine Lyttleton during the Second Boer War, 1899-1902.

Additional family papers of the Grenfell and Lyttelton families, including:

Early Grenfell letters 1840s-1890s, including Sofia Grenfell c1840s-1870s, letters from Francis Grenfell to family during service in Zulu War 1877-1881, Lord Grenfell letters to Lola c1890s-1925, including notes on the Ladysmith Campaign during Boer War and experiences as Governor of Malta, Letters from and about Harold M Grenfell c1899-1918.

Letters to Francis Grenfell, from Wilfred Grenfell 1899-1915 and Rivy (Riversdale) Grenfell 1905-1914. Letters from Francis Grenfell and Rivy Grenfell sent from active service in the 1st World War, to family, and the war diaries of Francis Grenfell 1914-1915 containing reports on military engagements. Francis Grenfell letters to Lola and Rivy 1899-1911. Letters and papers of Francis Grenfell, c1902-1915. Letters from Rivy Grenfell to NMG and Juanita 1915 and Lola Grenfell 1900-1912. Papers regarding the deaths of Rivy Grenfell 1914 and Francis Grenfell 1915, Rivy Grenfell tributes, correspondence and their letters 1914-1917, press cuttings about the twins 1914-1920, Francis Grenfell's grave 1915, Francis and Rivy Grenfell notes on their lives by Lola Grenfell.

Letters to Lola Grenfell about death of Francis 1915, and the Francis and Rivy Memorial Fund 1917. Correspondence between Lola Grenfell and the ICAA (Islington Invalid Children's Association), concerning raising funds 1915. Letters from family and friends 1880s-1940s to Lola Grenfell. Lola Grenfell letters to family and friends 1880 to 1939. Notebooks of Lola Grenfell, with copies of letters received during 1st world war.

Letters from Hilda Grenfell to members of her family, 1914-1915, 1935, 1940s, 1953. Extracts from letters to Hilda Grenfell, relating to the wars, 1907-1940. Letters to Hilda Grenfell from Lady Lyttelton, 1897-1941 and from Sir Neville Lyttelton 1890-1912. Hermoine Hichens letters to Hilda Grenfell, Lady Lyttelton and Arthur Grenfell 1907-1941. Hilda Grenfell letters to Arthur Grenfell 1908-1940s. Arthur Grenfell letters to Hilda Grenfell, 1907-1923. Letters to Hilda Grenfell from family and friends, 1932-1961. Hilda Grenfell collection of autographed letters from various including Stanley Baldwin 1937, John Buchan 1935, Dominick Leslie 1908, Lord Salisbury 1915, Eleanor Roosevelt 1942, Lady Cynthia Coville 1935, Lady Robert Cecil 1939, Curzon 1916, Queen Elizabeth R II 1944.

Letters to Arthur and Hilda Grenfell from Harry St Leger Grenfell 1913-1920s, 1929, 1932-1935, 1944, 1948. Letters from Harry St Leger Grenfell to family 1926-1927, 1933, 1939-1944, 1938-1950. Letters about Major Harry St Leger Grenfell wounded in India 1944.

Arthur Grenfell to various members of family 1915-1939. 1st World War letters, concerning Arthur Grenfell and his wound, and tributes to him from senior officers, 1914-1918. Arthur Grenfell, 1st world war reports sent from the front line. Certificates signed by Winston Churchill recognising Arthur Grenfell's gallantry 1916, 1919. Letter from William Joynson Hicks thanking Arthur for support in bringing down general strike 1926.

Pascoe St Leger Grenfell, Robert Grenfell, John Grenfell, letters regarding war and peace, c1900-1917. Letters from and about Cecil A Grenfell during the 1st World War 1915-1917, 1900 and 1923. Press cuttings and letters concerning the deaths of Julian and Gerald Grenfell, 1915, also refers to deaths of their cousins, Francis and Rivy Grenfell. Letters from Wilfred Grenfell, Katie Grenfell and Diana Grenfell, to Grenfell family, 1932.

Letters to Lady Lyttelton, from her mother 1877-1883, and family and friends 1870s and 1900 and 1908-1941, including, from Hilda Grenfell, 1908-1910, 1912, 1916-1930, Hilda and Arthur Grenfell 1913-1923.

Mary Caroline Countess of Lovelace wills 1897-1928, property and estate. Dame Katherine Sarah Lyttelton 1932 will. Ralph Gordon Noel Milbanke, Earl of Lovelace and Baron Wentworth will, capital account, and letters from solicitors to Lady Lovelace, 1925, 1930, 1935.

Family letters to Hermione Lyttelton (later Hichens) 1906-7. Hermoine Hichens letters to Hilda Grenfell, Lady Lyttelton and Arthur Grenfell 1907-1941.

Sir Neville Lyttelton as Chief of General Staff, memoranda and official correspondence and reports concerning the army, the war with various including Arnold Forster, Sir William Townshend, 1903-1916. Address of welcome to Sir Neville Lyttelton on his return from South Africa from parishoners of Hagley 1901. House of Commons vote of thanks to Sir Neville Lyttelton and others for gallantry in Campaign on the Nile 1896-1898, 1899. Sir Neville Lyttelton press cutting and obituaries 1931.

Lyttelton family photograph albums and loose photographs, including Neville, Katherine, and their children, in India and elsewhere c1890-1910; Katherine Lyttelton and Neville Lyttelton c1870s; Arthur Grenfell 1896, 1914; Neville Lyttelton with his children, in India, South Africa, c1886-1915; South Africa, East Africa, Suez Canal, Zanzibar, Tonga, Italy, 1903-1904; Contemporaries of Sir Neville and Lady Lyttelton including, Sir Edward Grey and his wife Dorothy Widdrington c1899 and family, c1900-1910; Belgium refugee family 1914-1918; Henry G.O.Bridgeman, Mrs Asquith (Lady Oxford), Sir John Morley, Mary Augusta Ward c1910; Earl Grey inaugural address c1890s; Rifle brigade on heights Quebec c1870; Duke of Connaught 1886.

Photographs of Mrs James Stuart-Wortley c1890, Stuart Wortley and Lyttelton relatives c1870s, James Stuart Wortley, George Lord Lyttelton, 1 Lyttelton forbear, 2 forbears of the Grey family, Hermoine Lyttelton, Lucy Lyttelton, Mary Grenfell, Arthur Grenfell at Eton and Harrow, 1891-1892.

Album presented to Lady Lyttelton for her support for Belgium refuges, November 1915, including signed poems, and various sketches depicting war scenes and Belgium refugees by various Belgium artists, 1915. Painted, signed card gift to Lady Lyttelton from people of Pretoria 1904.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English.

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged as follows:

PP5/1-PP5/38: Papers of Neville Lyttelton and his family.

PP5/1-PP5/22: Letters of Neville, Katherine, Lucy, Hilda, Hermione, arranged by correspondent and then chronologically.

PP5/23-PP5/27: Family letters to Neville, Katherine, Lucy, Hilda, Hermione.

PP5/28-PP5/36: Friends letters to Neville, Katherine, Lucy, Hilda, Hermione.

PP5/37-PP5/38: Various other correspondence, memorabilia, photographs and ephemera.

PP5/GRE/ Additional papers of the Grenfell family (Arthur and Hilda Grenfell nee Lyttelton).

Conditions governing access:

Open. The Archives are available for access in the Archives Reading Room located on the 2nd Floor of the Mile End Library. The Archives Reading Room is open Mondays to Fridays 9am-4pm by appointment only. Contact the Archives for more information: Archives, Main Library QMUL, 328 Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS, telephone: 020 7882 3873, email: archives@qmul.ac.uk. For more information about the Archives see the website: www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archives.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying at the discretion of the Archivist. Applications for copies for research or publication should be made to the Archivist: Main Library QMUL, 328 Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS, telephone: 020 7882 7873, email: archives@qmul.ac.uk.

Finding aids:

Catalogue of Lyttelton Family papers PP5/1-38 completed January 2015. Card index also available on request, microfilm of some letters sent from Neville Lyttelton to Katherine Lyttelton and family (in box 44). Additional Grenfell family papers (Accession M97) have not been catalologued, but a box list is available on request.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed with Westfield College by Hilda Grenfell, second daughter of Sir Neville Lyttelton, c1940, prior to her going to Australia; subsequently bequeathed by her to the College.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts holds his diaries, 1874-1929 (Ref: MSS Eng hist e 379, f 35-82); 1878-80: Worcestershire Record Office holds correspondence; St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, Wales, holds 10 letters to Henry Gladstone, 1873-1919 (Ref: Glynne-Gladstone MSS 911); Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department holds letters to his daughter Lucy Masterman, 1887-1930, and correspondence during the Boer War, 1900-1901 (Ref: CFGM); Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London holds letters and copies of letters to his family, 1899-1904 (Ref: Lyttelton); British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, holds letters to Governor of Bombay, 1885-1888 (Ref: MSS Eur F).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Edited December 2012. Catalogue completed December 2014 by Nicola Wood.

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:
December 2012.