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Papers of Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, 1896-1957

• Introduction
• Biographical note
• Provenance & arrangement
• Access
• Citations
• Contents
• Integrated index

Introduction

Papers of Walker Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (1891–1965), lawyer and politician, 1896-1957.

Biographical note

Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, was educated at Harrow and at Balliol College. He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1919, was recorder of Hythe, 1930-7, and chancellor of the diocese of Southwell, 1930-6. From 1932 to 1936 he was attorney-general to the prince of Wales and from 1936 to 1947 and again from 1948 to 1951 attorney-general to the duchy of Cornwall. He was director-general of the Press and Censorship Bureau, 1939-40 and subsequently director-general of the ministry of information, 1940-1. He was an additional deputy under-secretary of state for foreign affairs in 1940 and director-general of British propaganda and information services at Cairo, 1941-2. In 1945 he was solicitor-general and a delegate to the Allied Reparation Commission in Moscow. From 1951 to 1957 he was conservative M.P. for Bristol West, during which time he served as minister of labour and national service, 1951-5, minister of defence, 1955-6, and paymaster-general, October 1956 - January 1957. He was chairman of the Advisory Commission on Central Africa in 1960 and chairman of the Midland Bank from 1957-64. For further details see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Provenance and Arrangement

Monckton's papers were deposited in the Bodleian Library in 1974. They came as two separate collections and as the ownership of each collection was different at the time, it has not been possible to integrate the papers. Both collections belong to Balliol College and were relocated in 2016 to Balliol's Historic Collections Centre at St Cross Church, Holywell, where they can be consulted by researchers by prior appointment. Balliol College may grant permission for quotation from writings by Lord Monckton, but copyright of writings by others lies elsewhere. The particulars of the two collections are as follows:

Monckton Trustees 1-89. These papers were deposited by the Literary Trustees of the late viscount Monckton of Brenchley in Balliol College in 1974. Balliol College deposited the collection in the Bodleian. Ownership of the papers has since passed to Balliol College. The bulk of these papers relates to Monckton's life prior to 1950, although there are some papers after that date.

Monckton 1-63. These papers were given by viscountess Monckton of Brenchley to Balliol College, and by them deposited in the Bodleian Library in 1974. Most of this collection dates from after 1950, although there are earlier papers as well.

The arrangement of the collection will not be changed; all reference numbers and the archive's separation into Dep Monckton Trustees and Dep Monckton will remain the same. Item level descriptions will be added whenever possible and the two indices will eventually be integrated.

Listed by Philip Bull, Mary Clapinson, Helen Langley (Bodleian Library, 1974, 1986). Conversion to EAD supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Transformation from XML to HTML by Lawrence Mielniczuk, 21 April 2011.

Access

Requests for access to the archive and for copies from it should be directed to Balliol's Archivist. Requests for permission to publish from Lord Monckton's writings should be directed, as before, to Balliol's Fellow Librarian. The papers remain open to researchers (except closed files, see below) at Balliol's Historic Collections Centre as they have been at the Bodleian; researchers can make appointments with the Archivist here.

A number of files in both parts of the collection remain closed; these are indicated by [R] (Restricted) in the list and index. These file closures are due for review and any future updates will be changed in the online list.

Preferred Form of Citation

Oxford, Balliol College [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. Dep. Monckton Trustees 1, fols. 1-2, or Dep. Monckton 60, fol. 50, etc].

Contents

Dep. Monckton Trustees

A    Correspondence and Papers, 1896-1941 (1-8)
B    Correspondence and papers, 1942-57 (9-13)
C    Correspondence and papers relating to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 1936-41, 1946-51 (14-22)
D    Correspondence concerning George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent (23)
E    Correspondence, 1940-56 (24)
F    Papers concerning India (25-52)
G    Papers on legal matters (53-75)
H    Miscellaneous papers (75-89)

Dep. Monckton

A    Papers, 1912-64
    A.1  Correspondence and papers, 1912-49
    A.2  General correspondence and papers, 1950-64
    A.3  Letters of congratulation
    A.4  Correspondence and papers relating to the M.C.C.
    A.5  Papers relating to Oxford
    A.6  Files of correspondence and papers arranged by subject
    A.7  Speeches delivered by Monckton, 1953-63
    A.8  Volumes of press cuttings, 1914-1960
    A.9  Miscellaneous papers
    A.10  Papers relating to the Advisory Commission on the Review of the Constitution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

(This is the complete list of Dep. Monckton - the initial A is misleading as there is no B, C etc.)

Integrated index of Dep. Monckton AND Dep. Monckton Trustees

NB. The indices for Dep. Monckton and Dep. Monckton Trustees are integrated here for ease of use. The collections are NOT integrated and it is still essential to note the difference when requesting files or citing the papers.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P QR S T UV W XYZ

- Anna Sander.