Loan 96 RLF 4/20

Contains records of the Literary Fund Anniversary Dinners held between 1882 and 1889. The records are organised by year; for each year, there are two folders, the first containing correspondence regarding the chairman, the second containing administrative records, correspondence and copies of the stationary created for each dinner. For the years 1888 and 1889 the two are merged. The contents of the individual folders are listed below; contents are also listed on the fronts of the folders themselves.

1882 (Chairman: Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from Robert Cooke, William Smith, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), the Crown Prince of Prussia (Frederick II; copy), Frederick Waymouth Gibbs, Sir Howard Elphinstone, the Duke of Albany (Prince Leopold), Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope, the Marquess of Salisbury and Lord John manners, with resolutions from the Committee inviting the Crown prince of Prussia and thanking Salisbury.

2: Correspondence respecting the Freemasons’ Tavern from Octavian Blewitt and E Dawkins; correspondence with anniversary committee, including letters from Robert Cooke, Frederick William Cosens, Frederick Locker, Thomas Norton Longman and Charles Shaw; minutes of anniversary committee; list of persons invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; list of money tickets issued; stewards’ invitation ticket; honorary invitation ticket; dinner and ladies tickets; forms of circulars; correspondence respecting speeches from Viscount Barrington (George William Barrington), Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Sir George Bowen, Lord Eustace Cecil, the Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin), the Marquess of Exeter (William Alleyne Cecil), Earl of Galloway (Alan Plantagenet Stewart), Sir John Hawkshaw, Henry Lansdell, Lord John Manners, Sir Erskine May, Sir John Whittaker Ellis (the Lord Mayor of London), Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir Henry Parkes, Canon [?] Rowsell, the Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil), William Smith, Earl Stanhope (Arthur Philip Stanhope), Sir Samuel Wilson and Thomas Woolner; toast list; plan of tables; menu; donations and subscriptions announced; subscription papers; newspaper reports.

1883 (Chairman: General Lord Garnet Joseph Wolseley):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from Octavian Blewitt, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Lord Ampthill (Odo William Leopold Russell), William Smith and Garnet Joseph Wolseley.

2: Correspondence respecting the tavern from E Dawkins, William Smith, Messrs Willis, the Manager of the Westminster Palace Hotel and Octavian Blewitt; correspondence relating to the anniversary committee from Frederick Locker, minutes of anniversary committee; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation ticket; honorary invitation ticket; dinner tickets; circulars to stewards, officers, members and donors; toast list; correspondence respecting speeches from Robert Cooke, Charles Shaw, Thomas Spencer Baynes, James Russell Lowell (the US Minister), Hormuzd Rassam, General Lord Garnet Joseph Wolseley, Cotter Morison, Thomas Teignmouth Shore, Lord Thurlow (Thomas John Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce) and George Stovin Venables; plan of tables; menu; correspondence with ladies and relating to the question of asking them to subscribe from Thomas Norton Longman, Matilda Betham-Edwards, Elizabeth Rundle Charles, Mary Louisa Molesworth and [Mrs Webster?]; list of subscriptions; subscription papers; newspaper reports; correspondence from the Earl of Derby relating to the purchase of dinner tickets by officers, owing to the small numbers likely to attend the dinner.

1884 (Chairman: His Excellency William Henry Waddington, the French Ambassador):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from Robert Hawthorn Collins, Octavian Blewitt, Frederick Waymouth Gibbs, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), William Henry Waddington and William Smith.

2: Correspondence respecting the tavern, from Messrs Willis & Sons, William Smith, Octavian Blewitt and Edmund Whitfield; minutes of anniversary committee; correspondence with Committee and officers, namely Edward Augustus Bond, John Murray, Robert Cooke and Octavian Blewitt; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation card; honorary invitation card; circular to Freemasons; circulars to stewards, officers, members and donors; dinner ticket; toast list; correspondence respecting speeches from William Henry Waddington, Joseph William Chitty, Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Sir Richard Temple, the Bishop of Bath and Wells (Arthur Charles Hervey), Thomas Henry Huxley, William Smith, John Robert Seeley, Sir Henry Thurstan Holland, Lord Henry G Lennox, Claude Webster, the Manager of the Press Association (E Robbins) and Thomas A Reed; toast list; menu; plan of the tables; subscriptions and donations announced; subscription papers; newspaper reports; letter on arrears from Octavian Blewitt to the Earl of Hardwicke (Charles Philip Yorke).

1885 (Chairman: Lord John Manners):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from William Smith, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), the Bishop Elect of London (Frederick Temple), the Earl of Rosebery (Archibald Philip Primrose) and John Murray, with a resolution from the Committee thanking Lord John Manners.

2: Correspondence respecting the tavern between Messrs Willis and Arthur Llewelyn Roberts; minutes of the anniversary committee; correspondence with Committee and officers, namely Charles Shaw, Joseph Charles Parkinson, Thomas Norton Longman, Richard Bentley, Frederick Locker and Frederick William Cosens; correspondence relating to the music from C H Hewitt (of the Belle Sauvage Glee Club), Captain [?] Davidson, Arthur Llewelyn Roberts, and Captain A C Hansard; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation card; honorary invitation card; circulars to officers, stewards, members and donors; dinner tickets; toast list; plan of the tables; correspondence respecting speeches from Thomas A Reed, E Dawkins, William Smith, Justin McCarthy, Frank Lockwood, Edwin Ray Lankester, John Wesley Hales, Frederick Andrew Inderwick, Colonel Lord Ellenborough (Charles Edmund Towry-Law), the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stalney), Sir Frederick Pollock, Lord John Manners and George Stovin Venables; subscriptions and donations announced; subscription papers; newspaper reports.

1886 (Chairman: Sir Stafford Northcote, the Earl of Iddesleigh):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Arthur Llewelyn Roberts, the Earl of Iddesleigh (Sir Stafford Northcote) and the Countess of Iddesleigh (Cecilia Frances Northcote).

2: Correspondence respecting the tavern between Edmund Whitfield (at Willis’s Rooms), Frederick Willis, E Dawkins, Charles Robert Rivington (at Stationers’ Hall), William Smith, Messrs Spiers & Pond (of the Freemasons’ Tavern) and Messrs H J & W J Roberts (at St James’s Hall); minutes of the anniversary committee; correspondence with Committee and officers, namely Thomas Norton Longman, Sir Frederick Pollock and Percy Melville Thornton; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation card; honorary invitation card; circulars to officers, stewards, members &c; dinner tickets; toast list; plan of the tables; menu; list of those present; subscriptions and donations announced; subscription papers; newspaper reports; correspondence respecting music from Ladislas Zavertal and A Tyndale Biscoe; correspondence respecting speeches from Samuel Henry Butcher, Lord Coleridge (John Duke Coleridge), Sir Horace Davey, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Austin Dobson, Lord Ellenborough (Charles Edmund Towry-Law), the Dean of Gloucester (Montagu Butler), Edmund Gosse, Lord Lingen (Ralph Lingen), Arthur Llewelyn Roberts, Frank Lockwood, General Sir Donald Martin Stewart, the Turkish Ambassador, Colonel Sir Charles Warren and Colonel Sir Charles William Wilson.

1887 (Chairman: Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Earl of Lytton):

1: Correspondence regarding the chairman, from Sir Theodore Martin, Sir Francis Knollys, A F Greville, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), William Smith, Arthur Llewelyn Roberts and Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Earl of Lytton.

2: Correspondence respecting the tavern from E Dawkins (at Willis’s Rooms) and Messrs Gordon & Hollands (of the Hotel Metropole); minutes of the anniversary committee; correspondence with Committee and officers, namely Thomas Norton Longman and Sir Frederick Pollock; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation card; honorary invitation card; circulars to officers, stewards, members and donors; reminder to guests; dinner tickets; toast list; plan of the tables; menu; list of those present; subscriptions and donations announced; subscription papers; newspaper reports; correspondence respecting music from Messrs Chappell & Co; correspondence respecting speeches from the Duke of Argyll (George John Douglas Campbell), Sir Edward George Clarke, the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), the Earl of Hardwicke (Charles Philip Yorke), Frederic William Farrer, Louis John Jennings, Frank Lockwood, the Earl of Lytton (Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton), John Pentland Mahaffy, William George Rawlinson, Percy Melville Thornton, Sir George Otto Treveleyan and Edmund Yates.

1888 (Chairman: Sir James Paget):

1: Correspondence respecting the tavern from E Dawkins (at Willis’s Rooms); correspondence relating to the speeches, from the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Earl Cadogan (George Henry Cadogan), Lord Knutsford (Henry Thurstan Holland), Lord Justice Fry (Sir Edward Fry), Sir William Bowman, Francis Darwin, Robert J Griffiths, William Edward Hartpole Lecky, John Evans, Sir Albert Kaye Rollit, Thomas A Reed and Sir James Paget; list of those invited to be stewards; list of honorary invitations; stewards’ invitation card; honorary invitation card; circulars to stewards; circulars to members; dinner tickets; menu; extracts from newspapers; correspondence with the anniversary committee from Percy Melville Thornton and John Murray; correspondence relating to the chairmanship from the Earl of Derby and Sir James Paget.

1889 (Chairman: Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild, Baron Rothschild):

1: Correspondence relating to the chairmanship from the Earl of Derby (Edward Henry Stanley), Edward John Phelps, John Murray and Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild; correspondence respecting the tavern from E Richard (at Willis’s Rooms), William Smith and Hermann Adler; invitations to stewards; honorary invitations; honorary invitation card; stewards’ invitation card; circulars to members; circulars to stewards; circular to ladies; dinner tickets; ladies ticker; correspondence with the anniversary committee from William Smith, Alfred Chenevix Trench and Percy Melville Thornton; miscellaneous correspondence from the Earl of Derby, Richard Shell, Thomas Teignmouth Shore, and Lord Rothschild; correspondence relating to the speeches, from William Smith, Sir Francis de Winton, Sir Alfred Lyall, Lord Rowton (Montagu William Lowry-Corry), Friedrich Max Müller, John Stuart Blackie and Hermann Adler; minutes of anniversary committee; newspaper reports; toast list; plan of the tables; subscription papers.