Loan 96 RLF 4/28

Contains records of the Literary Fund Anniversary Dinners held between 1930 and 1932. The records are organised by year; for each year, there are two folders, the first containing documents relating to that year’s dinner, principally administrative papers and ephemera such as tickets, toast lists and table plans, and the second containing correspondence. The contents of the individual folders are summarised below.

1930 (Chairman: Sir James Matthew Barrie):

1: Appeals for funds from Sir James Matthew Barrie; notice of dinner; stewards’ invitation cards (with notice on the dinner falling on Barrie’s 70th birthday); honorary invitation card; reminder notices; dinner tickets; steward’s tickets; plans of the tables; menu (with cartoon); magazine article from the Graphic (with photos); newspaper cuttings; portrait photos of Barrie; photos of the dinner (including pictures of Barrie, Lady Rhondda, Lady Edward Grosvenor, John Boynton Priestley, the Marquess of Huntley, Sir N Pearson, John Jacob Astor, Sir George Arthur, Mrs P Snowdon, Sir Edward David Stern, David Alexander Edward Lindsay (Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), Susan, Duchess of Somerset, Viscountess Astor, Alfred Duff Cooper, Lady Lilly Frazer and Sir James George Frazer); details of donations.

2: Correspondence, including letters from Hugh John Cole Marshall, David Alexander Edward Lindsay (Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), Ernest Hills, Edward Verrall Lucas, Sir James Matthew Barrie, W H Carnegie, Harold Sidney Harmsworth (Viscount Rothermere), the Manager of the Hotel Victoria, Walter T Spencer, A E Dickinson (for Lord Crawford), Sydney Walton and Sir David Young Cameron.

1931 (Chairman: Prince Albert, Duke of York):

1: Appeals for funds from David Alexander Edward Lindsay (Earl of Crawford and Balcarres); agenda for meetings of the anniversary committee; stewards’ invitation cards; honorary invitation cards; reminder notices; compliment slips; dinner tickets; steward’s tickets; list of complimentary tickets; plan of the tables; toast list; menu; transcripts of speeches (by Prince Albert, Duke of York; Frederic Blagden Malim; Sir James George Frazer; Alfred Edward Woodley Mason; and David Alexander Edward Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), list of donations received; annual report.

2: Correspondence, including letters from David Alexander Edward Lindsay (Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), Hugh John Cole Marshall, Edward Verrall Lucas, Sir Owen Seaman, Ernest Hills, the manager of the Hotel Victoria, Lord Moynihan (Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan), Montague Rhodes James, Frederic Blagden Malim, Messrs Ring & Brymer, Patrick K Hodgson (for the Duke of York), George Earle Buckle, the Archbishop of Wales (Alfred George Edwards), [?], William Babbington Maxwell, William H Taylor & Sons and Alfred Edward Woodley Mason.

1932: (Chairman: Sir John Simon):

1: Appeals for funds from Sir John Simon (with drafts); agenda for meetings of the anniversary committee; notices of dinner; stewards’ invitation cards; honorary invitation cards; reminder notices; compliment slips; dinner ticket; steward’s tickets; list of complimentary tickets; draft plan of the tables; plans of the tables (with tear-off menus and donation slips); menu; report of the dinner.

2: Correspondence, including letters from G Gelardi (the manager of Claridge’s Hotel), William Babbington Maxwell, Hugh John Cole Marshall, Edward Verrall Lucas, Lord Moynihan (Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan), David Alexander Edward Lindsay (Earl of Crawford and Balcarres), J Humphrey Davy (for Esmond Cecil Harmsworth), Noël Coward, D Rowland Evans (for Sir John Simon), Sir Owen Seaman, R F Cholmeley, Charles Morgan, Pamela Buchanan (for Alan Patrick Herbert), Alan Patrick Herbert, Gwendolyn Anley, the President of Magdalen (George Stuart Gordon), Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh, Walter Roper Lawrence, Jessie Mary Gertrude Struthers and Clifford Gregory (for Sir Albert Levy).