Spotlight on collections: Unusual items in the Archives

The Archives and Special Collections has considerable holdings. The material that chronicles significant political, military and social events consists of the typical formats that would be expected such as correspondence, volumes of minutes or reports, photographs, maps, plans. Yet like all Archives, the collections often contain associated items that are a little more unusual and in this week’s blog we bring some of these into the spotlight.

Locks of hair are something that are found in collections of family papers and the collections at Southampton are no exception. Hair as a keepsake and memento was something that peaked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Victorians had a particular fascination with hair as a memento of loved ones, but hair was also given as tokens of love and friendship. In the papers of Christopher Collins, the personal servant of the Duke of Wellington, we find locks of hair of both Princess Charlotte and the Duchess of Wellington.

Lock of hair of Princess Charlotte, 1799 [MS69/4/2]

The Broadlands Archives contain other examples such as hair of the baby Henry John Temple, later third Viscount Palmerston (MS62/BR/18/62) and a lock of hair of the baby Ruth Mary Ashley, the younger sister of Edwina, Lady Mountbatten, along with her birth certificate (MS62/MB/1/W/5).

The knitted objects that we hold are made of a variety of fabrics and materials, but there are not any that are knitted from hair. An altogether more unusual experiment, however, was to knit with spaghetti of which we have a few examples (MS332/53/3/1). There is no record of why or how this particular experiment was conducted, although the results of it are clear to see:

Amongst the administrative papers and associated collections relating to the history of the University are a variety of artefacts that add an additional dimension to this material. The gavel that was presented to the Hartley Institution in the 1870s represents the close connection between the Corporation of Southampton and the Institution in its early days. The bequest left by Henry Robinson Hartley to create an educational establishment was made to the Corporation for this purpose.

The ceremonial decorated gavel, made of ivory, donated to the Hartley Institution Council by Henry Joseph Buchan, JP and Mayor of Southampton, 1871-2 [MS1/1/31/15/2]

Other items that represent more formal ways of University life in the past are two silver sugar bowls and spoons, perhaps used when the Warden was entertaining at afternoon tea, that are part of material from Highfield Hall, a hall of residence formally opened by the future George VI in 1935.  

Silver sugar pot and spoon [MS310/71/3/1]

We hold a small selection of university related clothing, including a blazer and scarves in university colours as well as cap badges. Amongst a collection of a student from the University from the 1980s is a lovely eye mask for the Southampton University Medical Society masked ball that she attended at Southampton Guildhall.

Handmade mask for masked ball at Southampton Guildhall, 1980s [MS416/22/A4338/1]

Dolls, and indeed dolls clothing, feature amongst the collections, including in the objects that form part of the Monste Stanley knitting collection (MS332), items that belonged to Basque child refugee Pilar Vasca (MS370/5) and in that of the Brian Raywid Romany Papers (MS443).

Peg making is one of the oldest Romany crafts. The pegs were made from a length of willow or hazelwood cut to the right length and with a V-shaped notch cut in the base end. A band of tin was then nailed into position at the top of the peg and the peg split with a sharp knife from the point of the V-notch to the tin band. The pegs were then pegged out to dry and allow the slit to set into its open shape. From these the peg dolls were made and pegs and dolls were often sold door to door.

Peg doll [MS443/13]

Whilst we might have recipes and other sources relating to food, food itself is not something that we would expect to come across in the Archives. However, we do have an exception for an Australian Military Forces emergency ration tin found amongst the Broadlands Archives. Dating from the Second World War it was presumably passed to Lord Mountbatten during his time as Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia. Details of this can be found in a Stories they tell blog from 2020.

The final two sets of items we will be looking in this brief tour could not be more contrasting – handcuffs and handmade shackles used by the pressure group the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry and the exquisitely engraved nautilus shell of the Duke of Wellington and St George and the Dragon.

The Women’s Campaign was creative and dramatic in some of the protests that it organised. Handcuffs were put to use to chain themselves to railings, while the handmade shackles were as part of a costume (possibly in conjunction with a pair of blue and white striped pyjamas that looked like a gulag uniform) worn by a protester.

Handcuffs used by the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry [MS254/A980/5/4/3]

The Scrimshaw nautilus shell is the work of the prolific engraver of nautilus and turban shells Charles H. Wood., who was renowned for the fine work produced whilst engraving his shells with a simple penknife. In the 1850s, Wood produced shells commemorating Wellington and Nelson as well as ones engraved with Britannia.

Engraved nautilus shell of the Duke of Wellington, 1850s [MS351/6/A4170/28]

We hope that you have enjoyed this brief introduction to some of the more unusual objects in our care. But if you want to find out what else we hold do have look at the Archive Catalogue for details.

W is for West Bay: the Mountbatten connection

West Bay is a small coastal town in west Dorset, formerly known as Bridport Harbour. The name was changed on the coming of the railway in 1884, with the hope of attracting tourists to the fledgling resort, previously little more than a fishing village and harbour for exporting the ropes and nets from Bridport for which the town was famous.

Clarence House Refreshment rooms, West Bay [MS62/MB2/N3/p12_n10]

In 1914, Prince Louis Francis of Battenberg, later to become Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was a cadet at Osborne Naval College on the Isle of Wight. At that time naval cadets spent a couple of years at Osborne before going on to Dartmouth. Dickie seems to have enjoyed his stay at Osborne, where he took many photographs of the activities there and of his special friends (see album MS62/MB/2/N2.) However, conditions for the boys were not good, and there appears to have been health problems including frequent outbreaks of “pinkeye”, or conjunctivitis, more serious in the days before antibiotics. In early 1914 young Battenberg became ill with bronchitis and whooping cough, so it was decided to send him to West Bay with a tutor to recuperate. Miss Nona Kerr (later Mrs Richard Crichton) was lady in waiting to Prince Louis’s mother, Princess Victoria of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Nona’s sister was married to Canon Wickham, the rector of Bradford Abbas, a parish in north Dorset, and the owner of a cottage called “The Bunker” in West Bay which he was happy to lend. A temporary tutor, F. Lawrence Long, was engaged and Dickie moved into his holiday home. Mr Long, a friendly young man, had previously been a master at Gladstone’s School in London.

“The Bunker” West Bay, near Bridport, from the south, 1914 [MS62/MB2/N3/p35_n33]

The cottage was built right on the shingle beach, and still exists, now called Gull House. It adjoins a smaller cottage called The Dinghy. Dickie took many photographs, both inside and out, as well as of the nearby beach, harbour and cliffs. He put them into a small cloth-bound album with an art nouveau style cartouche, along with 10 commercial postcards of West Bay. This is now part of the Broadlands Archive [MS62/MB/2/N3]. Mountbatten would still recognise the exterior of the cottage, now painted a deep pink, but the thatched roof has been replaced with tiles. Property websites suggest it could now be worth nearly a million pounds, recognising the great popularity of West Bay, partly due to the “Broadchurch effect”; Broadchurch being a recent ITV detective series starring David Tennant, Olivia Coleman and Jodie Whittaker. This ran to three series altogether, all set in and near West Bay. Series two included Charlotte Rampling as a barrister, while series three starred Julie Hesmondhalgh as the victim of a serious assault.

An attic bedroom at “The Bunker”. This room was probably used by Dickie and shows his spaniel (Aera) asleep on the floor [MS62/MB2/N3/p14_n12]

Some years earlier West Bay was also used as the location for the television series Harbour Lights, starring Nick Berry as the harbour master. Back in the 1970s the beach was the setting for the credits at the beginning of The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, starring Leonard Rossiter. Reginald was shown rapidly divesting himself of his clothes, including underpants, and swimming out to sea to fake his own death and start a new life. East Cliff is clearly visible in this scene but Gull House is out of shot.

Dickie with the fish he has caught, neatly displayed [MS62/MB2/N3/p33_n31]

East Cliff, West Bay
The main feature of the landscape of West Bay is the iconic East Cliff, a striking landmark of vertical Bridport sandstone. This was photographed to good effect many times during the filming of Broadchurch. The sandstone is notoriously unstable and there have been many major rock falls in recent years, some sadly resulting in fatalities. The geology of West Cliff is different, but also unstable, and Dickie photographed small examples of landslips here, caused by the juxtaposition of permeable and impermeable rocks, as in the Lyme Regis area further west. Dickie did not photograph East Cliff, probably because the best shots need to be taken out at sea. Dickie did go out in a boat, but probably decided it was safer to leave his precious camera behind. He would not recognise the harbour now. It has been remodelled in recent years, to protect it from the south-west swells which had been a serious problem for earlier shipping. Originally it was approached from the sea by two moles or piers protecting the entrance channel, but this was never very satisfactory so it was decided to completely redesign it. Work finished in 2004.

Pier Terrace
Dickie’s visit wasn’t the first time that members of the Battenberg family had stayed in West Bay. Some years previously Dickie’s parents, Prince Louis and Princess Victoria, had stayed in an apartment forming part of Pier Terrace, when Prince Louis’ ship was stationed at Weymouth. Pier Terrace is a rather incongruous large building of four storeys with a mansard roof, right in the middle of the small town. It was built in 1885 by the Arts and Crafts architect E. S. Prior, in the hope of attracting more tourists. It still dominates the harbour though it is now balanced by modern luxury flats on the far side of the harbour.

Mr Lawrence Long with Dick George, a fisherman [MS62/MB2/N3/p.38_n36]

Jo Draper describes West Bay as “an odd place, difficult to define. A village sized seaside resort in a fine situation” (Dorset, the complete guide). John Hyams expressed similar sentiments in his book Dorset, published in 1970: “West Bay one must confess to be a curiosity, however seriously it takes itself. For centuries attempts were made to establish a port at the mouth of the Brit, only to be frustrated time and time again by by the sea’s annoying habit of silting it up.“ Eventually a harbour was constructed in the 18th century, though silt was always a problem, controlled by hatches on the river allowing the silt to be scoured away. Hyam goes on “it sets out determinedly to become another Blackpool, complete with kiosks of garish merchandise and ice cream…. westward an esplanade creeps like a choking tendril along the foot of West Cliff.”.

Dickie riding on the shoulders of his tutor Mr Lawrence Long [MS62/MB2/N3/p.41_n39]

A number of celebrities have made their homes in or near West Bay, including the widow of Cubby Broccoli, the producer of the James Bond films, who once owned a large house there. The actor Pauline Quirke was so taken with the area while filming for Broadchurch that she acquired an apartment. West Bay was the victim of serious winter floods during the 1990s, so many tons of
shingle were recently imported to create a high barrier against the sea, ensuring the safety of the little town for the time being. The harbour is still used by fishing boats including small trawlers from as far afield as Padstow, which explains the strong smell of fish! Lobster and crab pots are piled up on the quayside. There are also many pleasure craft moored there.

West Bay harbour, 2022

Today the small chapel has been converted into a museum for the town, with activities for children and other events. There was a shipbuilding industry here in the 19th century. The historic Salt House was used to store salt, acting as ballast on the outward voyage to Newfoundland, returning with salted cod. Substantial warehouse buildings remain as reminders of West Bay’s former
importance as a port. As one would expect, there are numerous cafes and restaurants, while many small shops cater for the needs of holidaymakers. Parking is predictably expensive, but there is plenty of it.

I is for Island

For the latest in the Special Collections A-Z, we look at I for islands. Special Collections holds a wide range of material relating to islands from the far flung to the very near to home. For this blog we will travel to a small selection represented in the collections to give a flavour of the range of material that can be explored. 

HMS Hecla and Fury in their “winter island” as they are frozen in for the winter [MS45 A0183/2 p359]

For the more distant islands you can view the journals of William Mogg in which he describes his journeys as part of Captain William Edward Parry’s second and third Arctic expeditions, on board HMS Hecla and HMS Fury, 1821-5, including being frozen in at ‘Winter Island’ for nine months when the ice closed in. And there is a further Mogg journal when he was on aboard HMS Beagle exploring the coastline and islands of South America. Such items as Prince Louis of Battenberg’s album of his circumnavigation of the world on board HMS Inconstant provide us with glimpses of life in Japan, New Zealand or the Fiji Islands in the 1880s, as well as visits to St Helena and Gibraltar.

Fiji Islands from the album of Prince Louis of Battenberg [MS62/MB2/A20]

St Helena from the album of Prince Louis of Battenberg [MS62/MB2/A20]

A new acquisition to the Special Collections dating from 1896 is an eleven-volume travelogue of the Hon. Louis Samuel Montagu, later second Baron Swaythling, of his world tour (MS461) which includes not just his observations on his travels and the people and places he saw but some wonderful photographs from Japan. And for the 20th century we have photograph albums of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, as well as tour diaries of Lord Mountbatten, relating to visits to islands from the Mediterranean, the South Seas and the Far East, as well as Australia and New Zealand (MS62).

Images of Madeira from a photograph album of a tour taken by Lady Mountbatten, 1931 [MS62/MB2/L6 page 5]

For nearer to home, quite a variety of material has found its way to the Special Collections relating to the Isle of Wight. This includes items collected by the University’s predecessor the Hartley Institution in the late nineteenth century such as a pardon from James I to Thomas Urrey of Thorley, Isle of Wight, 8 June 1604 (MS6/1).

Pardon from James I to Thomas Urrey, 1604 [MS6/1]

Other items include descriptions of walks around the island such Sarah Jane Gilham’s “journal of seven weeks peregrinations at the most beautiful place on earth, namely the Isle of Wight”, 1850 (MS6/8), or Thomas Flood’s description of his walking tour of the island in 1845 (MS450).

The island was the inspiration for poetry by James B.Fell (MS14) as well as the long manuscript poem “Elizabeth the fair prisoner of Carisbrook”, mid-nineteenth century (MS5/32).

Within the papers of the Gordon family, who resided at Northcourt on the island, are a series of watercolours by Lady Julia Gordon that feature the house and garden (MS80). Special Collections also holds a collection of watercolours by the Revd John Lewis Petit (MS283). Those for the Isle of Wight range from Alum Bay to Yaverland and includes seascapes and landscapes as well as churches, which are the focus of many of his paintings.

Alum Bay: View from cliff top looking across to The Needles by J.L.Petit [MS283/55]

The working papers of the academic Lindsay Boynton includes considerable material on both Sir Richard Worsley and Appuldurcombe House (MS301). Special Collections also holds the editorial notes for the Victoria County History for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (MS29) providing an interesting counterpoint to the range of published histories of the island held as part of the Cope Collection.

For politics on the island in the 19^th and 20^th centuries you can find a range of material in the papers of the first Duke of Wellington and the Broadlands Archives including extensive files for Earl Mountbatten of Burma as the Governor of the Isle of Wight.

Letter sent by internee at the Aliens’ Detention Camp, Douglas, Isle of Man, to Rabbi Dr Victor Schonfeld, 19 June 1917 [MS192 AJ413/7 f3]

Another island of the UK coast for which we hold quite a number of items is the Isle of Man. This ranges from material on the harbour defence in the 19^th century in the Wellington Archive to material in quite a number of the Jewish archive collections relating to the use of the island in the 20^th century for internment. This latter material includes not just reports on an inspection of the internment camps in the Second World War which can be found in archive of Solomon Schonfeld, but correspondence of internees in both World Wars.

Sketch of Mooragh internment camp, Ramsay, Isle of Man, by K.Rothschild, c.1940 [MS297/A890/2/1]

Sketch of Ramsay, Isle of Man, by Manfred Steinhardt, 1940 [MS297/A890/2/1]

To complement the more recent material relating to islands in the Mediterranean found in the papers of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, there is 19th-century papers in both the archive of the first Duke of Wellington and those of third Viscount Palmerston relating to the Ionian Islands, the seven islands that include Corfu, Paxos and Cefalonia. This covers the period from the Treaty of Paris in 1815 when the islands were placed under British protectorship, to 1864 when they were officially reunified with Greece.

First page of synopsis for “Refugee island” a proposed TV play by Norman Crisp [MS199/101/1]

And we travel even further with a fictional island although potentially situated in the South Seas. Taken from the archive of the writer Norman Crisp (MS199), this is a synopsis and script for a proposed TV play “Refuge Island”. Written in the response to the threat of the H-bomb, the play follows the story of an individual, who may or may not be a confidence trickster, and his scheme to create a “refuge island”.

To find more islands, or to find out more about any of the items mentioned, do explore the Epexio Archive Catalogue which contains details of the archival collections that we hold.

And do join us next week when we will have reached J for Jewish archives.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

‘The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.’
(Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in a broadcast on the death of Gandhi, 70 years ago.)

The assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known to many as Mahatma – “great soul” – on 30 January 1948, brought thousands to the streets of New Delhi in silent mourning. He had been shot at point blank range by a young Hindu, Nathuram Godse, who held Gandhi responsible for the partition of his country.  Gandhi had in fact been a passionate supporter of a united India, and believed it would be a serious error for the British to partition the country.  The mourners included Mountbatten, then Governor General, and his wife Edwina, both of whom subsequently attended Gandhi’s funeral.

Mountbatten’s “first meeting with Gandhi”, 31st March 1947 MB2/N14/8

This photo, from Mountbatten’s papers, dates from his first meeting with Gandhi, prior to Partition, on 31^st March 1947.  As newly appointed Viceroy, Mountbatten embarked on a series of interviews with Indian leaders, details of which were recorded as soon as they were completed.  According to his biographer, Mountbatten was “fascinated and delighted” by Gandhi’s personality – and they met again on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd April at Viceroy’s House:

Gandhi’s first ever meal eaten at Viceroy’s House, 1 April 1947 MB2/N14/10

Mountbatten’s papers include conference papers, minutes of meetings and records of the interviews which took place over the following months, as well as his official correspondence as Viceroy.

On 2 June 1947, Lord Mountbatten’s plan for Partition was presented to the Indian leaders. Immediately afterwards, he had a meeting with Gandhi and, apprehensive of the disruption that his opposition might cause, was enormously relieved that he chose not to break his day of silence. To the Viceroy’s amazement, Gandhi wrote on the back of some envelopes:

“I am sorry I can’t speak. When I took the decision about the Monday silence I did reserve two exceptions, i.e. about speaking to high functionaries on urgent matters or attending upon sick people. But I know you don’t want me to break my silence.”

One of the envelopes on which Gandhi wrote notes at his meeting with Mountbatten, 2 June 1947 MB1/E193

Independent India and Pakistan came into being on 14/15 August 1947.

The assassination of Gandhi in January 1948 tested the character of the new India. ‘The father of the Indian nation’, he had not invented the nationalist movement, but he had shaped it into a force that was wholly different from any other anti-colonial struggle faced by the British.  As his biographer notes, he remains “an international symbol and inspiration… a towering figure of the twentieth century.”

 

Battenberg and Mountbatten

The House of Windsor was created on 17 July 1917 when King George V decided that the name of the royal house should be anglicised in response to anti-German sentiment resulting from the First World War. The name Windsor was adopted, replacing Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. At a meeting of the Privy Council on 17 July 1917, George V declared that “all descendants in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendants who marry or who have married, shall bear the name of Windsor”. It was also decided that the various Tecks, Holsteins and Battenbergs who were British citizens should do the same. Among those affected were the family of Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg.

Letterpress halftone portrait photograph of Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg when First Sea Lord, 1914 [MB2/A12/61]

Born at Graz, Austria, in 1854, Prince Louis was the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and his morganatic wife, Countess Julia Theresa von Haucke. Family connections with Princess Alice and Prince Albert (both children of Queen Victoria) led to Prince Louis settling in England and becoming naturalized as a British subject. He entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1868, at the age of fourteen. In 1884 he married his cousin Princess Victoria, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Together they had two daughters, Alice (b. 1885) and Louise (b. 1889), and two sons, George (b. 1892) and Louis Francis (b. 1900).

Following a long and successful naval career lasting more than forty years, Prince Louis was appointed First Sea Lord in 1912 by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty. In July 1914, with the First World War looming, Prince Louis took the initiative to ensure the British fleet was ready for combat. However, this did not shield him from attack on account of his German background and over the subsequent months his position became increasingly untenable. On 29 October he resigned from his position as First Sea Lord – a blow from which he is said to have never recovered. In his letter of resignation to Churchill he writes:

I have lately been driven to the painful conclusion that at this juncture my birth and parentage have the effect of impairing in some respects my usefulness on the Board of the Admiralty. In these circumstances I feel it to be my duty, as a loyal subject of His Majesty, to resign the office of First Sea Lord, hoping thereby to facilitate the task of the administration of the great Service to which I have devoted my life, and to ease the burden laid on HM’s Ministers. [MS 62 MB1/T48]

At the behest of the King he agreed to change his name and relinquished his German titles (of Serene Highness and Prince) in 1917. The family adopted the name Mountbatten, an Anglicisation of the German Battenberg (rejecting the alternative translation of Battenhill). Having renounced their German titles, they were compensated with British peerages of marquess of Milford Haven, earl of Medina, and Viscount Alderney. As a result, Prince Louis became Louis Alexander Mountbatten, first Marquess of Milford Haven; his eldest son George became Earl of Medina (succeeding to his father’s peerage on his death); while his second son acquired the courtesy title Lord Louis Mountbatten (remaining Lord Louis until he was created a peer in 1946).

Black and white photograph of Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg and his sons, Louis (on the left) and George (on the right), 1914 [MB2/A12/34]

Lord Louis Mountbatten (nicknamed “Dickie” by his family and friends) was serving on board the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth when he acquired his courtesy title. He had begun his naval career four years earlier, in 1913, when he entered the Royal Naval College at Osbourne on the Isle of Wight. In so doing he was following in the footsteps of his father and older brother George, both of whom he idolised. He progressed to the fledgling Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in 1915. By the time he completed his training at the Royal Naval College at Keyham the following year he was eager to see action.

He was posted as midshipman to the battlecruiser HMS Lion on 19 July 1916. A month later, on 19 August, his wish to see action was granted when the Lion was involved in a brief encounter with the German fleet. Not long after he was transferred to the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the flagship of the Grand Fleet, while his brother George was transferred to the Lion – the Admiralty not allowing two brothers to serve on the same ship. Having visiting the front in July 1918, he joined HMS P31 in October of the same year where he was involved in escort and anti-submarine work.

Black and white photograph of the officers and midshipmen of HMS Lion including Prince Louis Francis of Battenberg (later Lord Mountbatten), 1916 [MB2/A12/65]. He can be seen in the uniform of a midshipman, seated cross-legged in the middle of the front row, tenth from the left. He is holding a small dog, probably the ship’s mascot.

Following the end of the war, Mountbatten interrupted his naval career to study at the University of Cambridge in 1919. He then joined the Prince of Wale on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, and India, in 1920 and 1921. On 22 August 1921, his father was made an admiral of the fleet on the retired list. However, his health was in decline and he died of heart failure following influenza on 11 September.

Mountbatten spent the inter-war period pursuing his naval career, where he specialised in communications. In 1934, he received his first command on the destroyer, HMS Daring.  In 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, he became commander of the HMS Kelly – the exploits of which were made famous by the Noël Coward film In Which We Serve. The Kelly was sunk by German dive bombers off the coast of Crete in May 1941 with the loss of more than half its crew.

Following his role as Chief of Combined Operations – with the responsibility of preparing for the eventual invasion of occupied Europe – he was appointed the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command (SEAC), in 1943. Working with General William Slim, he achieved the defeat of the Japanese offensive towards India and the reconquest of Burma. In March 1947, he became viceroy of India, overseeing the transfer of power to India and Pakistan on 14 August 1947. For his services during the war and in India he was created viscount in 1946 and Earl Mountbatten of Burma the following year.

Mountbatten returned to the Royal Navy in 1953, becoming commander of a new NATO Mediterranean command. In 1954 he was appointed First Sea Lord, fulfilling his ambition to succeed to the post that his father had held more than 40 years earlier. Finally, he became Chief of the Defence Staff in 1959, a position he held until 1965 when he retired to civilian life.

The papers of the late Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, form part of University of Southampton Library MS62, the Broadlands archives. The collection includes personal and naval papers of Prince Louis of Battenberg, first Marquis of Milford Haven, 1886-1911 (MB1/T1-10).

Victoria, first Marchioness of Milford Haven (1863-1950)

One of the key collections in the Archives at the University of Southampton is that of Earl Mountbatten of Burma. His official papers are well known, covering his long naval career, his role as last Viceroy of India, and later, at the Admiralty and Ministry of Defence – but the archive also includes personal papers relating to his early life; a remarkable and extensive collection of family photographs; and archives of the German branch of the Battenberg family.

Photographs of Mountbatten’s parents on their wedding day, 30 April 1884, from the album of Prince Louis of Battenberg [MS 62 MB2/A4/4-5]

Mountbatten’s mother was Princess Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie of Hesse, the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, grand duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and his first wife Princess Alice – second daughter of Queen Victoria. His father was Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse.  Victoria and Louis were first cousins in a large and close family – Victoria tells many anecdotes of her childhood in her recollections, and she describes a happy and affectionate home-life in the ‘New Palace’ at Darmstadt.  There were frequent trips to relatives in Germany, Prussia, and England: often there was sea-bathing at Osborne in the summer. During a long stay in England in 1871/2:

“We were all at Balmoral first, while Uncle Bertie* and his family were at Abergeldie and we children saw a great deal of each other. Unfortunately all the children of both families contracted whooping cough there and I remember a dismal November at the top of Buckingham Palace shut away, coughing my head off.” [*Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII]

When they were over the worst of the illness there was plenty of fun to be had:

“We found in the former nurseries strange sorts of bicycles with saddles, and adorned with horses’ heads and tails, which had belonged to our uncles and on which we careered down the corridor…”

All the young cousins then moved to Windsor: “and we were a very merry party of children. Our wild romps in the great corridor… were often interrupted by one of the pages bringing a message from the Queen that she would not have so much noise…”

“There were lovely corners and curtains behind which one could hide and leap out in the dark. Outside the Queen’s room there was always a table with lemonade and water and a side dish of biscuits which we used to pilfer secretly.”

These were happy years for Victoria. Tragedy struck the family at the end of 1878, when both her mother and youngest sister Marie died from diphtheria – Victoria was just 15. She wrote:

“My mother’s death was an irreparable loss to us all and left a great gap in our lives… My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible of her orphaned children.”

The early loss of their mother caused Queen Victoria to take a special interest in the children – and the Queen was to become very fond of Prince Louis too – although:

“Grandmama was at first not very pleased at our engagement as she wished me, as the eldest, to continue looking after the younger ones and keeping my father company… However she consented to the engagement on condition we did not marry until the following year.”

They married at the palace in Darmstadt on 30 April 1884.

Photo of the Princesses of Hesse in 1885, from the album of Prince Louis of Battenberg [MS 62 MB2/A4/6]

This photograph shows Victoria with her sisters in 1885: from left to right: ‘Ella’ (Elisabeth), the wife of Grand Duke Serge of Russia; Victoria; Irene, who married Prince Henry of Prussia in 1888; and Alix, who became the Tsarina, wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, in 1889.

Victoria made many summer visits to her sisters in Russia. When Serge was assassinated in Moscow in 1905 by an anarchist’s bomb – thrown at close quarters into his carriage – Victoria went to Ella immediately to offer support. In the summer of 1914, as the political situation deteriorated, she set off on her usual trip to Moscow, travelling first to Perm and from there on a tour of the Ural Mountains, stopping off twice at Ekaterinburg; but this trip was destined to be cut short.  Alix called them back to St Petersburg as the outbreak of war threatened. They arrived on the evening of 4^th August, the day that England declared war.  Alix helped them to make hurried preparations and they took a special train to the Russian frontier at Tornio, making their escape via Finland, Sweden and Norway.  From Bergen they sailed on “the last ship” back to England.  Victoria writes:

“I little dreamt that it was the last time I should ever see my sisters again.”

Her written reminiscences end in 1914. She explains to the reader:

“I intend to finish these recollections with the outbreak of the Great War as I find it unnecessarily depressing to go through the experiences of that time during the second Great War. Anyhow my children were sufficiently grown up by then to have recollections of their own to take the place of mine.”

So she seems to have written these recollections during WWII, for the benefit of her four children:

Photograph of the Battenberg family c.1902 from the album of Victoria, Princess Louis of Battenberg [MS 62 MB2/B2/6]

This photo of the Battenberg family was taken c. 1902. Princess Victoria is seated in the middle, with Prince Louis Francis on her lap.  On her left sits her husband Prince Louis Alexander, and on her right, her eldest daughter, Princess Alice. Prince George (dressed in a white sailor suit) sits in front of his father while Princess Louise sits on the floor. Louis was born on 25^th June 1900 at Frogmore House, Windsor – and was christened Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas of Battenberg on 17^th July that year.  He was Queen Victoria’s last godson – she held him at the christening – and baby Louis knocked her spectacles off her nose.

Victoria died in 1950 after a long life. By that time she was a grandmother and great grandmother.  Her biographer states: “she remained throughout her life a determined, stalwart figure, given to progressive ideas and with an interest in socialism and philosophy.”  Mountbatten remembers her remarkable intelligence and quickness; that she was talkative and forthright, very well read, and with a phenomenal memory – her family felt her death acutely.

The reminiscences of Victoria, first Marchioness of Milford Haven, form part of the Archive of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, MS 62 MB21.

Unlocking an archival treasure trove

Catalogues are the key to unlocking the treasure trove of archival material. We are therefore delighted to announce that descriptions for archive collections MS 301-400 now are available on the Special Collections website:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/cataloguedatabases/webguide1.page

Totalling several thousand boxes of material, the collections MS 301-400 provide an incredibly rich and diverse research resource. A significant proportion of the collections have some Anglo-Jewish focus, complementing the extensive Anglo-Jewish Archives already held at Southampton, but overall they have a broad thematic sweep.

New collections in strongroom

Alongside those of Jewish organisations, such as notable collections for the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (MS 302) or the Leo Baeck College, London (MS 316), are a range of material for individuals and families, such as Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler, Sir Robert Waley-Cohen, the Henriques family, Dr Schenier Levenberg and William Frankel, who was editor of the Jewish Chronicle, to name but a few.

It is particularly pleasing to note that there has been a slight increase in the number of collections reflecting the lives and work of Jewish women. These range from the archive of Marianne Ellenbogen (MS 324), a German Jew who escaped incarceration by the Nazis after her family were arrested in Germany in August 1943 and went on the run spending two years travelling across Germany, to Trude Dub, Leicester correspondence of Jewish Chronicle (MS 325), Dr Asenath Petrie, psychologist and poet (MS 349) and papers of Gladys, Lady Swaythling (MS 383).

MS 324 A2007/1/9 Photocard of Marianne Ellenbogen

Amongst papers of Lady Swaythling relating to her voluntary and philanthropic work, is material for the Wounded Allied Committee and Belgian refugees at Allington Manor, a home of the Swaythlings that was donated as a military sanitorium during the First World War. The collection also includes much relating to social events, and contains dinner books kept by Lady Swaythling that provide a wonderful insight into the etiquette, diet and arrangement of dinner parties in the interwar years.

MS 383 A4000/6/1/13 Belgian soldiers and staff at Allington Manor

There are a number of small, but significant, collections that complement the papers of the first Duke of Wellington held by the University. The correspondence of Wellington to Sir John Malcolm (MS 308) was used in the compilation of Wellington’s Dispatches and fits perfectly with a second collection, that of the papers of Lieutenant Colonel John Gurwood (MS 321), who was the editor of the Dispatches.  Gurwood served under Wellington during the Peninsular War and distinguished himself leading the forlorn hopes at the storming at Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo.  His archive includes material on his military service, including letters to his mother, 1810-12, alongside the papers relating to his work for Wellington compiling the Dispatches.  Another interesting Wellington related collection (MS 351/6) contains the scrimshaw nautilus shell, engraved by C.H.Wood, depicting Wellington on one side and St George slaying the dragon on the other, produced in the 1850s, together with a number of Peninsular War and Waterloo related illustrations.

MS 351/6 A4170/2 Lithograph of Wellington at Waterloo

The papers of Alan Campbell-Johnson, a public relations specialist, who in February 1947 became the first and only press attaché to a Viceroy of India, represent a significant addition to the material held within the Broadands Archives (MS 62). Campbell-Johnson accompanied Lord Mountbatten for the transfer of power to the newly independent India and Pakistan and remained with Lord Mountbatten, while Mountbatten was the first Governor General of India. Campbell-Johnson sustained a connection with Mountbatten for the remainder of his life and his archive provides an insight into the management of the presentation of partition to the media and, in the long term, in the managing of historical reputation.

MS 328 A834/1/11//10 Frank Prince

Frank Templeton Prince was at one time a professor of English at the University of Southampton and his archive (MS 328) is just one of a number of collections with connections to the University. Prince was a poet of some renown, probably best remembered for his collection Soldiers Bathing (1954), the title poem of which is one of the most anthologised poems of the Second World War. He was admired by and influenced the New York school, a group of writers that flourished in the 1960s. His work has been somewhat overlooked more recently, however, and the archive has been a major resource in a reassessment of Prince’s poetry and legacy.

Finally, we turn to the Montse Stanley Knitting Collection. Montserrat Bayés Sopena was committed to bringing to a wider audience both creative knitting and the history of knitting. The Montse Stanley Knitting Collection at the Hartley Library comprises her working papers, photographs, postcards and illustrations (MS 331) together with a wide range of over 800 knitted objects and garments and small tools and sample yarns (MS 332): an invaluable resource for all aspects of knitting as well as for social history.

MS 332/50/10/3 Silk purse shaped as a pineapple

Printed material from the Montse Stanley collection now forms part of the Knitting Reference Library at the Winchester School of Art Library.

We hope that you enjoy looking through the catalogue descriptions and perhaps find that serendipity moment when you make a delightful discovery of something unexpected.

The Suez Crisis of 1956

The Suez Crisis began on 29 October 1956 when Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. The invasion took place in response to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s announcement in July 1956 of the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company and the closure of the canal to all Israeli shipping.

The Suez Canal Company was a joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the canal since its construction in 1869. The canal, an important maritime route connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, represented the main source of supply of oil for Britain and France. During the post-war period there had been an upsurge of nationalism in Egypt and, in the lead up to the crisis, there was mounting opposition to the political influence of European powers in the region.

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On 30 October, the day after the initial invasion by Israeli forces, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum for an end to hostilities. The ultimatum was rejected by Nassar and a week later, on the night of 5-6 November, British and French troops joined the Israeli invasion and quickly succeeded in taking control of the area around the canal.

However, while the invasion was a military success, it was a political disaster. Not only was there widespread outrage in Britain, the invasion was condemned internationally. Opposition was particularly strong in the United States which saw the action as opening the possibility of Russian intervention in the Middle East. In response to mounting international pressure, British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, was forced into calling a ceasefire on 7 November. A United Nations peacekeeping force was then sent in to supervise the ceasefire and to restore order following the withdrawal of British, French and Israeli troops.

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Special Collections holds material relating to both the canal and the crisis. Prior to 1869, the construction of the canal had been long under consideration. Proposals can be found discussed among the papers of Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston. In a letter from Lord Ponsonby, dated 26 March 1841, a scheme for cutting a canal across the Suez is outlined, as are the many serious political evils which may be a consequence of its execution. [MS 62 PP/ GC/PO/508] One of the key objections was the fear that the canal might interfere with Britain’s India trade. In the end, the British decided on an alternative railway connection linking Alexandria and Suez, via Cairo. The Suez Canal Company was later formed by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1858.

Memorandum from Sir G.C.Lewis, J.Campbell, Lord Argyll and Lord Granville, concerning the plans for a Suez canal, 23 January [1860] [MS 62 PP/GC/LE/124]

Lord Mountbatten was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet during the crisis. While he co-operated with preparations to send a naval force to the area, he protested against British military intervention, favouring psychological warfare and pressure from the United Nations. In a draft of a letter to Anthony Eden, dated 1 August 1956, Mountbatten strongly advises against the immediate use of force against Egypt, stressing that “the absolutely paramount consideration is the marshalling of world opinion on our side.” [MS 62 MB1/N106] The letter was vetoed by the First Lord and never sent.

The crisis had a fundamental impact on British politics: Britain’s prestige as a world power was dealt a severe blow, with Eden resigning from office on 9 January 1957.

The accession of King Edward VIII

Eighty years ago this week, the nation mourned the passing of King George V. His death, just before midnight on 20th January 1936, was followed the next day by the proclamation of the accession of King Edward VIII. Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David was born on 23 June 1894, the eldest child of the then Duke and Duchess of York, later George V and Queen Mary. Within the family he was always known as David.

Louis Mountbatten and Edward VIII in the garden at Adsdean, (Mountbatten’s home near Portsmouth) before a royal visit to the city, June 1936 [MB2/L20/1]

Edward was a popular Prince of Wales who gained celebrity status in the 1920s. He was charming and colourful – enjoyed nightclubbing, point-to-point racing, and golf – activities which he balanced with many royal and charitable duties. He was highly respected for his work with ex-servicemen’s associations and working men’s clubs in this country. Internationally, he undertook several royal tours which were hugely successful, attracting vast crowds and publicity worldwide. In the spring of 1920 he travelled on HMS Renown to Australia and New Zealand with his young cousin, Louis Mountbatten, who acted as his A.D.C. and companion on the tour.

The scale of the welcome they received on the Prince’s birthday at Sydney was staggering – 8,000 children gathered at the Sydney cricket ground to wish him ‘Many Happy Returns’:

[MB2/N5/104, 23 June 1920]

The close friendship between the cousins can be traced through many photographs in the Mountbatten collection. Louis accompanied Edward on another royal visit to India and Japan in 1921-2 and shortly after their return, the Prince acted as best man at Mountbatten’s wedding to Edwina Ashley. Naval service and royal duties intervened in the following years but in September 1936, they were relaxing together at Balmoral:

[MB2/L19/p.17 from left to right: Edward VIII; Mountbatten; Esmond Harmsworth; Mrs Rogers; Wallis Simpson; Gladys Buist; and Edwina Mountbatten, in the grounds of Balmoral]

After his abdication in December 1936, Edward took the title HRH the duke of Windsor, and was to spend much of his life abroad; Mountbatten continued to pursue his naval career, acting as Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, during WWII, and rising subsequently to be First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff.

Smile for the camera – it’s Christmas!

Sending photographs to loved ones at Christmas time has always been popular and there are some fine early examples in the Special Collections at the University of Southampton:

MB2/C3/185: (inside) group photo of Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia and their young family, Christmas 1902

This charming family photo show from left to right: Prince Waldemar (seated), Princess Irene (standing), Prince Henry (seated, with little Prince Henry on his lap) and Prince Sigismund (standing, dressed in a sailor suit). The photo is attached to a Christmas card which bears the embossed image of a sailing ship and the words:

“Viel Gluck zum Weinacht und Neujahr!”

The children in the photograph are Lord Mountbatten’s cousins – his mother, Princess Victoria, and Princess Irene, were sisters – daughters of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and the Rhine and his wife Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria. Irene has signed the card herself and written “In remembrance of Kiel on these days” – recalling memories of happy holidays in Germany.

There are many photo albums in the Mountbatten collection and there is plenty of evidence for cold snowy winters and holiday fun:

MB2/C7/4 Princess Louise of Battenberg tobogganing with her brother, Prince George

Here is a photo of Mountbatten’s sister, Princess Louise of Battenberg (nearest the camera) tobogganing with her brother, Prince George, probably in the grounds of Heiligenberg Castle, c.1908-9. The nineteenth-century castle, in Hesse, Germany, was the home of their grandparents and a favourite holiday destination.

This week we wish you all ‘happy holidays’ – a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!