UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: BL
• Former Archival Reference: Historical Collection 191
• Ref No: BL
• Date: 1720-1990
• Level: Fonds
• Extent: 126 series; 1062 files
• Creator Name: Law, Andrew, Bonar, 1858-1923, politician
• Administrative or Biographical History: Andrew Bonar Law was born in New Brunswick on 16 September 1858, of a Scottish mother and Irish father, who was a Presbyterian minister of the Free Church of Scotland in Canada. In 1870 an aunt took Bonar Law back to Glasgow where he started a career in business, but he always entertained political ambitions and finally entered Parliament as Unionist MP for the Blackfriars division of Glasgow in 1900. He lost the seat in 1906 but quickly found another, safer seat in Dulwich. He rose rapidly through the ranks of the Unionist Party and, following Joseph Chamberlain, became a leading spokesman on tariff reform. He became leader of the Unionist Party in 1911, and subsequently served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1915, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1916-1918, Leader of the House of Commons 1916-1921, and finally, with Beaverbrook's backing, Prime Minister in 1922, after the fall of Lloyd George. When he died in the following year he left all his papers to Beaverbrook in his will.
• Acquisition: In April 1975, as a result of the closure of the Beaverbrook Library, the Bonar Law Papers (along with most of the contents of that Library), were deposited in the House of Lords Record Office. Bonar Law's grandson, Bonar Sykes presented further papers to the House of Lords Records Office in two deposits. The first was in 1992 (Accession 2727; BL/122-BL/124) and the second was a bequest to the HLRO in 1998 (Accession 3504; Historical Collection 433; BL/125)
• Category: Personal/Political Papers
• Description: The Bonar Law papers provide a great deal of interest, particularly in relation to the Unionist Party and Unionist opinion between 1911 and 1923, as virtually all prominent Unionists wrote constantly to their leader at that time. Major topics covered include party organisation, tariff reform, the Irish question, the conduct of the war, relations with the Coalition Liberals and post-war home and foreign policy.
  The first seventeen series consist of family, personal and business correspondence and papers from about 1881. The family correspondence includes: letters from his aunt Janet Kidston, from his children, their teachers and tutors, and from personal friends and letters of sympathy on the death of his wife (1909), his mother (1914), and his two elder sons, James and Charles, both of whom were killed in action in 1917. The business papers contain: two early notebooks of business expenses (1881-1894), a diary of a business trip to Belgium in 1889, and various other account books and correspondence relating to Bonar Law's investments in the General Life Assurance Company, General Accident Insurance Company, Royal Securities Corporation (Beaverbrook's company), and Clydesdale Bank, amongst others. Four series contain miscellaneous personal papers including some photographs, domestic account books, the children's school reports and one bundle of papers relating to the administration of Bonar Law's estate, 1924-1930. Finally, there is one series of correspondence and papers relating to his Rectorship of the University of Glasgow, 1914-1922.
  
  BL/18 to BL/22 relate to Bonar Law as a member of Parliament, 1901-1923, and include: letters from Hicks-Beach, Balfour, Joseph and Austen Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, L S Amery, Walter Long, Hamilton Benn, Edward Goulding (Later Lord Wargrave), J L Garvin, H A Gwynne, L T Maxse of the National Review, Asquith, Beaverbrook, Northcliffe, Derby, Curzon, Lansdowne, Robert Cecil and many others. The topics covered are equally diverse, ranging from tariff reform and party affairs to licensing, the Osborne judgement, women's suffrage and the Clyde strike of 1906. There are a few notebooks and drafts of speeches, some papers on the Licensing Bill and Port of London Bill, 1908, Trade Unions, and two boxes of constituency correspondence.
  
  BL/23 relates to Bonar Law as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1902-1905, and is followed by twenty-six boxes of correspondence and papers, including press-cuttings and speech notes, concerning his leadership of the Unionist Party, 1911-1915. These contain very important material and no student of the period can afford to overlook them. They cover every topic of the day, as well as Unionist Party affairs, giving valuable insight into party opinion, and the correspondents include, as well as all prominent Unionists: leading members of the Liberal Party, such as Asquith and Lloyd George, literary figures and journalists such as Northcliffe, St Loe Strachey and of course Beaverbrook.
  
  BL/50 to BL/64 relate to Bonar Law as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1915-1916. In this post he was concerned with the Irish Rebellion, the Jacks case in 1915, relations with the Dominions during the war and the conduct of the war generally, as well as Unionist Party matters, organisation of the Government and war cabinet, and relations with the Coalition Liberals.
  The papers relating to the period when Bonar Law was Chancellor of the Exchequer, include correspondence about the distribution of government posts and honours, and official letters to the King on the day to day proceedings in the Commons. There is very little semi-official Exchequer correspondence - just one series - but there are eleven series of Cabinet papers and five of general political correspondence. With Bonar Law virtually in the position of a second Prime Minister, the papers of this, and the following section are extremely rich in material, covering every aspect of British politics.
  
  From 1918 to 1921, as Lord Privy Seal, (while retaining his leadership of the House of Commons), Bonar Law remained at the centre of government and became a very important influence in the peace conferences. Issues during this period include Ireland, the Marconi Company, mines, the Cabinet Reconstruction of 1919, national expenditure, Scottish and Welsh Churches and the King's Speech.
  For Bonar Law's short period out of office there is one series - BL/107 - of general correspondence leaving only nine series for the twelve months of his premiership. Topics covered include British war losses, broadcasting, the cattle embargo, devolution, education, housing, foreign policy and Ireland, the League of Nations, licensing, pensions, the Pope, and the Reparations Conference. The last two series contain additional papers received from Beaverbrook and the executors of Baldwin who had removed them at some stage. They include further material on Irish affairs, on agriculture, the Imperial and Economic Conference (1923), and the House of Lords Reform.
  
  In addition to the papers there are two volumes of press cuttings from all the daily and weekly papers on Bonar Law's speech about War loans, made on 30 September, 1918, at the Guildhall, London, there is also one large carton of parchment scrolls of illuminated addresses to Bonar Law, mostly delivered to him by the various Irish Unionist organisations at a mass meeting of Irish Unionists on 9 April 1912 at Balmoral, just outside Belfast.
• Terms:
  • Political leadership,
  • Politicians,
  • Conservatism,
  • Defence,
  • Finance,
  • Trade unions,
  • Tariffs,
  • Ireland,
  • Press,
  • Trade,
  • Colonialism,
  • Womens suffrage,
  • Scotland,
  • Wales,
  • First World War (1914-1918),
• Language: English
• System of Arrangement: The papers are arranged according to the various divisions of Bonar Law's political career, and have been given a series (box)/file, folder and item number. The correspondence is divided into In-letters and Out-letters and from 1915 is further sub-divided into semi-official and general correspondence. Following the correspondence there are the semi-official and official papers, including Cabinet papers when Bonar Law was in office. BL/50 to BL/64 are concerned with Bonar Law as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1915-1916, and here the papers are divided into semi-official and general correspondence, official and unofficial papers and Cabinet papers. BL/65 to BL/85, relating to the period when Bonar Law was Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1916-1918, are arranged in a similar way except that there is a further sub-division of correspondence and papers relating specifically to his position as Leader of the House of Commons. The arrangement of the papers for his period as Lord Privy Seal (BL/86 to BL/106), is the same as before except for the reappearance of the sub-division `Leader of the Unionist Party', and a new `Special Series' of correspondence and papers which relate to Ireland, the Marconi Company, mines, the Cabinet Reconstruction of 1919, national expenditure, Scottish and Welsh Churches and the King's Speech. BL/107 relates to Bonar Law's short period out of office. Here the correspondence has been arranged differently with one series of general political correspondence, followed by a `special series' of Ministers' letters, correspondence concerning appointments and the 1922 General Election, confidential correspondence with government departments and ministers, and correspondence with particularly prominent figures such as Beaverbrook, Balfour, Sir John Simon and Ramsey Macdonald. The special series then continues with subject filing. Several series of additional material from subsequent donations have been added to the end of the fonds.
  
• Related Material: A number of Bonar Law 'office' papers and correspondence are in the Davidson Papers (DAV/). Papers of Lady Sarah Melville (nee Tugander), secretary to Andrew Bonar Law 1907-1916, are in MEL. Tyne and Wear Archives Service holds the records of Sir James Melville MP and Lady Sarah Melville (their ref: DL.MEL) which include papers relating to Bonar Law.
• Legal Status: Private
• Access Status: Open
• Reproduction Conditions: Permission to reproduce the Bonar Law Papers should be sought from the Clerk of the Records of the House of Lords Record Office, Parliamentary Archives, London SW1A 0PW.
• Physical Description: This collection was declipped and conserved by NADFAS volunteers in 2002-2003.
• Finding Aids: There is a card index of names and subjects which has also been reproduced (typescript only) in volume form and is available in the Search Room of the Parliamentary Archives.

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