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In 1938, thanks to years of work by a remarkable female agent, MI5 ensured a package of British defence plans stayed secret.
Series
Charles Purton Cooper: Collection
Catalogue reference: PRO 30/41
What's it about?
PRO 30/41
Most of this collection (PRO 30/41/4, and 6-29) is composed of volumes of French diplomatic papers. Many of them are originals, and others may be entry books made for contemporary administrative purposes. The papers are mainly from embassies by...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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PRO 30/41
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Title (The name of the record)
- Charles Purton Cooper: Collection
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Date (When the record was created)
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1527-1720
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Description (What the record is about)
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Most of this collection (PRO 30/41/4, and 6-29) is composed of volumes of French diplomatic papers. Many of them are originals, and others may be entry books made for contemporary administrative purposes. The papers are mainly from embassies by the following diplomats:
- Jean de Bellay Abel Servien, marquis de Sablé:
- Antoine Lefèvre de la Boderie
- Duc d'Angoulême
- L'abbé de St Nicholas
- Henri-Auguste de Loménie, comte de Brienne
- Henri-Charles Arnauld, l'abbé de Pompone
- Charles-Jean-Baptiste Fleuriau, comte de Morville.
The other items in the collection are mostly nineteenth century transcripts of medieval documents in Flanders and France, although PRO 30/41/1 does include five original printed ordinances from the Low Countries, between 1564 and 1626.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
This bequest was listed by the Librarian of Lincoln's Inn as 234 pieces, some consisting of several volumes.
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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See also the Cooper papers in PRO 30/10
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Separated material (A cross-reference between records that are related by provenance but now kept separately)
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Further material from the original bequest is with various recipients, notably Lincoln's Inn Library.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Not Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
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English
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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29 volume(s)
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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Royal Historical Society in 1938
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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Charles Purton Cooper (1793-1873), lawyer and antiquary, was an avid collector of books and manuscripts. As Secretary to the Record Commission (1831-1837), he bought and printed so many books that the commission overspent its parliamentary vote by £24,000. By 1843 he had presented over two thousand volumes of civil and foreign legal works to Lincoln's Inn.
Failing to achieve public office, or to gain support for a project to digest all the extant law reports, he retired to Boulogne, where he died. On his death he left a voluminous collection of correspondence books and papers to Lincoln's Inn.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C11987/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
96,787 records
Within the department: PRO
Domestic Records of the Public Record Office, Gifts, Deposits, Notes and Transcripts
You are currently looking at the series: PRO 30/41
Charles Purton Cooper: Collection
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