Lady Margaret Sackville: private correspondence received from James Ramsay MacDonald

RW 1

1913-1928

This series contains formerly private letters which are almost exclusively those written to Lady Margaret Sackville by James Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Party leader and statesman, who became Prime Minister in 1924 and 1929. They indicate the close personal relationship that had existed between them.

The records have been arranged chronologically.

Not Public Record(s)

English

9 bundle(s)

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Eric Winterbottom

Topics

Personal and family papers

The letters were the property of Lady Margaret Sackville until her death in 1963. There was no reference to these letters in the will of Lady Margaret Sackville. Therefore, as part of the unadministered estate they were held by the Midland Bank Trustee Company, Cheltenham, under the control of local manager Mr Eric Winterbottom until his retirement on 1970, after which date he continued the custody of these records at his personal dwelling. In early 1989, Mr Winterbottom sent the letters to the Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) to arrange for the future appropriate custody of these letters. They remained in the custody of the HMC until April 2003 when The National Archives (TNA) was formed. They have remained at TNA since this date.

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Margaret Sackville was born in 1881, to the 7th Earl De La Warr. As a poet and childrens' author, she joined the anti-war Union of Democratic Control in 1914. Her aunt and uncle, Muriel De La Warr and Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, were also involved in the peace movement. During the war she publiched a collection of poems entitled ' The Pageants of War' (1916). Her brother, the 8th Earl De La Warr, was killed in action in 1915.

After the First World War, Lady Margaret continued her literary career writing numerous poetry, plays and fiction books. Lady Margaret Sackville died in Cheltenham, England, in 1963.