Papers of Gledhill Stanley Blatch

The collection comprises correspondence, press cuttings, reports and political propaganda material collected by Gledhill Blatch. The material relates largely to the Ethiopian situation in the 1970's and 1980's and covers topics such as the famine and refugee situation, questions of religious discrimination and the Mengistu regime.

Gledhill Stanley Blatch was born in 1916. He worked for Unilever in the cocoa trade on the Gold Coast between 1937-1938, and then during World War II served the British Government as an intelligence officer. He remained in Germany after the War, attached to the British Forces, until his retirement in 1979. He died in 1987.

From the early 1960's, Gledhill Blatch developed an active interest in Ethiopian affairs, visiting Eritrea regularly before the fighting became too intense and his own health began to fail. His original interest was in the history and archaeology of the country, but as his knowledge and circle of acquaintances grew, he developed an interest in its socio-political affairs.

The collection is divided into 5 main sections: Personal correspondence; Ethiopia; Somalia; Sudan; miscellaneous. Within each section, material has been arranged chronologically. The Ethiopian material, comprising the bulk of the collection, has been further sub-divided into Ethiopian history and socio- political sections.

Open

The material was bequeathed to the School by Gledhill Blatch, and deposited following his death in 1987.

Unpublished handlist

Collection of books on Ethiopia also donated to SOAS Library.