Reg Groves Papers

Minutes, correspondence, and pr. matter re the formation of the British Left Opposition, 1929-33; correspondence, addresses, and cuttings as Labour parliamentary candidate, 1938-59; MS. and pr. writings by Groves, with related correspondence and collected materials, re various aspects of British socialist and labour history, 1910-76, and Groves' published biography of Rev. Conrad Noel. (MSS.172).

Born in 1908, Reg Groves' early work experience included a variety of jobs, for example messenger boy, temporary railway porter and Post Office engineering trainee, and he did not become a professional journalist until 1934.He was well known as a pioneering member of the British Section of the International Left Opposition, as a Labour party candidate, and as the author of a number of books on socialist history. He died in 1988.

One of Groves' works was a biography of the Christian Socialist, Rev. Conrad Noel (1869-1942). Ordained in the Church of England in 1894, from 1907 Noel was the organising secretary of the Church Socialist League. He also founded the Catholic Crusade in 1918. A writer of several books, including The Battle of the Flags (1922) and Jesus the Heretic (1939), he was vicar at Thaxted in Essex from 1910.

Reference: Finding aid for MSS.172

Open

Those journals and periodicals within the collection that do not belong in an archival context were transferred to the university library. Authority files exist for Reg Groves (GB 152 AAR0940) and Rev. Conrad Noel (GBR 0152 AAR0941).

The collection was purchased by the Centre in 1977-80.

• November 1989, Christian Socialist material;
• May 1990, Miscellaneous correspondence.