Papers of William Richard Morris, Viscount Nuffield, 1877-1963

Scope and Content

The archive collection for William Morris, Lord Nuffield, is not a systematically kept record of his life and work, but rather an accumulation of items of disparate origins. There are business and personal papers, photographs, tickets from cruises and much correspondence; clearly documenting his life as a great industrialist and philanthropist. His donations book in particular illustrates just how much he gave away, to a variety of good causes.

Administrative / Biographical History

Born William Richard Morris, Lord Nuffield was born on 10 October 1877 and died 22 August 1963. He is most famously known as the founder of Morris Motors Ltd., and as a philanthropist who used his wealth from the motoring industry to benefit medical and educational causes. He is the founder of Nuffield College, Oxford, specialising in the social sciences and the Nuffield Foundation and Nuffield Trust. (Source: Nuffield College - https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/about-the-college/lord-nuffield/ )

Arrangement

By boxes as follows: Family and personal, Business, Personalia, Benefactions, Honours, Biographical and historical, Portraits and other photographic material, Lady Nuffield, Lord Nuffield's death and centenary (including Longwall garage and Huntercombe Golf Club), Cash books and ledgers, Trusts, Nuffield Place, Legal (Morris Industries), Gifts of iron lungs, Supplementary material.

Access Information

By prior appointment only. Application in writing (letter or email) to the Assistant Librarian (Archives). See Nuffield College Archives location page for more details.

Other Finding Aids

The handlist for the Lord Nuffield collection can be found [online] Link: https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/library/special-collection-and-archives/archive/

Custodial History

The Lord Nuffield papers were deposited from several sources at different times and can be split into 5 distinct strands: 1) Papers from LN's home, 2) Small amount of material from biographers Phillip Andrews & Elizabeth Brunner, 3) Centenary celebration materials collected by Sir Norman Chester and Dorothy Siberston (curator of Nuffield Place) in 1977, 4) Miss Ena Berry, secretary to Carl Kingerlee (Lord Nuffield's private secretary), presented a collection of cash books and material relating to the trusts established by Lord Nuffield, and 5) Lord Nuffield's solicitors, Messrs Herbert and Gowers, gave some items from their files.