Lawrence, Charles

Scope and Content

Papers collated by Charles Lawrence relating to his interests in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, 1826-1845, comprising the following:
Papers relating to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1826-1842, including four letters from Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre, to Charles Lawrence, Chairman of the Railway, 1826-30, concerning the Company's Bill in the House of Lords; a summons to Lawrence to give evidence before Parliamentary Committee of 1826 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill; material relating to William Huskisson, such as a printed notice regarding his election (1830), a printed copy of the inscription on Huskisson's memorial tablet and a letter to Lawrence regarding the monument erected to Huskisson's memory (1836), as well as letters from C.Heming, Emma Stanley, Countess of Derby (1830), George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (1835) and Robert Benson Dockray (1835) regarding his death; names and numbers of all locomotive engines on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to 1 Mar 1836; statistics of tonnage carried, arranged by subjects, 1830-1836, probably prepared for the Board of Trade; names and numbers of locomotive engines on the Railway to 18 Jan 1837; an abstract of locomotive expenses, 1841; a letter from Edward Woods to Lawrence giving the state of the company's stock of locomotive engines to 31 Dec 1842.
Papers relating to the Grand Junction Railway, 1840-1845, including a report by John Moss, Chairman of the Board of the Grand Junction Railway Company, on the creation of shares, adopted 20 May 1840; a draft agreement in the hand of George Carr Glynn for the amalgamation of the London and Birmingham and Grand Junction Railway Companies, 1845.

Administrative / Biographical History

Charles Lawrence was Chairman of the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Company from 1826-1830.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was established in 1826. The Railway, a stretch of track 31 miles long linking the two cities, was opened on 15 September 1830, though the opening was marred by the death of William Huskisson MP when he was accidentally hit by the Rocket .
The Grand Junction Railway Company was established in 1833 to build a line linking Birmingham to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It opened in 1837.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway merged with the Grand Junction Railway in 1845. The following year, Grand Junction was merged with the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway to form the London and North Western Railway.

Arrangement

As given in the Scope and Content.

Access Information

Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Uncatalogued material may not be seen. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Acquisition Information

Bought from Forster's Bookshop in 1963 as an addition to the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature.

Other Finding Aids

Collection level description.

Archivist's Note

Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.