BOTTOMLEY, Arthur George, 1907-1995, Baron Bottomley MP

This collection contains correspondence, papers, notes for speeches, pamphlets, circulars and press cuttings relating to Bottomley's visits to Burma (for the Panglong Conference) Kenya, Ghana, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Ethiopia and Rhodesia. There are also articles and correspondence concerning the Rhodesian situation and race relations, photographs of official occasions, including press and official photographs of British Commonwealth occasions, many showing Arthur Bottomley, 1950s-1960s, and a diary of the Parliamentary Delegation to India in 1946.

Arthur George Bottomley, 1907-1995, was educated at Gamuel Road Council School and took extension classes at Toynbee Hall. He entered politics in 1929 as a councillor in the Borough of Walthamstow, holding the office of mayor 1945-1946. He was the Labour Party MP for Chatham Division of Rochester 1945-1950, for Rochester and Chatham, 1950-1959, for Middlesborough East, 1962-1974, and for Teeside, Middlesborough 1974-1983. His Parliamentary career focused on trade and the Commonwealth. His positions included Parliamentary Under-Secretary for State for the Dominions, 1947-1951; Secretary for Overseas Trade, Board of Trade, 1947-1951; Chairman of the Commonwealth Relations and Colonies Group of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1963; Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, 1964 - 1966; and Minister for Overseas Development, 1966 - 1967. He also participated in many government missions and delegations overseas during the course of his career. He was created a life peer in 1984.

There is no system of arrangement. The items are box-listed.

Open

There was an additional accession on 22 February 1992 (Accession No: M 1736) from Arthur Bottomley via Megnad Desai of one packet of photographs of British Commonwealth occasions.

Printed handlist and online catalogue available.

Output from CAIRS using template 14 and checked by hand on January 1, 2002

Oxford University: Rhodes House Library holds correspondence of Bottomley on colonial issues, 1945-1955 (Ref: MSS Brit Emp s 365); British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections holds Bottomley's memoir on Burma, c1945-1947 (Ref: MSS Eur E 362).

Copyright is held by the donor.