Contact details
Via SABRE.
Personal collection
NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.
- JW 01 William Rees Jeffreys, The King's Highway (1949)
- JW 02 Robert Caro, The Power Broker (1972)
- JW 03 Franz Seidler, Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs (1988)
- JW 04 Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936
- JW 05 William Plowden, The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970 (1972)
...more to be added later
Scuttlebutt
A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:
- Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07
- Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted
- PRO files to examine 2007-05-12
Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.
Raw notes files from archives visits
When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.
Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with [BQ] (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.
Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft Word format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original Word files.
Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: M = motorway; cttee = committee; bd = board; LBM = London-Birmingham Motorway; BBM = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; AP = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); BP = bypass; DC = dual carriageway; DRE = Divisional Road Engineer.
- LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24
- RJ 8/42
- RJ 25/25
- RJ 25/10
- RJ 16/3
- RJ 16/1
- LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07
- RJ 16/2
- RJ 5/7
- RJ 5/19
- RJ 8/5
- RJ 6/14
- RJ 6/3
- RJ 5/15
- LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14
- RJ 8/52
- RJ 6/18
- RJ 8/16
- RJ 8/6
- LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19
- RJ 8/13
- RJ 11/2
- RJ 13/13
- RJ 13/28
- RJ 8/29
- LSE Library Archives 2002-11-21
- LSE Library Archives 2002-11-25
- RJ 8/53
- RJ 8/54
- RJ 8/55
- RJ 8/38
- RJ 8/36
- LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04
- RJ 14/31
- RJ 14/36
- RJ 14/38
- RJ 8/36
- RJ 14/37
- LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20
- RJ 1/15
- RJ 1/12
- RJ 1/18
- RJ 1/20
- RJ 2/5
- LSE Library Archives 2003-01-23
- RJ 25/24
- RJ 25/16
- RJ 25/18
- RJ 25/22
- RJ 25/26
- LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12
- RJ 25/21
- RJ 14/46
- RJ 14/45
- RJ 14/58
- RJ 14/52
- National Archives 2003-03-04
- MT 116/2
- MT 113/46
- MT 95/496
- National Archives 2003-03-06
- MT 113/47
- BT 31/32680/205362
- MT 113/46
- MT 113/48
- National Archives 2003-03-11
- MT 95/53
- MT 116/15
- MT 95/494
- DSIR 12/323
- DSIR 12/474
- MT 117/109
- MT 95/506
- MT 95/501
- National Archives 2003-03-13
- MT 121/32
- MT 39/41
- MT 95/652
- MT 121/22
- National Archives 2003-03-18
- MT 39/38
- MT 39/556
- National Archives 2003-03-20
- MT 39/556
- MT 39/96
- MT 39/145
- National Archives 2003-04-01
- MT 39/295
- MT 39/294
- MT 95/531
- MT 39/465
- National Archives 2003-04-03
- MT 121/63
- National Archives 2003-04-08
- MT 39/147
- MT 39/657
- MT 39/554
- National Archives 2003-04-10
- MT 39/555
- MT 39/558
- MT 39/466
- National Archives 2003-04-15
- MT 116/3
- MT 39/465
- National Archives 2003-04-22
- MT 39/41
- National Archives 2003-04-24
- BT 31/30394/235508
- BT 31/33164/246553
- BT 56/20
- MT 39/556
- National Archives 2003-05-13
- MT 39/305
- MT 39/468
- MT 39/152
- National Archives 2003-05-15
- MT 89/217
- MT 120/51
- MT 100/12
- MT 95/384
- MT 95/831
- MT 95/900
- National Archives 2003-05-20
- MT 106/331
- MT 95/605
- DSIR 12/257
- MT 95/604
- MT 112/392
- FCO 76/360
- MT 95/606
- MT 95/690
- AY 26/148
- MT 112/351
- MT 95/689
- National Archives 2003-05-22
- MT 95/606
- MT 113/108
- MT 113/99
- MT 126/1
- MT 95/537
- MT 95/632
- National Archives 2003-05-27
- MT 55/338
- MT 39/516
- MT 39/537
- MT 120/61
- MT 95/894
- MT 95/709
- T 228/424
- MT 95/642
- COU 6/128
- National Archives 2003-05-29
- MT 121/70
- MT 121/71
- MT 121/517
- MT 106/331
- MT 109/188
- MT 152/120
- MT 152/121
- MT 121/308
- MT 118/122
- National Archives 2003-06-05
- DSIR 12/189
- DSIR 12/188
- DSIR 28/520
- ZLIB 12/123
- MT 120/95
- MT 120/96
- FCO 76/580
- FCO 371/136050
- National Archives 2003-06-10
- DSIR 12/95
- DSIR 12/96
- DSIR 12/97
- MT 95/743
- MT 95/744
- MT 95/742
- MT 95/335
- MT 95/7
- MT 95/992
- MT 95/8
- MT 95/200
- MT 95/915
- National Archives 2003-06-12
- MT 95/1018
- DSIR 12/174
- MT 148/32
- MT 95/301
- MT 95/309
- BD 30/28
- MT 106/427
- MT 121/409
- LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06
- RJ 8/6
- RJ 16/1
- National Archives 2003-10-07
- MT 95/606
- MT 113/108
- MT 39/556
- National Archives 2003-10-14
- PRO 30/69/450
- MT 95/605
- DSIR 27/101
- DSIR 27/138
- MT 95/709
- National Archives 2003-10-09
- DSIR 12/294
- FO 371/101715
- FO 1020/1835
- LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11
- RJ 14/19
- RJ 14/37
- RJ 14/38
- National Archives 2003-10-21
- DSIR 28/218
- National Archives 2003-10-28
- FO 1014/1083
- FO 1013/1068
- DSIR 12/292
- DSIR 28/227
- DSIR 28/208
- DSIR 28/207
- National Archives 2004-02-17
- BT 31/26776/176801
- BT 31/29965/224416
- National Archives 2004-04-08
- MT 95/482
- National Archives 2007-03-20
- MT 95/650
- MT 95/296
- MT 95/651
- MT 106/188
- National Archives 2007-03-22
- MT 121/366
- MT 120/91
- MT 123/59
- MT 152/1
- MT 152/2
- MT 34/119
- MT 34/266
- MT 95/301
- MT 95/831
- National Archives 2012-02-09
- RAIL 418/209
- RAIL 418/208
- DSIR 12/190
- DSIR 12/183
- DSIR 12/186
- RAIL 423/1
- RAIL 423/2
- RAIL 423/6
- National Archives 2012-02-14
- MT 45/17
- MT 39/502
- RAIL 418/104
- RAIL 418/105
- MT 95/135
- MT 95/133
- T 228/219
- T 228/397
- T 228/497
- MT 95/161
- MT 95/262
- MT 95/160
- MT 95/482
- MT 95/494
- MT 95/284
- RAIL 418/103
- RAIL 418/102
- National Archives 2012-02-16
- T 228/555
- T 228/556
- T 228/560
- T 228/562
- MT 95/900
- MT 95/1001
- MT 45/22
- T 230/366
- T 230/352
- T 230/351
- MT 49/151
- MT 39/505
- MT 39/506
- National Archives 2012-02-23
- T 162/660
- Cambridge University Library 2012-03-02
- SB D.3.11
- National Archives 2012-03-06
- MT 45/17
- MT 95/132
- National Archives 2012-03-08
- CAB 117/183
- MT 74/1
- MT 74/2
- National Archives 2012-03-13
- CAB 117/244
- National Archives 2012-03-15
- MT 112/159
- BT 59/24
- MT 117/35
- National Archives 2012-03-20
- MT 95/294
- MT 74/2
- National Archives 2012-03-22
- MT 120/96
- MT 39/299
- MT 110/3
- National Archives 2012-03-27
- T 161/169
- T 161/560
- T 161/577
- MT 117/109
- National Archives 2012-03-29
- DSIR 12/318
- MT 6/3397
- MT 39/656
Whose initials are these?
This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of Roads and Road Construction, and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.
- MT
- CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
- RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
- FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
- EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"
- T
- BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)
