| Description | This collection consists of George Dixon's correspondence with John Bright MP (1811-1889) between 1867 and 1888 when they were fellow Liberal MPs representing Birmingham, a series of diary letters written by Dixon to his daughter, Maggie [Helen Margaret Dixon], during a visit to New Zealand he undertook in 1888 with his son, James, including a, probably twentieth century, typescript transcript of these letters. Other correspondence in the collection includes a letter from Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) to Dixon 1894 and to his daughter, 1894-1897 and one letter from Jesse Collings MP (1831-1920) to Dixon's daughter, Maggie, in 1896. |
| Administrative History | George Dixon was a Birmingham businessman, and local and national politician. He entered Rabone Brothers, a foreign mercantile house in Birmingham in 1838, becoming a partner in 1844, and was ultimately head of the firm. He entered the Birmingham town council in 1863 and was mayor in 1866. He took an active interest in questions of popular education and was a member of first Birmingham School Board in 1870. He was re-elected in 1873 and 1876 and served as its chairman, 1876-97. He assisted in forming Birmingham Education Aid Society, and, in 1868, with Joseph Chamberlain, John Sandford (1801-1873), George Dawson (1821-1876), and Robert William Dale, the National Education League, of which he was first president, 1869. He was Liberal MP for Birmingham, 1867-76; and MP (Liberal Unionist) for Edgbaston division of Birmingham, 1885 until his death in 1898.
George Dixon married Mary Stansfeld (1832-1885) in 1855 and they had six children, Arthur (b 1856), Helen Margaret (b 1858) Kate (b 1861), Charles (b 1869), James (b 1865), Dora (b 1871).
Reference: The Concise Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 1992). |
| Custodial History | The provenance of the collection is unknown. Used to be ref: GD. |