| Description | Correspondence, press cuttings, sketch maps, and notes belonging to John Major concerning research on Egyptian origins of English placenames. Includes letters to John Major from James Rendel Harris and Eric Wills.
/1 Notes counting essays by James Rendel Harris (2 pages)
/2 Letter to John Major from Eric [Wills], 11 June 1941
/3 Exercise book from 'Leigh Grammar School' filled with pencil notes [?by John Major] including a page about 'Lancashire Folk Lore'
/4 Cutting of an article abour Aaron's Breastplate by James Rendel Harris from 'The British Weekly', 11 June 1908
/5 Letter from James Rendel Harris to Thomas Hodgkin, 30 June 1907
/6 Letter from James Rendel Harris addressed 'Dear Boy', 1 July 1933
/7 Letter from James Rendel Harris to John [Major], 15 January 1934
/8 Undated manuscript notes about new states in Central [Eastern] Europe
/9 Postcard from E. [Eric] Wills to John Major, 19 July 1941
/10 Undated manuscript notes about 'Place Names of Oldham District'
/11 Letter to John [Major] from E. W. [Eric Wills], 23 September 1941
/12 Sketch maps
/13 Notes of English counties and rivers on reverse of a subscription form for 'The Lakeland Dialect Society'
/14 Notes entitled 'Keltic Words', detailing Egyptian origins of UK river names
/15 Letter to John [Major] [probably from Eric Wills] about etymology, 8 June 1942
/16 Notes entitled 'Keltic Race'
/17 List of place names and local churches beginning with D, on reverse of programme from Leigh Girls' Grammar School Prize Distribution, 20 May 1942
/18 List of essays by James Rendel Harris
/19 Notes entitled 'Manors of Cardiff'
/20 Notes entitled 'Age of the Saints'
/21 Notes entitled 'Place names of Northumberland and Durham'
/22 Notes entitled 'Budge's Lexicon [E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptologist]
/23 Notes entitled 'Scottish Folk Lore'
/24 Letter to J. B. R. [?John Bull Ridges] from John W. M. [John William Major]
/25 Page from essay about traces of Ancient Egypt in Lancashire
/26 Notes about Pagan Hermitages in Ireland and England
/27 Notes about 'Egypt and Abyssinia' by James Rendel Harris in the 'Hibbert Journal', January 1937
/28 Notes about the etymology of English place names
/29 Notes about the etymology of English place and river names. Notes are written on glassine paper with a Boots chemist stamp
/30 Notes about Egyptian origins of English place names
/31 Notes about the etymology of English place names. Notes are written on paper entitled 'Cash Account - July-September'
/32 Letter to John [Major] from E. W. [Eric Wills], 25 November 1936
/33 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 17 July 1936
/34 Notes about European etymology and linguistics
/35 Notes entitled 'Winwick: its History and Antiquities'
/36 Notes entitled 'Early Britain by Prof Fleure', 23 September 1935
/37 Letter to John [Major] from Eric F. Wills, 1 March 1937
/38 Notes entitled 'Representation of a Pig: Winwick Church'
/39 Notebook entitled 'Aegyptologia' with enclosures
/40 Letter to John [Major] from E. F. W. [Eric F. Wills], 30 December 1937
/41 Two letters attached together to John [Major] from E. F. W. [Eric F. Wills], 4 January 1938, 9 January 1938
/42 Letter to John [Major] from E. [Eric] F. Wills, 1 May 1942
/43 Letter to John [Major] from Eric F. Wills, 31 October 1937
/44 Letter to John [Major] from E. [Eric] F. Wills, 19 April 1942
/45 Letter to John [Major] from James Rendel Harris, 4 November 1936
/46 Notebook entitled 'Inter: B. Sc. Ethnology et Aegyptology'
/47 Cutting entitled 'Early Irish Metal-Workers: Important Discoveries in County Cork Excavations', 11 October 1937
/48 Cutting entitled 'Manchester University Group's Manx Studies: A New Type of Stone Circle in Marown Parish', 17 November 1937
/49 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 22 February 1938
/50 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 2 July 1935
/51 Letter to H. D. [John Major] from James Rendel Harris, 10 March 1934
/52 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 2 June 1937
/53 Letter to Mr [John] Major from H. T. [Helen Travers] Sherlock, 5 December 1935
/54 Letter to H. D. [John Major] from James Rendel Harris, 9 May 1934
/55 Letter from William Jones, 26 August 1935
/56 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 9 January 1934
/57 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 30 June 1937
/58 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 16 February 1934
/59 Letter to John [Major] from James Rendel Harris, 28 May 1934
/60 Letter to H. D. [John Major] from James Rendel Harris, 6 December 1934
/61 Letter to John [Major] from James Rendel Harris, 29 April 1933
/62 Letter to John [Major] from James Rendel Harris, 22 April 1933
/63 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 8 January 1935
/64 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 28 October 1935
/65 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 15 December 1937
/66 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 29 May 1934
/67 Letter to John Major from James Rendel Harris, 17 March 1934
/68 Notes about etymology of place names
/69 'Don Adriana's Letter' by Edward D. Johnson, 1948
/70 Letter to John Major from E. [Eric] F. Wills, 26 September 1937 |
| Administrative History | John William Major was married to James Rendel Harris's niece, Katherine M Ridges. She was the daughter of Harris's sister Blanche Octavia Harris, and her husband John Bull Ridges. John Major appears to have corresponded regularly with James Rendel Harris. John was also brother-in-law to Eric F Wills, another regular correspondent of Harris's. Wills was married to Helen Irene Ridges, sister of Katherine.
John Major was born in 1895, and died in February 1966, aged 70. |