| Description | This is a varied collection of material relating to the history of the Senhouse family compiled by Roger Senhouse and including some of his own personal papers such as his writings on philosophical matters, his notes on his social and professional life and current affairs.
Senhouse used what was originally an eighteenth century account book recording receipts of rents and references to members of the Senhouse family, to make notes and record events relative to the early years of the Second World War. Senhouse makes references, by use of their initials, to meetings with literary and political figures of the time eg. Robert Boothby, Lloyd George, Victor Gollancz, Kingsley Martin. Notes about political and military news are interspersed with jottings relating to business and social gatherings with literary figures of the day. He records a meeting with George Orwell, referred to as 'Blair', and their conversation about his works, publishers and his future plans. The volume also contains notes and an essay, of indeterminate date, on philosophy. Another essay on the philosophical and mathematical nature of time is also enclosed on loose sheets. Senhouse has also made extensive notes on the genealogy of the Senhouse family.
The collection also contains Senhouse family papers from the eighteenth century together with handwritten and typed notes by Roger Senhouse on the history of the Senhouse family, newspaper cuttings and printed material relating to the local area of the Senhouse estate in Cumberland, and Roger Senhouse's copy of a book by Edward Hughes 'North country life in the eighteenth century' Vol II Cumberland and Westmorland 1700- 1830, O.U.P. 1965, with annotations in Senhouse's hand.
The family letters include:
1. Letter to Humphrey Senhouse (1706-1770) from his father -in -law, Sir George Fleming, dated 30 Nov 1751, congratulating him on the birth of his son
2. Letter to Humphrey Senhouse (1731-1814) from Jean-Christian Curwen, dated Jan 1758, concerning agricultural matters
3. Letter from Humphrey Fleming Senhouse (1781-1841), St Bees, dated 7 May 1788, to his mother, Elizabeth
4. Letter from Edward Hooper Senhouse, undated, to his mother, Elizabeth
Miscellaneous papers include a drawing of the front elevation of Oddfellows Hall, Cockermouth, built in 1842, a receipt to Mrs. Wood from Alexander Kelty, jeweller, 15 Dec 1805 and part of a letter, showing only the address of Mrs Senhouse, Nether Hall from London 24 May 1804.
Other papers in the collection consist of handwritten and typescript notes on the history of the Senhouse family with transcriptions of family letters and a transcription, in Roger Senhouse's hand, of a petition to King James I from John Senhouse, a note of dates of birth of Sir Joseph Senhouse's children 1788-1808, a heavily annotated order of service on the retirement of the bishop of Carlisle 22 October 1966, a letter to Roger Senhouse from J.R.G. Poleman,dated 11 Sep 1966 concerning Senhouse family history and a photograph of two wine coolers. |
| Administrative History | Roger Senhouse (1899-1970) was a partner and editor at the publishers Secker and Warburg. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group and lover of Lytton Strachey. He inherited much of Lytton Strachey's library after his death in 1932. The Senhouses were one the major land owning families of Cumberland during the eighteenth century and had connections with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.
Source: www.slybrownfox.com (accessed 21 March 2007) |
| Custodial History | Former location: MSS 5/iv/9 and MSS 5/iv/10
Purchase of the diary or record of events recorded in University Librarian's Annual Report 1971/72 |