Letterbooks of George Thompson, compiled by Amelia Chesson

Scope and Content

4 bound volumes containing extracts from letters to Anne Thompson, Elizabeth Pease (later Nichol) and others, accompanied by and mostly incorporated within Amelia Chesson's own text; including extracts from many letters held in the Raymond English collection (REAS/2), and about 100 whose whereabouts are unknown; arranged broadly but not strictly chronologically, with overlapping dates between volumes; some letters from people other than George Thompson; the subject matter of the letters in each volume is essentially the same as that of the letters in REAS/2, including GT's personal life and tours in Britain, radical politics in Britain (notably the anti-slavery movement and the Anti-Corn Law League, as well as the Chartist movement and the Irish land question), details of GT's visits to America (1864-1865) and especially India (1843, 1856-1858), and matters related to the anti-slavery movement there.

Transcribed in Amelia Chesson's hand.

Arrangement

the notebooks themselves are not dated; for the identification, date, provenance, compilation and arrangement of their contents, with chronological transcriptions, notes and an index for those letters not held in this collection, see REAS/3/5.