The Papers of Sir Archibald Hurd

Curriculum Vitae:

13 Aug 1869: Born, son of William Hurd, solicitor

1899-1928: On editorial staff of Daily Telegraph

1921-1929: Author of the Official History of the Merchant Navy in the War of 1914-19

1922-1928: Joint Editor of Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual; Contributor of naval and other articles to Fortnightly Review, Nineteenth Century and other English and American publications. Author of numerous books, including The Sea Traders (1922); The Reign of the Pirates (1925); State Socialism in Practice (1925); The Islanders (1926); The Eclipse of British Sea Power (1933); The Battle of the Seas (1941); Who Goes There? (1942); Britannia Has Wings! (1942)

1928: Knighted

1942-1945: Member of Council of Institution of Naval Architects; Honorary Member R.U.S.I.; Vice-President British Sailors Society Executive Committee National Library for the Blind

20 June 1959: Died

The first deposit of 8 boxes, HURD 1, is extremely interesting because Hurd corresponded with many of the leading figures of his time, particularly in the maritime world. Amongst his correspondence are preserved 142 letters from Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher of Kilverstone, dating from 1905 to 1920; 52 letters from Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon, dating from 1918 to 1939 and 91 letters to Hurd from Admiral Lord Jellicoe, as well as details of the agreement between Hurd, Jellicoe and the publishers for the writing of Jellicoe's book on the Great War and portions of the annotated typescript of this work.

Hurd's twenty-nine years on the editorial staff of The Daily Telegraph are reflected in the inclusion in this collection of two scrapbooks of cuttings taken from that paper from 1900 to 1912 (HURD 2/2-3), and his joint editorship of Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual is acknowledged in an album of cuttings about the Annual made in 1924 (HURD 2/1).

The second deposit (HURD 4 and 5) is made up largely of books and pamphlets by Sir Archibald Hurd together with books by a number of distinguished Admirals, including Fisher and Jellicoe, and other naval writers. There is also a small collection of letters to Hurd from Winston Churchill, Lord Haldane, Walter Long, Reginald McKenna and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch amongst others relating to Hurd's journalistic career, naval matters and his personal life.

The papers of Sir Archibald Hurd were given to Churchill College by his daughter, Lady Willmer, in two batches, the first in March 1980 and the second in August 1981.

The papers have been arranged into sections as follows: correspondence (HURD 1 and 4), albums of press cuttings (HURD 2), literary and miscellaneous (HURD 3) and pamphlets and books (HURD 5).

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holder and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sir Archibald Hurd, HURD

Churchill Archives Centre also holds the papers of 1st Lord Fisher (reference GBR/014/FISR) and Reginald McKenna (reference GBR/014/MCKN).

The full catalogue to this collection is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge and at the National Register of Archives, London. A description of the collection and series within it is available on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

The collection was originally catalogued in 1984. This collection and series description was prepared by Natalie Adams of Churchill Archives Centre in June 2004.