The Papers of Cecil Roberts

Cecil Roberts was born 18 May 1892. He was Literary Editor at the Liverpool Post, 1915-1918, and was their Naval Correspondent, Grand Fleet, and War Correspondent, Western Front and the Rhine. During 1920-1925 he was Editor of the Nottingham Journal and he also undertook lecture tours in the USA and Canada, 1920-1939, and in 1922 was the Parliamentary candidate (Liberal) for Nottingham. During the period 1940-1946 he was on the staff of Lord Halifax, then British Ambassador in Washington. Roberts died 20 December 1976.

A lot of this collection consists of letters from many authors and statesmen including Sir Winston Churchill, Sir J. M. Barrie, Sir John Betjeman, Graham Greene, Somerset Maugham, Lord Halifax and Sir Gerald Campbell. The majority of the correspondence is on literary topics. The collection also contains diaries of Cecil Roberts and his commonplace book from 1959-61 which are a source of information on the society in which he lived. There are numerous presscuttings and reviews spanning Cecil Roberts' career.

In August 1975, Cecil Roberts decided to bequeath to Churchill College his books, diaries, papers and letters and they were deposited in May 1977.

This collection is owned by Churchill College.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

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

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Cecil Roberts, RBTS

Of the one hundred and eighty-five volumes, received at Churchill Archives Centre, approximately sixty were by Cecil Roberts himself and the remainder were signed works of other authors. Some of these books have been placed in the Roskill Library in the Archives Centre and the residue in the Churchill College Library. All the books bear Cecil Roberts' bookplate.

The collection has been catalogued. A copy of the catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, at the National Register of Archives in London and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection (fonds) level description was compiled by Louise King of Churchill Archives Centre in February 2005 using information from the original catalogue produced in 1980.