Janus: Nyasaland diaries of David Lawson

RCS contains:
<-- See earlier
RCMS 221	A walk to the Nyassa country
RCMS 222	Browne's expedition to the Zambezi, 1823
RCMS 223	Papers on David Livingstone
RCMS 224	Thomas Baines on the Zambesi
RCMS 225	Diary of Luke Norman in Central Africa
RCMS 228	Nyasaland diaries of David Lawson
RCMS 229	Report on rural development and education in Zambia
RCMS 23	Commonwealth periodicals
RCMS 230	Letters from Agnes Loxton in Zimbabwe
RCMS 231	B.B.C. African Service scripts
RCMS 234	The Seaflower venture
See later -->

More information

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Nyasaland diaries of David Lawson

Title	Nyasaland diaries of David Lawson
Reference	GBR/0115/RCMS 228 (former reference: MSS 51 V)
Creator	Lawson, David Geoffrey Malloch, 1895-1981
Covering Dates	1932–1981
Extent and Medium	1 box; paper; Mixed
Repository	Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library

Content and context

David Geoffrey Malloch Lawson (1895-1981), B.Sc., A.M.I.E.E., A.R.C.S.I., was born on 14 December 1895. He joined the Colonial Service as Assistant Telegraph Engineer in the Gold Coast on 19 May 1926, and transferred to Nyasaland as Telegraph and Telephone Engineer on 11 December 1931. He went on leave pending retirement on 5 September 1945, and his latter years were spent in the West Country. Lawson was a Life Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society from 1928 until his death on 8 April 1981.

Eleven diaries beginning in Cape Town, 1 January 1932, which Lawson was travelling through on route to take up his post, and continuing with occasional gaps up to 1943. The writing is mainly manuscript, but there are some inserted typescript entries. Although Lawson's will bequeathed 'the diaries written by me while a member of the Colonial Civil Service in Nyasaland from 1932 to 1944', there are no volumes for 1941 or 1944.

Bequeathed by D.M. Lawson through Messrs Nalder, Addleshaw and Rickards, April 1981.

Access and Use

Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Nyasaland diaries of David Lawson, RCMS 228

Further information

Lawson's diaries for 1926-1931, covering his period in the Gold Coast, and a few letters relating to his service in Nysasland are deposited in Rhodes House Library, Mss. Afr. s. 761-766.

MSS Addenda, vol. III. Indexed

This collection level description was created by RAS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

Index Terms

Africa

Malawi

Lawson, David Geoffrey Malloch (1895-1981)

RCS/RCMS 228 contains:

Diary, 1932.
1 volume; Mixed.

1932

Diary, 1933.
1 volume; Mixed.

1933

Diary, 1934.
1 volume; Mixed.

1934

Diary, 1935.
1 volume; Mixed.

1935

Diary, 1936.
1 volume; Mixed.

1936

Diary, 1937.
1 volume; Mixed.

1937

Diary, 1938.
1 volume; Mixed.

1938

Diary, 1939.
1 volume; Mixed.

1939

Diary, 1940.
1 volume; Mixed.

1940

Diary, 1942.
1 volume; Mixed.

1942

Diary, 1943.
1 volume; Mixed.

1943

Report on the telegraph and telephone system in the Nyasaland Protectorate. A five-page typescript kept originally with the diary for 1935, with a covering note to 'P.M.G.'.
1 folder (6 pages); Typewritten.

1935

Correspondence with the Royal Commonwealth Society. Two pieces of correspondence between the R.C.S. and David Lawson, February 1970, and seven letters concerning the bequest of the diaries to the R.C.S., April - October 1981. The folder also includes a staff list for the Nyasaland Protectorate in January 1946, which includes David Lawson.
1 folder; Mixed.

1970–1981