Papers of Arnold, 1st Lord McNair

Arnold Duncan McNair (1885 -1975) international lawyer. Matric Caius, 1906; BA, 1909; LLB 1909; LLM 1913; MA, 1919; LLD, 1925. CBE, 1918; knighted, 1943; became 1st Baron McNair, 1955. Drosier Fellow, 1912; corporate Fellow, 1914; Life Fellow, 1937; College lecturer in Law, 1913-35. Tutor, 1919-23; Senior Tutor, 1928-31; Registrary, 1931-35. Lecturer in International Law, LSE, 1923-27; Reader, University of London, 1926-7, and Cambridge, 1931; Whewell Professor of International Law, 1935. Vice-Chancellor, Liverpool University, 1937. Professor of Comparative Law, Cambridge, 1945. Writer on English and international law. Elected Judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, 1946; President, 1952-55.

The archive contains personal and professional papers of Lord McNair throughout his life. It also contains papers of other members of his family, which had been stored in the same chests and boxes, and reference material about Lord McNair after his death. There is substantial correspondence belonging to family members, particularly his wife.

Lord McNair's correspondence includes a fair amount of a professional nature from fellow lawyers, some politicians and long-standing friends - these include Lord Macmillan, Lord Wright, Lord Nathan of Churt, Lord Beveridge, Harold Laski, the Earl of Derby, Lord Sankey, President Max Huber and Dag Hammarskjold.

There are also lectures and speeches and reference material covering the whole period of Lord McNair's public career.

2001.031 - Donated to the Archive by Alice Prochaska on behalf of the McNair family in August 2001.

The archive was accepted in its entirety and no appraisal has taken place.

The papers have been listed to reflect their arrangement when received. Much sorting had been undertaken by Lord McNair prior to his death, an notes appended advising executors on the disposition of some papers. Original envelopes etc have been retained.

There are no access restrictions

By deed of gift, copyrights, apart from those vested in existing published works (owned originally by Vera McNair), were assigned to Caius College.

Please cite as Gonville and Caius College Archive, Cambridge, Papers of Arnold, 1st Lord McNair, PPC/MCN

British Library holds: Letter to Marie Stopes, 1916 (Add.5841, ff.259,263); Letter to AW Goodman, 1916 (Add.58669 f.2); Letters to Sir WJ Ashley, 1919 (Add. 42251, ff.259, 263); correspondence between Lord Cecil (of Chelwood) and AD McNair, 1944 (Add. 51191 ff.248, 264).

Deed of gift, signed 30/4/2001, on file with correspondence.

A selection of papers appear to have been extracted and scanned at some point - these are stored together at PPC/MCN/1/4/19.