Hardback notebook containing manuscript poems and notes etc for plays, written by Gladys Skelton [née Williams] interspersed with undated notes relating to engineering matters concerning various overseas companies, chiefly in Canada, probably in the hand of Bert Skelton (first husband of Gladys Williams, who was a steelmaker). The volume is paginated. Notes for and / or parts of plays include the following:
P 119: a play set in ‘The Flat’ and ‘The Country House’;
Pp 161-187: a historical play concerning Elizabeth I and Mary Tudor;
Pp 190-200: a historical play set in Jerusalem.
Other items in the volume include the following:
Pp 206-208: draft letters to James Winthrop and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree asking if some of Gladys Williams’ (John Presland’s) plays in verse would be suitable for their theatres;
Pp 221-229: notes ‘On Compulsory Military Service’;
P 231: poem ‘To J.F.W.’ [Gladys Williams’ father], 16 March 1910;
Pp 240-272: notes for a play entitled ‘Manin’s Defence of the Venetian Republic’;
P 280: draft letter from 'John Presland' to Henry Newbolt submitting a play as a ‘private offering’.
Most of the poems are untitled: however, they include 'Chrysanthemums' and 'A Madrigal'.