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Diary and letters of Ernest Gedge, 1965 - 1981

 Sub-Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/RCMS 113/37

Scope and Contents

Copies of correspondence and diary entries relating mainly to Gedge's time in Africa, with secondary material regarding Gedge and this collection.

Dates

  • Creation: 1965 - 1981

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Biographical / Historical

Ernest Gedge (1862-1935) was the son of the Revd Augustus Gedge, Rector of Ludborough, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth College, Guernsey; Queen Elizabeth School, Ipswich; Rossall School; and the training ship H.M.S. 'Worcester'. He was the assistant manager of a tea estate in Assam, 1879-1888, before joining the Imperial British East Africa Company. Gedge travelled with F.J. Jackson on behalf of the I.B.E.A. Co. to Buganda, 1889-1890, and remained in Uganda to represent the Company after Jackson left. He was the correspondent for 'The Times' in Uganda, 1892-1893, and during the Mashonaland campaigns, 1893. Gedge went on business trips to Bulawayo and Johannesburg, 1895 and 1898, and as Chairman of the Bassiar and Pelly Exploration Company went prospecting in the Yukon, 1898-1899. In 1900 he investigated mineral resources at Inyanga in Rhodesia.

Extent

1 envelope(s) (1 envelope) : paper

Language of Materials

English

Former / Other Reference

MSS 468

Other Finding Aids

MSS Addenda, vol. II; Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), p. 97.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers of Ernest Gedge were presented to the Oxford University Colonial Records Project in 1965 by his son Cuthbert Gedge through H.B. Thomas. While the papers were in Thomas' possession photocopies were made, with his cooperation, of a selection of Gedge’s letters (RCMS 113/37/1/1). Typescripts of additional items were produced by A.T. Matson (RCMS 113/37/1/2 and 113/37/2). This material was presented to the R.C.S. as the bequest of H.B. Thomas in 1971. The secondary material in the collection, RCMS 113/37/3, was added subsequently.

Related Materials

The R.C.S. Photograph Collection includes prints, lantern slides, negatives and other material from Gedge's time in East Africa, Y30468K.

Related Materials

Ernest Gedge's papers are kept at Rhodes House Library, Oxford, MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 290, and are described in S.C. Gates, 'Papers of Ernest Gedge' (1966).

General

This collection level description was created by RAS using information from the original typescript catalogue and Donald Simpson's R.C.S. catalogue.

Originator(s)

Gedge, Ernest, 1862-1935, colonial administrator

Finding aid date

2003-10-06 09:40:38+00:00

Includes index.

Repository Details

Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository

Contact:
Cambridge University Library
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Cambridge CB3 9DR United Kingdom