This class of papers was acquired by WSC at various times either by inheritance or gift and has been arranged in groups according to the presumed original owner: Lady Randolph Churchill; Lord Randolph Churchill; John S Churchill; W Bernau of Lloyds Bank and others.The major groups may be broken into sub-series by correspondents and the papers thereafter are arranged chronologically (e.g. Lady Randolph Churchill's letters from WSC are mainly found at CHAR 28/13-28).The series includes a number of letters from WSC himself. Some of the Lord Randolph Churchill papers may have been acquired for WSC's biography of his father but they have been placed in this class because of the impossibility of making a sure distinction. Similarly there are a number of original documents of the period of John, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and some of these may have been acquired for literary reasons. They have been placed at the end of this class together with other documents relating to the earlier history of the Churchill family. Letters explaining the acquisition of the papers have generally been placed with the papers concerned.The papers in this series document many subjects and include, for example, the correspondence between Lady Randolph Churchill and her three husbands, Lord Randolph Churchill, George Cornwallis West and Montagu Porch. There is a long series of correspondence (originally kept by Lady Randolph Churchill) of her letters from WSC. This correspondence documents WSC's schooldays, early military career (there is interesting material relating to the Boer War), and early political career.