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Letter from J L Garvin (Pall Mall Gazette, Newton Street, Holborn, [London]) to WSC suggesting WSC might be the man to lessen party antagonism and therefore expressing regret about certain passages in his speech [?at the Guildhall on naval defence in November 1911]. Thinks the Conservatives may legitimately attack WSC as a supporter of Home Rule but that they will be fair to him as First Lord of the Admiralty.

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Letter from Sir Ernest Cassel (Hotel Adlon, Berlin, [Germany]) to WSC on the success of Lord Haldane's [earlier Richard Haldane] mission to Berlin and of WSC's trip to Belfast [Ulster, Ireland].

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Letter from F E Smith [later 1st Lord Birkenhead] (45 Elm Court, Temple, [London]) to WSC reporting that he has seen Woburn and has made an arrangement. Encloses copies of an article and a speech of his on Home Rule [not present] and pointing out that they are not offensive to WSC.

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Letter from Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] (Ewelme Down, Wallingford, [Berkshire]) to WSC on their forthcoming discussion of war plans. Hopes WSC will speak on the second reading of the Home Rule Bill.

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Letter from James Caird (Grand Hotel, Rudolf Lotz, Nuremberg, [Germany]) to WSC on the large and expensive educative task of the Home Rule Council.

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Letter from Lord Hugh Cecil [later Lord Quickswood] (23 Bruton Street, [London]) to WSC thanking him for a pencil and praising the style but not the substance of WSC's speech [on the Government of Ireland Bill]. Cecil does not think the congestion of business in the House of Commons is as important as the dangers of Home Rule and is cheered by his belief that all the Government "look rather ill".

Scope and Contents Letter from WSC to Herbert Asquith [later Lord Oxford and Asquith] praising him for his leadership during the general election campaign and considering the present political situation. He asserts that the restriction of the House of Lords' veto must be the pre-requisite for any co-operation between the Government and the Tories on reform of the Lords and any other issue, and that the Government should have no hesitation in creating 500 new peers if necessary. After the veto has been...

Scope and Contents Letter from W H Shaw, port steward of the British Yukon Navigation Company (White Horse, Yukon Territory, Canada) to WSC praising him, David Lloyd-George and the Government generally for their measures "for the benefit of the struggling masses." He describes: the poor living conditions he experienced in Huddersfield [Yorkshire] before leaving about 27 years earlier and their bad effects on morality and on the fitness of men enlisting for the Army; his approval of the Government's land reform...

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Memorandum from G Wallace Carter (21 Abingdon Street, Westminster, [London]) to WSC reporting on the formation, structure and proposed activities of the Home Rule Council, of which Wallace has been appointed the general secretary. Annotated typescript.

Scope and Contents Letter from [the 9th Duke of Marlborough] (Blenheim Palace) to WSC: praises his work at the Admiralty; refers to F E Smith [later 1st Lord Birkenhead] and "politicians who clothe the results of calculation in the language of enthusiasm"; cites the religious wars in sixteenth-century France as a warning against provoking religious passion in Ulster [Ireland]; complains about having to assess the site value of his land; describes his efforts to re-house his labourers through a co-operative and...

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Cutting from the "Daily Chronicle" supporting WSC's defence of the Insurance Act but rejecting his proposal for regional parliaments in England as unhelpful with regard to the problem of Irish Home Rule.

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Cutting from the Manchester Guardian: editorial criticising WSC's speech on "English Federalism" as it relates to Irish Home Rule but approving of it as it relates to English local government.

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Cutting from the Liverpool Daily Courier: cartoon attacking WSC's proposal for separate parliaments for Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the English regions.

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Cutting from the "Daily Star" (Toronto, Canada): editorial praising the conduct of Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, in Britain and criticising British Unionist politicians who warn that Ulster will violently rebel against Home Rule for Ireland, contrasting this with more temperate reactions to similar problems in Canada. Annotated: "This is good stuff to pump into Bonar's [Andrew Bonar Law] face and the other Hell hounds. You are a brick Winston".

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Shorthand letter referring to the forthcoming Home Rule meeting to be addressed by WSC in Belfast [Ulster, Ireland].

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Letter from [WSC] (Admiralty) to [John Redmond] asserting that a meeting in Belfast [Ulster, Ireland] addressed by both of them would give the extremists in the Orange party a pretext "for creating a row". He therefore asks Redmond to write him a letter for publication withdrawing his promise to share the platform with WSC. Typescript copy with minor annotations. A manuscript copy at CHAR 2/59/6-7.

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Letter from [WSC] (33 Eccleston Square) to 6th Lord Londonderry objecting to the resolution of the Ulster Unionist Council announcing their intention of preventing (implicitly by violence) the holding in Belfast [Ulster, Ireland] of a Home Rule meeting to be addressed by WSC. Copy in the hand of Edward Marsh. Another draft at CHAR 2/59/9. Another copy at CHAR 2/59/10.

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Cuttings from the Liverpool Courier: speech by F E Smith [later 1st Lord Birkenhead] against Home Rule.

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Letter from [WSC] (Admiralty) to [6th Lord Londonderry] promising to ask the Ulster Liberal Association to move the meeting from the Ulster Hall, although he does not accept the justice of the Unionists' objections to its being held there. Draft in the hand of Edward Marsh with annotations by WSC. Other drafts at CHAR 2/59/17-19.

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Letter from 6th Lord Londonderry (Mountstewart, Newtonards, County Down, [Ulster, Ireland] to WSC (Admiralty) noting with satisfaction that he has abandoned his plan to hold the meeting in the Ulster Hall and accusing him of deliberately provoking Unionist opinion by selecting that venue. Signed typescript.

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Letter from WSC (Admiralty) to 6th Lord Londonderry denying that he selected the Ulster Hall for the Home Rule meeting as a challenge to the Unionists. Acknowledges that Londonderry was a friend of Lord Randolph Churchill but denies that the Unionist party as a whole was. Typescript copy signed and annotated by WSC. Other slightly differing copies, incorporating the annotations in this document, at CHAR 2/59/25-26, 34-40. Another draft at CHAR 2/59/11-13.

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Letter from Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland (Dublin Castle), to WSC giving his views on how the Home Rule meeting in Belfast should be organised to avoid disturbances. Typescript and manuscript.

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Cuttings from the Pall Mall Gazette: article by F E Smith [later 1st Lord Birkenhead] expressing the Unionists' determination to oppose the government and support those in Belfast and Ulster who reject Home Rule. Annotated with comments by Smith.

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Letter from [Alexander Murray, the Master of Elibank, later Lord Murray of Elibank] to Augustine Birrell regretting the trouble caused to Birrell [as Chief Secretary for Ireland] by the Home Rule meeting to be addressed in Belfast [Ulster] by WSC, but insisting that the meeting will nevertheless be beneficial. Typescipt copy with minor annotations.

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Letter from Augustine Birrell (Chief Secretary's Office, Dublin Castle, [Ireland]) to WSC on the more peaceful attitude being taken to the forthcoming Home Rule meeting in Belfast [Ulster] to be addressed by WSC, which should only require a small display of soldiers.