Cecil Herbert Driver papers

The materials in this collection relate to Cecil Deiver's biography, Tory Radical: The Life of Richard Oastler, published in 1946. There are approximately thirty-five letters, mostly comments and congratulations from people who had read the book, although a few of the letters date from before its publication and deal with research interests and other professional matters. An alphabetical list of correspondents can be found on page 4. Also in the collection are notebooks kept by Driver on Karl Marx and on concepts and theories of the nature of the universe, and a typed copy of Leopold Boissier's Droit constitutionnel comparè. An alphabetical list of correspondents can be found on page 4.

The remainder of the collection consists of notebooks and research materials forTory Radical, which pertain largely to Richard Oastler, political activist and organizer in the 1830s of the Ten-Hour Movement, a campaign of workingmen for legislation limiting child labor to ten hours per day. Among Driver's research materials are photographs, printed matter about Oastler, and photostatic copies of several letters from Oastler, of posters and handbills, and of other miscellaneous printed items. Of particular interest are ten original letters (folder 15) addressed to Thomas Daniels, the secretary of the Manchester Short-Time Committee and later chairman of the Central Operatives Committee, two organizations devoted to the Ten-Hour Movement. Eight of the letters are from 0astler, who writes to encourage Daniels' efforts and to plan activities and publicity. The ninth letter is from Oastler's wife, Mary, and the last is from Michael Thomas Sadler, the author of the Ten-Hour Bill, who writes concerning a petition by the people of Manchester to the electors of Leeds. The final items in the collection are the dustjacket of Tory Radical, a copy of Driver's agreement with Oxford University Press, and clippings and reviews of the book.