Identity area
Reference code
Watson/3/1
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1953 - 1992 (Creation)
Level of description
Subseries
Extent and medium
1 box; paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Grimes Watson was born in Brisbane, Australia, on 13 October 1927. He was educated at Brisbane Boys' College and the University of Queensland, where he graduated in 1948 with a degree in English. He secured a scholarship for a second degree and received an English degree from Trinity College, Oxford in 1950; he worked for the European Commission as an interpreter before becoming a lecturer in English at Cambridge in 1959 and a Fellow of St John's College in 1961. He remained at St John's until his death on 2 August 2013.
Watson edited 'The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'. As well as producing wide-ranging literary and cultural criticism, he was involved in leftist politics, campaigning as a Liberal candidate in 1959 and 1979 and working as Editor for the Unservile State Group; his political writing often critiques socialism from a liberal perspective.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This subseries contains various documents pertaining to the Unservile State Group and associated groups and projects, including minutes, publication information and cuttings. A small group of other political documents has been appended. Items will ultimately be catalogued individually; for now, a list follows.
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COLLECTION INFORMATION
Description by 'J.B.' of the contents of an earlier version of the papers
'Manuscript Collection': George Watson's description of the papers (25 May 1978)
Leaflet describing the Archives of Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace (presumably considered as a potential depository)
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'UNSERVILE STATE, 1953-1991'
Retrospective article by George Watson, in typescript and published form (22 February 1991)
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MEMBERSHIP AND CONTACTS
Membership lists
List of Liberal peers (January 1966)
Contact details of European liberal figures
List of academic libraries in Eastern Europe
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POLICY STATEMENTS
Unservile State Group
National Campaign on Behalf of the Low-income Groups
The Acton Society Trust
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AGENDAS AND MINUTES
10 February 1956 minutes
22-23 June 1956 minutes
27 July 1956 minutes
17 May 1957 agenda
17 May 1957 minutes
28 August 1957 minutes
10 May 1968 minutes
18 May 1970 minutes
4 March 1971 minutes
19 May 1971 minutes
7 December 1972 agenda
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Memorandum: 'The Liberal Party and Co-ownership' (April 1954)
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PUBLICATIONS
'The projected Liberal "Yellow Book"' (circa July 1953)
'Memorandum on a Projected Book on British Liberalism in the Mid-century' (July 1954)
Arthur Holt, pamphlet suggestions (undated)
Memorandum of pamphlet suggestions (undated)
'Liberty in the Welfare State' comments (1956)
'The Unservile State' copyright agreements (1956)
'The Unservile State' contributor information (book published 25 July 1957)
'Radical Alternative' progress report (30 August 1961)
'Radical Alternative' preface (May 1962)
'Radical Alternative' revised prelims
'Radical Alternative' notes on contributors
Notes pertaining to Edwin George West, perhaps the second edition (1970) of his 'Education and the State' (1965)
University of Leeds press release about The Elliott Dodds Lecture (24 January 1972)
Richard Moore and Christine Morgan, 'The Liberals in Europe' pamphlet (1974)
Samuel Brittan and Barry Riley, 'A People's Stake in North Sea Oil' pamphlet (1980)
Photocopy of Christopher Mayhew's 'Liberals, Social Democrats and Defence' pamphlet (1984)
Michael Meadowcroft, 'Dear David, Thanks, Yours Neil' (20 May 1990)
Report by 'Nick' on an unknown pamphlet or article
List of the Unservile State Papers pamphlets
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Three sheets of Unservile State Group stationery
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CUTTINGS
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Folder labelled 'USG Agendas Addresses etc'
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OTHER POLITICAL DOCUMENTS
'Co-ownership in Industry' (April 1952)
'Co-ownership at Work' (October 1952)
'Books for Poland: A report to the Secretary of the Writers and Publishers Committee for European Cooperation', to which is attached a list of pertinent Polish addresses (1957)
Copied pages from Frank O'Gorman's 'Voters, Patrons and Parties' (1989)
Derek Beales, 'The Electorate before and after 1832' (14 October 1991)
Vote count for the 2005 Parliamentary Council Election in Cambridge