Papers of Lucy Masterman

This collection comprises of a diary (1939-1941), a personal notebook concerning early 20thC politics and government deriving partly from the experiences of her husband Charles who became a junior minister in the Asquith government in 1908, and correspondence, working papers, and a draft manuscript relating to Lucy Masterman's proposed biography of Lucy Caroline Frederick Cavendish.

Lucy Blanche Masterman (nee Lyttelton) was born in 1884, the daughter of General Sir Neville Lyttelton, and the niece and godchild of Lucy Caroline Frederick Cavendish, and great-niece of William Ewart Gladstone. In 1908 she married Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman (1874-1927), politician. They had three children: Margaret Mary (1910-1986), who became a Founding Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Neville Charles (b 1912), and Dorothy Hilda (1914-1981). Lucy Masterman took a keen interest in poverty and became the Chairwoman of the Women's Liberal Federation of the Battersea Housing Association, and a Tribunal Representative of the Cambridge Refugee Committee in the Second World War. She was the author of several books, including Poems (1913), C.F.G. Masterman; a biography (1939), and London from the Bustop; a guide for the impecunious traveller (1951), and she edited the diaries of Mary Drew, daughter of W.E. Gladstone, Mary Gladstone (Mrs Drew): Her Diaries and Letters (1930). She died in 1977.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Lucy Cavendish College Archive. A prior appointment and proof of identity are required.

Donated to the Archive by Margaret Braithwaite, daughter of Lucy Masterman.

Listed to file level, a paper copy is available in the Archive Reading Room.
A full catalogue description is available on JANUS http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

Collection description by Karen Davies, College Archivist. Amended by Genesis Project Manager. Collection Description transferred to the Archives Hub in 2008 as part of Genesis 2008 Project

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain permission from the copyright holder.

Further papers of Lucy Masterman are to be found in the Special Collections Department at the University of Birmingham.