Note books

Scope and Content

These pocket note books of Fred Lanchester were bequeathed to the university by his brother George Lanchester's second wife 'Stevie' (Mary Stevenson) and transferred by George's daughter-in-law Elaine Lanchester via Lanchester enthusiast Chris Clark. They date from 1894 and are in five sequences (A-E). The E sequence is a single George Lanchester note book obtained at a later date (and originally given the reference number S 13/1). Fred Lanchester often changed his numbering methods when indicating pages. The notes cover a wide variety of subjects, and a retired engineer and former library staff went through the note books to identify as much material as possible. But there are still some notes where it remains unclear as to what the subject is. In some cases the catalogue description is a transcript of what has been written in the note books. The Lanchester project would like to hear from anyone who can work out what unidentified notes mean, or if they think the catalogue descriptions need altering.