Letters of Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie (1838-1906)

The material consists of letters about politics, and there is a cutting of a portrait photograph in halftone.

The statesman Charles Thomson Ritchie was born in Dundee on 19 November 1838. He was educated privately and at City of London School. He became MP for Tower Hamlets, 1874-1875, for St.-George's-in-the-East, 1885-1892, and for Croydon in 1895. Ritchie was Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, 1885-1886, President of the Local Government Board, 1886-1892, President of the Board of Trade, 1895-1900, Secretary of State, Home Department, 1900-1902, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1902-1903. Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie, died on 9 January 1906.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

The biographical/administrative history was compiled using the following material: (1) Who was who ... 1897-1916. London: A. and C. Black, 1920.

Compiled by Graeme D Eddie, Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Division.

Important finding aids generally are: the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives, consisting of typed slips in sheaf binders and to which additions were made until 1987; and the Index to Accessions Since 1987.

Check the local Indexes for details of any additions.

The UK National Register of Archives (NRA), updated by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, notes several locations of Ritchie related material: 1879-1906: correspondence and papers, 1879-1906, British Library, Manuscript Collections, Ref. Add MS 53780 NRA 10649 Ritchie; letters to Sir Henry Burdett, 1885-1895, Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Ref. MSS Eng b 2068-69, c 5894-6032, d 2867-89 NRA 39820 Burdett, and letters (64) to Marcus Browne Huish, 1877-1880, Ref. MS Eng misc c 130; correspondence with Joseph Chamberlain, 1900-1902, Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department, Ref. JC/11 NRA 12604 Chamberlain; correspondence with Lord Randolph Churchill, 1886-1892, Cambridge University, Churchill Archives Centre, Ref. RCHL NRA 13273 Churchill; and, letters to Edward Stanhope, 1886-1890, Centre for Kentish Studies, Ref. U1590/O304 NRA 25095 Stanhope.