Papers on the Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas, 1936-1962

This collection consists of the main records of the Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas including legal agreements and correspondence between the Trust and the companies it helped and some of those companies' accounts.

The Trust was established by Lord Nuffield on 31 December 1936 with a deed which endowed it with £2,000,000 and named the first trustees as Nigel Leslie Campbell, Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree and Wyndham Raymond, Baron Portal. A copy of the deed and the subsequent deeds of appointment for replacement trustees, along with other Trust information, are available in the papers of Lord Nuffield (12/10, 16/22 & 48/4/1 – 48/4/6), which are also in the Library archives. The Fund's purpose was to assist "in the solution of one of the most difficult problems at present before His Majesty's Government namely the economic rehabilitation of the special areas", (Booklet, The Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas, 1936-1961, Lord Nuffield papers, 12/10). These areas were in South Wales, West Cumberland, the North-East Coast and Clydeside. It worked alongside the Government's Special Areas Reconstruction Association (S.A.R.A.) and the Treasury Advisory Committee and one of its main advantages was that it was able to able to act more rapidly in the early stages than a Government department could. The Trust was founded for a limited period of time and its expenditure and investments for the primary purpose of the Fund was to be completed within seven years. At the end of that time, any undistributed or recovered funds were to be paid to King Edward's Hospital Fund for London, which amounted to £1,900,000 over time. By 1943, over 90 percent of the expenditure and investment of the Trust was completed and the subsequent activities of the Trustees were supervising loans and investments, collecting income and recovering invested capital. They also provided advice on management and financial problems. Over its time, the Nuffield Trust for Special Areas "played a considerable part in transforming the economic face of the Development areas. It gave work to large members of unemployed people and helped to set up new industries which on the outbreak of war in 1939 played their part in the defence of the realm", (Booklet, The Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas, 1936-1961, Lord Nuffield papers, 12/10).

By Firms with a secondary listing on what material is relevant by files 'Analysis of contents of files according to Firm'.

By prior appointment only. Application in writing (letter or email) to the Assistant Librarian (Archives). See Nuffield College Archives location page for more details.

The handlist for the Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas collection can be found [online] Link: https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/library/special-collection-and-archives/archive/

Transferred to Nuffield College Library from the Managers of the Trust, Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co. following its winding up in 1963.