Memoirs and photographs of Thomas and Florence Edgar

Autobiographies of Thomas and Florence Edgar and photographs of Mau Mau attrocities in Kenya.

Thomas Leslie Edgar M.B.E. (1919-1998) was born on 6 August 1919. He was educated at Leslie Higher Grade School before attending Kirkcaldy High School, 1930-1937. During the Second World War he was forced to surrender to the Germans at St Valery en Caux after the Scottish regiments were left on the Normandy beaches following the Dunkirk rescues. He subsequently escaped from the Val de Grace in Paris and walked across the Pyrénées into Spain, where he was recaptured and eventually repatriated. After the war Edgar worked as a stockbroker in Oldham. In 1949 he joined the Overseas Civil Service in Kenya and was involved in the Mau Mau Emergency. He returned to Britain in 1962, and worked for a time as General Secretary for the Birmingham Association of Youth Clubs, and then as Company Secretary for Yarwood Ingram, an engineering firm in Birmingham. He volunteered for service overseas with the Department of Overseas Development, and was sent to the Solomon Islands in 1966. Florence Ann Clitheroe was born in Sheldon, near Birmingham, on 6 September 1941. She worked at Birmingham Library, Margaret Street, then in the Diocesan Education Office, before joining the Birmingham Association of Youth Clubs, where she met Thomas Edgar. After working at the Overseas Services Resettlement Bureau, she was employed by Tony Grier, the newly appointed General Manager of the Reddich (New Town) Development Corporation. She joined Thomas Edgar in the Solomons in February 1967, where they were married. After returning to Britain, Thomas Edgar was Deputy Overseas Trade Secretary at the Birmingham Chamber of Industry and Commerce, then worked for Cox Exhibition Consultants. After retiring at the age of 65, he served on the Secretary of State's Committee for the War-Disabled and was Treasurer of the Friends of Birmingham Cathedral where Florence worked. He also took up National Trust Stewarding at Packwood House. Thomas Edgar died on 11 November 1998.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Presented by Florence Edgar, 2004.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection level description was created by RAS.

Edgar, Thomas Leslie, 1919-1998