Scrap albums and addresses of Francis Schnadhorst

Scrap albums of and relating to Francis Schnadhorst (1840-1900), Liberal politician and illuminated addresses presented to him.

Francis Schnadhorst was born in Birmingham in 1840 and was educated at King Edward's School. He entered political life in his twenties and in 1870 was appointed as secretary of the Central Nonconformist Committee. In 1873 he became secretary to the Birmingham Liberal Association. As a result of the success of the Liberals in the parliamentary, school board and municipal elections in Birmingham, due to Schnadhorst's skills, other representative liberal associations were formed throughout the country.

In 1877, Schnadhorst was instrumental in the establishment of the National Liberal Federation and became its first secretary. This Federation, which was set up for educational and propagandist purposes and co-ordinated the work of the several hundred Liberal associations in England and Wales, became a great political force and was largely responsible for Liberal victories of 1880, 1885 and 1892. In recognition of his services to the Liberal Party, he was presented with 10,000 guineas and an address at a banquet in 1887 which followed the removal of the National Liberal Federation from Birmingham to London. Schnadhorst also served as secretary to the Central Liberal Association and, by virtue of holding these two posts, was principal organiser and adviser of the Liberal party for much of the 1880s and early 1890s. He retired from political life, due to ill health, in 1894 and died in 1900.

Reference: University of Birmingham, Special Collections Department, Online Archive Catalogue ( http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/ ). Accessed May 2002.

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

These volumes were presented by Mr Charles S Schnadhorst (son of Francis Schnadhorst). The gift is reported in the University Librarian's Annual Report for 1979/80

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department also holds the Joseph Chamberlain Collection, which includes correspondence with Schnadhorst as Secretary of the National Liberal Federation and chief organiser and adviser of the Liberal Party, 1880-1886 (GB 150 JC5/63/1-18). Further details about this correspondence is available on the Online Archive Catalogue at http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/ . The Special Collections Department holds a number of single letters to and from Schnadhorst in the Letters Additional Collection (GB 150 LAdd) (correspondents include John Bright and W. Allard) and in the Joseph Chamberlain Letters Additional Collection (GB 150 JCLAdd)

Material relating to Schnadhorst held elsewhere includes: Correspondence with W. E. Gladstone, 1877-92 held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections; letters to Oscar Browning, 1886-92 held at Cambridge University: King's College Archive Centre; and political correspondence, 1881-87 held at the William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, USA.