Correspondence with Sidney Frederick Wicks

This material is held atUniversity of Manchester Library

  • Reference
    • GB 133 GDN/A/W43
  • Dates of Creation
    • 14 Jan 1924-14 Feb 1956
  • Physical Description
    • 28 pieces; 59 sheets

Scope and Content

Correspondence with Sidney Frederick Wicks, publicist and editor, relating to an expression of best wishes for a lecture tour to be undertaken by Wicks, an employee in the advertising department of the Manchester Guardian. There is discussion of the success of the lecture tour, the high regard in which the Manchester Guardian is held in America, and of the situation in America, with reference to politics, prohibition, generally held opinions encountered by Wicks, and of relations between Britain, Europe and America.

Also included is discussion of the difficulties in bookings for lectures for Wicks in Pittsburgh, owing to a similar lecture tour undertaken by [Samuel Kerkham] Ratcliffe, journalist and lecturer, with publicity and advertisements wrongly stating that he is a representative of the Manchester Guardian. There is a letter from Ratcliffe containing apologies, and describing his endeavours to remove reference to the paper from his publicity material, and discussion of the high regard with which the Manchester Guardian is held in America.

There is a report of the lecture tour by Wicks, and reference to expenses occurred during the trip. Also included are letters of appreciation for Wicks' lectures from Charles H. Rammelkamp, president of Illinois College, and Stephen P. Duggan, historian and educationist, on behalf of the Institute of Education, which are acknowledged, with thanks for the assistance provided to Wicks by Duggan. There is an expression of congratulations to Wicks on the success of the tour, and discussion of his return to England.

GDN/A/W43/3-8 are articles and an advertisement on Ratcliffe's lecture tour in the United Presbyterian, the Buffalo Express, the Buffalo Courier, and unknown publications, 1924.

GDN/A/W43/15 is an address by Wicks printed in a pamphlet entitled 'The British Labour Party and the European Settlement' produced by the Foreign Policy Association.

GDN/A/W/43/17 is an article entitled 'Sees U.S. Misled About Labor Rule; English Editor, Here on Tour, Assert Party Contains By Handful of Radicals' in the Philadelphia Bulletin, 1924.

GDN/A/W43/18 is an article entitled 'Manchester Guardian Editor Tells of Rise of Labor to Power', in the Christian Science Monitor, 1924.

GDN/A/W43/27 is an article by Wicks entitled 'The Spirit of the British Labor Party' in The Locomotive Engineers Journal, 1924.

GDN/A/W43/28 is an obituary for Wicks in the Manchester Guardian, 1956.