The Mill-Taylor Collection at LSE Takes up a Mere Five Shelves of Volumes and Boxes

An Archivist’s Nightmare the papers of John Stuart Mill

The Mill-Taylor Collection at LSE takes up a mere five shelves of volumes and boxes. It seems a small space for such a major figure – particularly when compared with the fourteen shelves of Passfield papers left by Beatrice and Sidney Webb and the even more extensive fifty-five shelves which make up William Beveridge’s voluminous papers. The size of the archive is a reflection of the vicissitudes of the archives in the 136 years since Mill’s death. By Sue Donnelly.

14 Journal of Liberal History 70 Spring 2011 An Archivist’s Nightmare the papers of John Stuart Mill

ohn Stuart Mill died in to England. Early in 1905 one of the intention of preparing them for Avignon in 1873 of ery- Mary’s friends, Mary Ann Trim- publication. Elliot was the grand- sipelas, a skin condition ble, who had visited Avignon with son of the 3rd Earl of Minto. He endemic to the region, and Mary Taylor, travelled to France had studied at Cambridge but left although there were calls for accompanied by a married couple before getting a degree, in order to hisJ body to be interred in Westmin- to do: fight in the Boer War. He left the ster Abbey, he was buried in Avi- army in 1902, taking up scientific gnon in the tomb he had had built … the work of three months in and philosophical studies and later for his beloved wife, Harriet Taylor three weeks. Half a ton of letters writing on both Herbert Spen- Mill. Following his death his step- to be sorted, all manner of rub- cer and Henry Bergson. In 1910 a daughter, Helen Taylor, continued bish to be separated from useful two-volume edition of the letters to live in Avignon, retaining her things, books to be dusted and appeared, published by Longman stepfather’s papers and for thirty selected from, arrangements to with an introduction by Elliot and a years after his death refusing all be made for sale, and 18 boxes to note on Mill’s life by Mary Taylor.3 requests to publish his letters: be packed.2 Elliott wrote to Lord Courtney, the Liberal peer, in 1910 indicating I have all my dear step father’s On 21–28 May 1905 a book sale was that the experience had not been an letters preserved, looked held at Avignon. Some of the books entirely happy one. First of all there through from time to time by and manuscripts were bought by a were restrictions on which letters myself, arranged in order by local bookseller, Romanille, who could be included: myself, and left by him in my sold a volume of manuscripts of hands with directions, verbal minor works to Professor George As to the private letters of Mill and written, to deal with them Herbert Palmer of Harvard. The to his wife & daughter, we hesi- according to my judgement. volume is now MS Eng 1105 in the tated for a very long time about When the more pressing task of Houghton Library at Harvard. The them; but Miss Taylor, who is a the publication of the mss is com- dispersal of the Mill-Taylor archive lady of very peculiar ideas and pleted, I shall, if I live, occupy had begun and, although later habits, did not wish them to be myself with his correspondence, scholars might strive to bring the published. She has it in her mind if I do not live it will be for my papers back together and to create to bring out another volume literary executors to decide what full published editions, the archive in a few years time, consisting to do with it.1 used and created by John Stuart exclusively of Mill’s letters to his Cameo of John Mill was destroyed, never again to wife, daughter, and sisters; but However, as Helen Taylor grew Stuart Mill as be recreated. wants to delay this until the last old and frail, her niece, Mary a young man. After Helen Taylor’s death in of Mill’s sisters is dead. Whether Taylor, the daughter of Harriet (LSE archives, 1907, the letters were inherited by it will ever be done, I cannot say. Taylor Mill’s second son, Alger- GB97/Mill-Taylor/ her niece Mary Taylor. The letters She guards the letters very jeal- non, persuaded her aunt to return Box4/57) were lent to Hugh S. R. Elliot, with ously; and it was only after much

Journal of Liberal History 70 Spring 2011 15 an archivist’s nightmare: the papers of john stuart mill

pressure and persuasion that I ‘As to the 1918, it seems there was a typescript letters, notebooks, diaries, and texts was allowed to see them at all.’4 and Mary Taylor was in negotiation of articles and speeches. Most of the private let- with Longmans, Green & Com- correspondence belonged to Helen It was also clear that Elliot and Mary pany through a literary agent, A. P. Taylor, including letters relating to Taylor had disagreed violently over ters of Mill Watts. But the reasons for the fail- her role as Mill’s literary executor. the role of Harriet Taylor Mill and ure to publish were lost with the The papers were seen as a collection Helen Taylor in Mill’s life, which to his wife & destruction of the archives of the and Geoffrey Allen, in an article on had led to Mary Taylor adding her publishers, agents and Mary Tay- the Manuscript Collections in the own account of Mill’s personal life daughter, we lor’s solicitors in the London blitz. British Library of Political and Eco- to the volume, as Elliot described in Hayek, in his introduction to the nomic Science published in 1960, a letter to Leonard Courteney: hesitated for Earlier Letters of John Stuart Mill, described them as having ‘no archi- a very long reports that Mary Taylor suffered val unity’.6 As to her published introduction, a nervous breakdown, accompa- From 1926 onwards the Library following mine in the book, it time about nied by insomnia and illusions. bought Mill-related materials either was entirely an afterthought. In She was sectioned and committed singly or in groups as they came on the study of the private letters, them; but to an institution, Northumberland the market, although the Library’s I formed a very unfavourable House, in March 1918. She died in acquisitions register only begins opinion both of Mrs Mill and of Miss Taylor, the November. to indicate regular purchases and Miss Helen Taylor. It appeared With the death of Mary Taylor, gifts from 1943 onwards. Profes- to me that they were both self- who is a lady the family papers passed into the sor Hayek advertised widely for ish and somewhat conceited hands of her executors, the National information about Mill letters in women, and that Mill (who must of very pecu- Provincial Bank, who, on the report the hopes of publishing an edition have been a very poor judge of of Mr P. W. Sergeant, decided to which finally became John Stuart character) was largely deceived liar ideas sell most of the material at auction, Mill and Harriet Taylor: their corre- with regard to them. Of course I although the more personal material spondence and subsequent marriage.7 could not state my views openly and habits, was felt inappropriate for public sale. Sadly, by its publication in 1951, in a book which is published by The first sale took place on 29 March Hayek had left LSE and the letters Miss Taylor at her own expense. did not wish 1922 with the papers being split he had collected were given to Fran- But in my original introduc- into lots. The total return from the cis Mineka at Cornell University. tion, I found it impossible to them to be sale was £276 17s. – £200 of which In 1943 the National Provincial allude to the women without was raised by the purchase of a set of Bank presented the Library with unconsciously conveying into published.’ seventy-seven letters from Thomas seventy items relating to the family, my language some suggestion Carlyle to Mill by the Trustees of probably the items deemed inap- of what I thought. To this Miss Carlyle House. Most of the lots were propriate for public sale in 1922. Mary Taylor took the strongest bought by various London booksell- In the same year, Philippa Fawcett possible exception. I reconsid- ers, and many of the manuscripts donated forty-two letters between ered the whole matter, but found now in US libraries derive from Mill and her father, Henry Fawcett. myself unable to speak any more this sale. A further fourteen lots Presumably concerns about war favourably of them than I had were sold on 27 June 1927 (the gap damage were leading owners to done. For some days Miss Taylor between the sales is unexplained), consider the future of their collec- declined even to see me, and we mainly consisting of letters to Mill. tions. After the war, King’s Col- were completely at a deadlock, The purchasers included Yale Uni- lege Cambridge donated the letters but at last it was agreed that I versity Library and the economist bought at the 1927 auction by Lord should omit all mention of Mill’s John Maynard Keynes. Keynes, which had passed to King’s private life and that Miss Taylor The archive was no more; it College on his death in 1946. Lord should herself write a second was scattered around the globe, Keynes had intended to pass the introduction (for which I took some items to be preserved and letters to LSE, and King’s College no responsibility) and say what others to be lost forever. Harold generously followed his wishes. The she liked. I did not greatly care Laski bought manuscripts of Mill’s 271 letters included correspondence for her contribution, but it was a early speeches for two guineas, between Harriet and Helen Taylor necessary compromise.5 then sold two of the manuscripts to and between Mill and Helen Taylor, recoup the money, published oth- and letters from the actress Fanny The letter also mentions a proposed ers, and gave many away to friends Stirling to Harriet Mill and Helen new edition of the Autobiography and institutions without keeping Taylor. but there were problems in obtain- any record of distribution. Josiah By 1999 the Library had recorded ing access to the manuscript from Stamp bought Mill’s letters to The- forty-one separate deposits of Mill Mary Taylor. The next edition odore Gomperz, the Austrian phi- papers and correspondence. The appeared in 1924 after the first sale losopher. After Stamp was killed in late 1940s and 1950s were a particu- of manuscripts. an air raid in 1941, the letters were larly active time, with papers being Mary Taylor appears to have thought lost until they turned up bought from dealers in London and worked on a volume of family let- in Japan in 1989. North America. Prices varied enor- ters helped by Elizabeth Lee, sister The LSE bought its first batch of mously. The smallest sum paid was of Sir Sidney Lee who had written Mill Taylor papers in 1926 from the 8s. 6d. for James McCosh’s letters an article on Helen Taylor in the London bookseller Ridgill Trout concerning his An Examination of Mr Dictionary of National Biography. By for £25. The purchase included J. S. Mill’s Philosophy, bought from

16 Journal of Liberal History 70 Spring 2011 an archivist’s nightmare: the papers of john stuart mill

Eric Malden of Southwold, and the providing an overview of the col- indicates that it was only during the most expensive was £41 paid for lection. This was rectified in 2000, LSE’s evacuation to Cambridge that thirteen autograph letters in 1949. as part of the AIM25 programme to Hayek became seriously interested Although later, in 1969, the Library improve access to archives and man- in the Mill correspondence. paid £55 for a letter to Mill from uscripts within university archives In fact the first acquisition of Frederic Hill, the prison inspector in London, with the writing of a Mill papers, made six year prior to and social reformer, included in the detailed collection description giv- Hayek’s arrival at LSE, was prob- purchase of some Kropotkin letters. ing researchers the background to ably inspired more by the then The Library’s last purchase was the collection and an overview of its current interest in Mill’s role in in 1999, when it bought seven let- contents. The full catalogue and its the development of socialism. The ters from John Stuart Mill to Wil- index was published online as part chair of the Library and Research liam Molesworth relating to the of the online Archives Catalogue Committee in 1926 was Sidney London Review. The letters were in 2008 allowing full searching of Webb, who had first had the vision purchased for £11,000 from the people, places, dates and enabling of creating a library for the social Pencarrow Collection, which was researchers to trace connections sciences in 1896. Over thirty years sold at Sotheby’s. The bidding on between the Mill-Taylor Collection earlier, in Fabian Essays in Socialism that occasion was slightly lower and other archives held at LSE and (1889), Webb had claimed that: than expected, perhaps because elsewhere. the Mill items were overshadowed During the war the Library Over thirty The publication of John Stuart by a newly discovered Beethoven was concerned about the possibil- Mill’s Political Economy in 1848 quartet movement and a previ- ity of bomb damage to its collec- years earlier, marks conveniently the bound- ously unknown letter by Charlotte tions and the depredations of the ary of the old individualistic eco- Bronte. The purchase was sup- Air Ministry, who had taken over in Fabian nomics. Every edition of Mill’s ported generously by the Friends the LSE building on Houghton book became more and more of the National Libraries and V& A Street (apparently all the maps and Essays in socialistic … Purchase Grant Fund. foreign language dictionaries dis- Despite its lack of staff devoted appeared). So it arranged for the Socialism And that solely to working with manuscripts, Mill material to be evacuated to the the Library began work on its first National Library of Wales in Aber- (1889), Webb This is the programme to which deposits very swiftly. In June 1925, ystwyth. In 1943 Professor Hayek, a century of industrial revolu- the Library and Research Com- then working on his volume of had claimed tion has brought the Radical mittee minutes note that work had correspondence between Mill and working man. Like John Stuart begun on sorting the ‘100s of letters Harriet Taylor Mill, realised that that: Mill, though less explicitly, he and manuscript notes by Mill and he needed to see some of the vol- ‘the publica- has turned from mere politi- Helen Taylor’.8 The correspondence umes which had been sent away. cal Democracy to a complete, included names such as G. O.Trev- The Rockefeller Foundation was tion of John though unconscious, Socialism.10 elyan, Henry Hyndman, George funding the project and encouraged Holyoake and Sir Edwin Chadwick. the employment of refugee schol- Stuart Mill’s Also on the committee was LSE There were also photographs of ars from Europe. Hayek’s research Governor, the publisher, Thomas Mill, his passport and several uni- assistant, Ruth Borchardt, was just Political Econ- Fisher Unwin, whose was also versity diplomas. such a refugee scholar and Hayek chair of the political and economic In 1934 the Library’s Annual was keen to continue the work and omy in 1848 committee of the National Liberal Report announced the comple- make the most of the opportunity. Club, and Treasurer of the Cob- tion of the project: the material had The Library knew that the Mill marks con- den Club, and a likely supporter been arranged and indexed and the items were held within cases V and of the purchase of Mill’s papers for catalogue and index of names was XI, but unfortunately the volumes veniently the the Library. And of course there now available to researchers. At the had been wrapped – unlabelled – in was Harold Laski, who had joined same time, the individual items had bitumen paper and air sealed. The boundary of LSE in 1920 as a lecturer in govern- been mounted on guard strips and Library Committee agreed that it ment and who was an active mem- then bound into volumes. Known was too much to ask the National the old indi- ber of Library Committee during as guarding and filing, this was a Library of Wales to go through the the 1920s. Laski believed there method of ensuring security and crates, so a member of staff was des- vidualistic was much to learn from Mill, par- was very popular into the 1970s and patched to Aberystwyth to bring ticularly with regard to the balance 1980s; sadly it makes it extremely them all back.9 economics. between the power of the state and difficult to copy or scan the col- So why did the LSE become a Every edi- the rights of the individual. The lection, and today we have to use a prime location for Mill papers? The Grammar of Politics,11 the first edi- microfilm edition of the archive if development of the collection has tion of Mill’s tion of which was published in 1926 readers want to make any copies. often been linked to the Hayek’s by Allen and Unwin, expressed This work remains the core of involvement with the archive at book became Laski’s belief that socialism was the current catalogue and access to LSE between 1932 and 1950. Hayek the best defence for the individual the collections. By the 1990s, how- was certainly a member of the more and against the state and when Liberty ever, it was becoming apparent that, Library and Research Commit- in the Modern State12 was published although the catalogue provided a tee during the 1930s, but Sam Brit- more social- in 1930 the Times reviewer called it very detailed guide to individual tain, in his biography of Hayek in the greatest defence of liberty since items, it was not very helpful in the Dictionary of National Biography, istic …’ John Stuart Mill.

Journal of Liberal History 70 Spring 2011 17 an archivist’s nightmare: the papers of john stuart mill

Beyond the Library and fifty-nine volumes and fifteen boxes significant Liberal-related materi- Research Committee, others at of material. The title of the collec- als including the archives of the Liberal LSE also valued the work of Mill. tion reflects its composition, in that Party and the papers of William Bev- The sociologist, Leonard Trelawny the correspondence of John Stuart eridge. This paper was first given at the Hobhouse, who had been appointed Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill and Helen History Group / LSE / BLPSG semi- to the first chair of Sociology at the Taylor are all well represented. nar on John Stuart Mill in November London School of Economics in There are notebooks, drafts of arti- 2009. 1907, wrote in his 1906 Liberalism cles, speeches and press cuttings. and Other Writings13 that: So, today, who uses the letters 1 GB97/Mill-Taylor/53 item 58, Note and papers in the Archive’s Read- by Helen Taylor, after death of John In middle life voluntary cooper- ing Room? Despite the availability Stuart Mill, expressing her wishes ation appeared to [Mill] the best of the immense and encyclopaedic with regard to the publication of his … but towards the close he rec- Collected Works of John Stuart Mill correspondence. ognized that his change of views edited by J. M. Robson and the 2 GB97/Mill-Taylor/58 item 4, Mary was such as, on the whole to rank microfilm edition of the papers Taylor’s diary. him with the socialists, and the held at LSE, the papers are regu- 3 Letters of John Stuart Mill (London, brief exposition of the Social- larly requested by researchers in 1910), edited by H. S. R. Elliot. ist ideal given in his Autobiog- the Archive’s Reading Room. The 4 GB97/Letter Collection/3/ff 120–123, raphy remains perhaps the best last major piece of work based on Letter from Hugh S. R. Elliot to Leon- summary statement of Liberal the papers was focused on Harriet ard Courtney, 1st Baron Penwith. Socialism that we possess. Taylor Mill, and one of the most 5 GB97/Letter Collection/3/ff 123, Let- poplar subjects is the development ter from Hugh S. R. Elliot to Leonard Although just how far Mill was of nineteenth-century feminism, Courtney, 1st Baron Penwith. actually committed to some form of with requests to see Harriet Tay- 6 Geoffrey Allen, ‘Manuscript Collec- socialism is clearly open to debate, lor’s writings and to read Helen tions in the British Library of Politi- for the purposes of this article it is Taylor’s correspondence. Other cal and Economic Science’, Journal of clear that in the inter-war years enquiries refer to James Mill, links the Society of Archivists, vol. 2, no. 2, many linked him to the develop- with America and Ireland, political October 1960. ment of socialism, making him an representation and, perhaps most 7 Friedrich A. Hayek, John Stuart Mill interesting subject to those working bizarrely, the history of passports. and Harriet Taylor: their correspondence at the School. An archivist’s nightmare: papers and subsequent marriage (London, 1951). Nevertheless, the later gifts scattered across the globe, bound 8 GB97/LSE/10/8 Library and and purchases of Mill-related cor- in unwieldy volumes and gathered Research Committee minutes, 29 respondence and papers made together in a piecemeal way. How- June 1926. between 1943 and 1950 were most ever, even those who are working 9 GB97/LSE/10/10 Library Commit- likely influenced by Hayek’s inter- happily from the printed editions tee, April 1940. est in Mill, and by the time Hayek would do well to spend an after- 10 Sidney Webb, Fabian Essays in Social- moved on to Chicago in 1950 the noon in the Archive – to see the ism (London, 1889). collection was of a size to gener- handwriting, touch the pages and 11 Harold Laski, Grammar of Politics ate its own dynamic for growth, feel the connection. (London, 1926). although over the years the oppor- 12 Harold Laski, Liberty in the Modern tunities for adding to the archive Sue Donnelly is Archivist at the State (London, 1930). have diminished. Today the Mill- London School of Economics and 13 L. T. Hobhouse, Liberalism and Other Taylor Collection comprises Political Science. The Archive holds Writings (London, 1906). Liberal History 300 years of party history in 24 pages The Liberal Democrat History Group’s pamphlet, Liberal History: A concise history of the Liberal Party, SDP and Liberal Democrats, has been revised and updated to include the 2010 election and the formation of the coalition.

Liberal History is available to Journal of Liberal History subscribers for the special price of £2.00 (normal price £2.50) with free p&p. To order, please send a cheque for £2.00 (made out to ‘Liberal Democrat History Group’) to LDHG, 54 Midmoor Road, London SW12 0EN.

18 Journal of Liberal History 70 Spring 2011