Archive Collection WIL - Wilcox (Edwin) Papers

Identity area

Reference code

WIL

Title

Wilcox (Edwin) Papers

Date(s)

  • 1872-1947 (Creation)

Level of description

Archive Collection

Extent and medium

5 boxes (1 linear metre)

Context area

Name of creator

(d 1947)

Biographical history

Edwin Wilcox was a newspaper correspondent in Russia during the 1917 Revolution and Civil War, during which he sent regular articles to The Daily Telegraph and contemporary journals. He had lived and worked as The Daily Telegraph correspondent in Berlin prior to his work in Russia, and returned to Berlin in 1919. He retired in 1940. Wilcox regularly contributed to contemporary journals on subjects related to Russia and Germany, amongst other subjects. He spoke Russian, German, and French, and also wrote articles in these languages. During the Second World War, Wilcox was consulted on the subject of teaching foreign languages to British soldiers. He also published two books: German Sea-Power, its rise, progress, and economic basis (1914) and Russia's Ruin (1919). In his later life Wilcox lived in Newcastle upon Tyne and died in 1947.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Material bequeathed by E.H. Wilcox, and transferred on his death in 1947.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers primarily relate to Wilcox's time in Germany and Russian and mainly consist of typescripts (some annotated/edited) and offprints of articles published in contemporary journals. These include, for example, versions of a series of articles on Kerensky and Korniloff from the Fortnightly Review (September 1918-January 1919) and the subject's response. There is also a large collection of foreign-language articles and pamphlets (some by Wilcox), including B.V. Savinkov's Za rodinu i svobodu (Warsaw, 1920). Also included is a series of typed primary sources (speeches/statements), primarily relating to the Kerensku-Korniloff affair. There is some correspondence, most significantly a series of letters from Edmund Clerihew Bentley written from the Daily News and, later, the Daily Telegraph (1908-1923). Bentley was a journalist, author of Trent's Last Case, and inventor of the clerihew poem, and remained in contact with Wilcox for many years, although there are no extant letters later than 1923. Also included are a number of letters from Irene Ward, MP, and a small collection of family correspondence. Papers also include collections relating to Wilcox's personal and family life. These include a large collection of photographs, a small collection of articles and pamphlets in areas of interest and bills and receipts relating to the last years of Wilcox's life in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

UK copyright rules apply.

Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Russian

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

gb186-wil

Institution identifier

gb186

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Final

Level of detail

Full

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area