Document Group: 032

Provenance: Donated by Colin S. Richardson of Northumberland, England, 1943

Size: 1 linear foot

Restrictions: None

Microfilm: None

Finding Aid: Checklist revised by Anne Yoder, August 1997

This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Historical Introduction

Hugh Richardson was born at Newcastle on Tyne in England in 1864. He attended Cambridge King's College from 1884-1887, and later earned an M.A. (from Cantebury?). He was a science instructor, lecturer, editor and author. As a member of the Society of Friends he was vitally interested in the cause of peace and internationalism. During World War I, he visited prisoner-of-war camps in Scotland on behalf of the Emergency Committee of the Society of Friends and sent the prisoners seeds, linoleum, a sheet of rubber for printing, a stereoscope, a kaleidescope, writing tablets, and books. He lobbied for the non-payment of taxes until the end of the war, proposed disarmament by general agreement, was against supporting scientific research that promoted military science, tried to work out a mathematical formula for weighting votes in a universal government, thought there was a relation between the weather and political events, and was interested in how ornithology was related to military invasions.

Richardson was married to Mabel Spence-Watson. Their children were Mary Foster, Colin Spence, and Esther Watson. Richardson died in 1936.

Scope and Contents

The Hugh Richardson collection consists of letters written to Richardson by peace leaders -- such as Horace Alexander of the Peace Committee of the Society of Friends and Carl Heath of the National Peace Council -- and others, as well as letters regarding Richardson's visits to prisoners-of-war (mostly from internees in the camps, thanking Richardson for his letters, visits and gifts). It also contains Richardson's manuscript articles and play, his travel journals, periodicals in German from prisoner-of-war camps in Scotland and the Isle of Man, and miscellaneous material.

Box 1

Biographical information

Correspondence from Hugh Richardson, 1914-1915, undated

Correspondence to Hugh Richardson, 1911-1934, undated

Correspondence re: visits to prisoner-of-war camps and from prisoners-of-war, 1917-1918 [most letters are pasted in a notebook entitled "From Inside the Stacheldraht: [barbed wire]: Passed by the Censor." Also pasted are three photographs - two of groups of men, and one of a 1915 Christmas exhibition / display room at the Stob camp]

 

Box 2

Manuscript writings, 1907-1934, undated:

"The Science of Peace"

"The Opportunities of the Crisis";

"At Last"; "Recruiting"

"Belgian Relief"

"Alternatives to / Substitutes for War"

"Fundamental Fallacies";

"Reason for Enlistment"

"Character, Its Analysis and Measurement in C.G.S. Units"

"The General Election"

"The Metastable State"

"An International Gold Coinage"

"The Fabric of the World That Is To Be"

"War and Eugenics"; "Taxation of Earned Income"

"Disarmament and International Law"

"Science and the Societe des Nations"; "Revision"

"Stages of Intelligence"

"What Should We Teach About Peace"

"Character and Discipline"

"Memoire a Accompagner les Bases Proposees"

"Militia Ballot - Exemption or Alternatives"

"What is the Union of Democratic Control"

"Manifesto"; "No. 428 Treaty"

"La Base pour une Juste Paix"

"Terms of Settlement"; "Fools, Slaves or Freemen"

"Nationality No Final Solution"

"States of Mixed Nationality"; "General Strike or General Holiday"

"Needless Obstacles to European Reconstruction"

"Raw Materials for Reconstruction"; "Christian Warfare"; "Outward Light and Inward Darkness"

"The Only Way"

"Belgium"

"Hit First, Hit Hard, Hit Anywhere"

"Nationalism and Internationalism"

"Willing Service"

"Ich, Ebengild der Gottheit"

"The Fabric of the World That is to Be"

"Fundamental Fallacies"

"All Fools Day"

"Terra Incognita"

Miscellaneous writings: Includes pamphlet International Co-Operation published by Richardson in 1902

 

Box 3

Travel journals, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1931

Manuscript peace play "Mary in England, or the Gods Weekending"

Reference material

Periodicals (1915-1919) in notebook entitled: "Stobsiade Zeitung des Deutschen Kriegsgefan=Genen-Leagers Stobs in Schottland/under der zu ihm Gehoerigen Arbeitslager" ["Stobsiade Periodical of the German Prisoner of War Camp, Stobs in Scotland, and the Adjacent Work Camp (Associated Work Camps?)"]:

 

Stobsiade: Stobser Zeitung [Stobsiade: the Stob Journal]

 

Stobsiade: Halbmonatsschrift des deutschen Gefangenen-Lagers Stobs, Schottl. [Stobsiade: Semi-monthly Paper of the German Prisoner-of-War Camp of Stob, Scotland]

 

Stobsiade: Zeitung des deutshen Kriegsgefangenen-Lagers Stobs in Schottland [Stobsiade: Journal of the German Prisoner-of-War Camp of Stob, Scotland]

 

Knockaloe-Lager-Zeitung: Zeitschrift es Zivil-Gefangenen-Lagers Knockaloe, Isle of Man [Knockaloe Camp Newspaper: Periodical of the Knockaloe Civil Prisoners' Camp at Knockaloe, Isle of Man]

 

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