Letters to William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, fourth Baron Harlech, from relatives, military and government colleagues, and fellow board members of national cultural institutions, 1894-1950. Recurring general topics are the disendowment of the Church in Wales, 1914; political, military and social matters during the two World Wars; Gore 's involvement with the Arab Bureau, the War Cabinet and Palestinian affairs, 1917-1942; British foreign policy and the system of colonial administration; the government, economy and culture of South Africa during Gore 's appointment as High Commissioner, 1941-1943; civil defence organisation in Yorkshire, 1941-1942; committee business of the National Gallery and other cultural institutions; preservation of London architecture, 1931-1933; and items of historical interest, including the grave of Owen Arthur Ormsby-Gore.

Letters to Margaret Ethel Ormsby-Gore from her son, William George Arthur, 1891-1950.
The subject matter covers his election and early career as Conservative MP for the Denbigh Boroughs under the Liberal Asquith government, 1907-1914 and later for Stafford, 1918-1938; his service during the First World War with the Shropshire Yeomanry, the Arab Bureau, the War Office Cabinet and the Zionist Commission in Palestine; his attendance at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919; several government appointments mainly in colonial administration, 1920-1938 and in the Cabinet as First Commissioner of Works, 1931; his succession to the title of Harlech and selection as Lord Lieutenant of Merioneth, 1938; responsibility for civil defence in Yorkshire, 1939-1940; his appointment as High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in South Africa; 1941-1944; his receipt of the Order of the Garter, 1948; and a bank directorship in South Africa, 1950. The letters comment (often indiscreetly) on other politicians, including Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin and Winston Churchill, cabinet business and political issues such as: National Insurance; the Parliament Act, 1911; Lloyd George 's radical social reforms; Disestablishment of the Church in Wales; Home Rule and the rise of Irish nationalism, 1912-1921, 1948; the General Strike, 1926; the Socialist election victory, 1929; the Great Depression, 1931; influence of trade unions, 1935; agricultural policy, 1931-1939; social, economic and governmental aspects of the Second World War, generally in Europe and more specifically in South Africa under Smuts 's premiership; and significant changes in post-war society. The letters from abroad keenly observe the geography, culture and politics of Europe, Egypt, Palestine, the East and West Indies, Africa, Canada and the United States. Other topics comprise the investiture of the Prince of Wales, 1911; an official cabinet visit to the King at Windsor Castle, 1932; the funeral of George V, 1936; Gore 's own lifelong interest in architecture, art and sculpture beginning as early as 1902-1903, with later references to the National Gallery, 1928, and the National Museum of Wales, 1939; the management of Derrycarne Estate until its sale in 1924 and alterations to the Brogyntyn estates through death duties and wartime economy, 1938-1945. The letters are accompanied by a set of autobiographical notes, purposely created for clarification of the contents.

Large file containing various speeches, lectures and scripts for radio broadcasts, 1940-1945.
It includes the script of W.G.A. Ormsby-Gore 's inaugural radio broadcast as UK High Commissioner in South Africa, 1941, together with his professional reports to the Dominions Office, speeches and essays on typical South African issues, such as the effects of industrialisation; agricultural production, with suggested measures for improvement; the constitution and local administrative systems under colonial government; health care and education; the development of Afrikaner nationalism; political, religious and racial relations in a cosmopolitan population; South Africa 's position in the Second World War including political relations with the resident German community; and preservation of the cultural heritage by the South African Library at Cape Town, 1942-1944. The file also contains the script of a radio broadcast about the Portuguese prime minister, Dr Salazar, 1940; a memorandum on post-war British agricultural policy, 1944; a speech given at Chatham House in 1945 on the mandate system devised by the Allied Powers after the First World War; an essay about the need for more liberal education; and several lectures and essays on Western European architecture and painting, art criticism, contemporary South African art, museums and monuments in Portugal, and English place names, 1940-1943.