Guide to the Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham Naval History Manuscripts Collection
Processed by Andre Ambrus.
Special Collections and Archives
The UCI Libraries
P.O. Box 19557
University of California
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Phone: (949) 824-3947
Fax: (949) 824-2472
Email: spcoll@uci.edu
URL: http://www.lib.uci.edu/rrsc/speccoll.html
© 2004
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham Naval History Manuscripts Collection
Collection number: MS-M01
Special Collections and Archives
The UCI Libraries
University of California
Irvine, California
Contact Information
- Special Collections and Archives
- The UCI Libraries
- P.O. Box 19557
- University of California
- Irvine, California 92623-9557
- Phone: (949) 824-3947
- Fax: (949) 824-2472
- Email: spcoll@uci.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.uci.edu/rrsc/speccoll.html
- Processed by:
- Andre Ambrus
- Date Completed:
- 2004
- Encoded by:
- Andre Ambrus
© 2004 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham naval history manuscripts collection,
Date (inclusive): 1746-1967
Date (bulk): 1746-1913
Collection number: MS-M001
Creator:
Cunninghame Graham, Angus, Sir, 1893-1981
Extent:
1.4 linear feet
4 boxes
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library.
Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: This collection comprises naval documents, correspondence, and other related materials collected and assembled by British
Admiral Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham. The materials provide insights not just into naval history but also day-to-day operations
aboard British ships during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes ships' logs, navy lists, seamanship
notebooks, and signal books, along with naval literature and notes, and sketches.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and University Archives.
Preferred Citation
Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham naval history manuscripts collection. MS-M01. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine
Libraries, Irvine, California.
Acquisition Information
Acquired, circa 1966.
Custodial History
The collection was initially assembled by Commander Charles Elphinstone Fleeming Cunninghame Graham and it includes materials
created or assembled by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Seymour and Admiral Sir Douglas Romilly Lothian Nicholson.
Processing Information
Processed by Andre Ambrus, 2004.
Biographies
Angus Cunninghame Graham
Admiral Sir Angus Edward Malise Bontine Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore, son of Commander C. E. F. Cunninghame Graham, was
born in 1893. Cunningham Graham completed his education at Osborne and Dartmouth, served in the Grand Fleet, 1914-1918, and
was Senior Naval Officer at West River, China from 1936 until 1938. He was Captain of H.M.S. (Her Majesty's Ship) Signal
School, 1939-1941, and of H.M.S. Kent, 1941-1943. He also served as Commodore of the Royal Navy Barracks in Chatham 1943-1945
and became a Rear Admiral in 1945. In 1952, after serving as a Vice-Admiral for four years, he was appointed an Admiral.
Among many other titles, Cunninghame Graham was also a Trustee for the National Library of Scotland, Commissioner of the Queen
Victoria School, and Vice-President of the National Trust of Scotland. He died in 1981.
Charles Elphinstone Fleeming Cunninghame Graham
Commander C.E.F. Cunningham Graham, father of Angus Cunninghame Graham and brother of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, famous
Scottish politician and writer, was born in Edinburgh in 1854. After three years at Harrow he joined the crew of H.M.S. Britannia.
He served the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for twenty-five years first as an Inspector of Lifeboats, and later as a
Deputy Chief Inspector. He died in 1917.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection comprises naval documents, correspondence, and other related materials collected and assembled by British
Admiral Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham. The materials provide insights not just into naval history but also day-to-day operations
aboard British ships during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes ships' logs, navy lists, seamanship
notebooks, and signal books, along with naval literature and notes, and sketches. Also included are brief biographies, by
Angus Cunningham Graham, of the individuals who were instrumental in assembling this body of work.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into 3 series.
- Series 1. Ephemera files, circa 1830-1967. 0.4 linear ft.
- Series 2. Ships' logs and related documents, 1757-1803. 0.4 linear ft.
- Series 3. Signal books, 1746-1913. 0.6 linear ft.
Separated Material
Collection initially also included the diaries of Anne Elizabeth Bontine and additional materials which now comprise the Anne
Elizabeth Bontine Diaries and Other Materials (MS-M29), Special Collections and Archives.
Collection Contents
Series 1.
Ephemera files, circa 1830-1969
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of personal items, correspondence, lecture notes and sketchbooks including a bound chronology listing
the previous collectors of these materials and their biographies. The materials in this series deal with naval issues, such
as engineering and navigation and include a number of letters from the personal correspondence of Angus Cunninghame Graham.
Arrangement
The items are arranged into categories and chronologically within categories.
Box 1 : 1
Checklist and biography of custodians.
Cunninghame Graham Naval Library, November, 1967
Box 1 : 2
Cunninghame Graham, Angus, letter to Graham's librarian, 1969
Box 1 : 3
Cunninghame Graham, C. E. F.. 1911-1914.
Physical Description:
2 items.
Box 1 : 4-7 and 4 : 1-3
Lectures, notes, and publications
Box 1 : 4-6 and 4 : 1
Cunninghame Graham, Angus
Box 4 : 1
H.M.S Achilles, engineering, circa 1912
Box 1 : 4
H.M.S. Cumberland, shipbuilding notes, circa 1926-circa 1946
Box 1 : 5
Navigation, pilotage and compass notes, circa 1910-circa 1930
Box 1 : 6
Notes on charts, flags, signals and various naval subjects, circa 1910- circa 1940
Box 1 : 7
Cunninghame, Graham, C. E. F..
Addenda to Naval Library catalogue, circa 1912
Box 4 : 2
Lieutenant Layman, H.F.H.,
Lecture on the history of naval visual signalling, 1926, July
Box 4 : 3
Waters, David Watkin,
Notes on the convoy system of naval warfare, thirteenth to twentieth centuries, part I, 1204 -1874, 1957.
Series 2.
Ships' logs and related naval documents, 1757-1803
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of ships' logs and miscellaneous naval documents dating from the middle of the 18th to early 19th centuries.
The materials document naval life during the time period aboard naval vessels, administrative and legal events, ships' locations
and movements, crew data and other related matters.
Arrangement
The series is arranged alphabetically by title and by author within categories of documents.
Box 4 : 4
Letter book, 1757-1758.
Scope and Content Note
Spine title: Journal De M De Contrepo Capitain Debrulo.
Box 1 : 8
Midshipman's leave book, H.M.S. New Zealand, 1910-1911
Box 1 : 9
Seamanship note book, 1890
Box 1 : 10
Sketchbook of ships and sailboats, 1882
Box 1 : 11
Watch, station, and quarter bill, circa 1811
Box 4 : 5 - 6
Harris, John, 1792-1802.
Physical Description:
2 folders.
Scope and Content Note
The volume, in addition to 4 loose pages of entries, also contains a tintype portrait of an unidentified male.
Box 2 : 1
Moubray, Richard Hussey (Commander of the H.M.S. Maidstone, 1801-1803), 1803
Series 3.
Signal books, 1746-1913
Physical Description:
0.6 linear ft.
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of 11 signal books that include information on charts, flags, signals and various other subjects including
navigation, tides, sail making, and stowage of holds.
Arrangement
Items in this series are arranged chronologically.
Box 2 : 2
Signals for the Royal Navy and ships under convoy, 1746.
Scope and Content Note
Includes the undated publication
Coins weights and measures, ancient and modern for all nations.
Box 2 : 3
Pendant and signals, circa 1746
Box 2 : 4
Telegraph flag of the thousands, circa 1746-circa 1800.
Scope and Content Note
Title taken from item, which is enclosed in buttoned linen envelope.
Box 2 : 5
Signal book, circa 1778-circa 1779
Box 2 : 6
Signaux de jour entre les vaisseaux, fregates and autre batimens de l'etat charges de convoyer, and le convoi qu'ila elcortenz, 1793
Box 2 : 7
Signals for ships of war, 1795
Box 3 : 1
Signal book with watercolor bookplate of Lieutenant Jacques Dalby, circa 1797
Box 4 : 7
Signal book for Her Majesty's ships and the East India Company, 1798
Box 3 : 2
Signal Book for the Ships of War, 1808
Box 3 : 3
Signals for prizes, boats, H.M.S. Resistance, circa 1861
Box 3 : 4
Signal book for boats, 1913
