A LETTER revealing the story behind who put the Palace in touch with Lionel Logue has been uncovered at the National Library of Scotland.
The short letter, dated 18th May 1925, is from Baron (Lord) Stamfordham, King George V’s Private Secretary, to John Murray thanking him for Logue’s address and stating that he would ‘pass on to the Duke of York’s people’.
The letter was addressed to John Murray V, a member of the John Murray publishing dynasty whose archives are housed at the National Library of Scotland. Murray V’s nephew, John ‘Jock’ Murray VI, was successfully treated for a stammer by Logue and it was through Murray’s recommendation to his friend, Lord Stamfordham, that Logue was introduced to the Palace.
David McClay, senior curator at the National Library of Scotland, said: “There has always been a lot of speculation about how the introduction between King George VI and Lionel Logue came about, even more so following the success of the film, ‘The King’s Speech’.
“John ‘Jock’ Murray VI’s wife, Diana, recalled in an interview recently that Logue had actually been introduced to the Palace by her husband’s uncle and this wonderful item from our collection verifies that claim.”
The John Murray Archive Archive is one of the world’s most significant literary and cultural archives from the past 250 years, mapping seven generations of the Murray publishing house.
It is home to more than 150,000 papers, manuscripts, letters and other documents representing the world’s most celebrated writers, thinkers, politicians, explorers, economists and scientists and their relationship with The Murrays.
The John Murray Archive exhibition space, at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, shows some of the highlights from this vast collection.
An ongoing fundraising campaign to ensure that the JMA is preserved for future generations has amassed £30 million over the last five years. For more information on the John Murray Archive visit: http://digital.nls.uk/jma/
Ends
Notes to editors:
Dates and names
- Lord Stamfordham, Arthur John Bigge – 1849–1931
- John Murray V – 1884–1967
- John ‘Jock’ Murray VI – 1909–1993
About the JMA character exhibits
The JMA exhibition has a bank of four permanent ‘characters’ represented in the archive including:
- Lord Byron, poet
- Charles Darwin, scientist
- David Livingstone, explorer
- Isabella Bird Bishop, traveller
There are an additional seven rotating characters, with two being replaced each year. At present, these include:
- The Duke of Argyll, politician
- Charles Lyell, scientist
- Sir Walter Scott, author and critic
- Caroline Lamb, author and socialite
- Richard Ford, traveller
- Heinrich Schliemann, archaeologist
- Washington Irving, author
About the National Library of Scotland
- The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and is the world’s leading centre for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.
- The library’s collections are of world-class importance. Key areas include rare books, manuscripts, maps, music, official publications, business information, science and technology, and the modern and foreign collections.
- The Library holds well over 14 million items, including printed items, approximately 100,000 manuscripts, over 32,000 films and nearly two million maps. Every week, it collects approximately 6,000 new items. Around 80 per cent of these are received free of charge in terms of the Legal Deposit legislation.
- See www.nls.uk for further information about the Library and its collections.
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