The Tenn Circles or Provinces of the Empire, and what Horsemen, and ffootemen[,] everie one is bound to Contribute in all necessarie affayres for the State of the Empire, where is to be noted that the Protestantes in the same, doe double their Contribucion.

A discourse touching ye present estate and gouuernement of the kingdomes of Denmarke and Norwegen, with a description of the said realmes, and Dominions appertayninge vnto them. written in September Anno 1588.

Though my personall attendance on your lordship receives a discontinuance by my absence from Ireland, I cannot so much forget the obligation of that noble respect vouchsafed me there and the authority of your lordship's commands as not to waite on your lordship by my letters till a new oportunity admitt me againe the honour of kissing your lordship's hands. And though the impression I am under of your lordship's high civilityes might justifye large acknowledgments, yet beleeving your lordship delights more in obligeing acts then the repetition of them, I forbeare saying more then that I shall retayne a due resentment of my great ingagements to appeare your lordship's servant and am ambitious to receive some commands from your lordship which may witnesse you are pleased so to account of me.

The spelling, punctuation, and capitalization of Woodford's diary have been left unchanged as the sense is generally clear. Wellingborough he spells as variations on ‘Wellingborow’; Towcester as ‘Toucester’. Christ (either standing alone or as part of Antichrist) is shortened to ‘Xt’, except in such words as Christian and christened or when forming part of the name Christopher; these he spells as follows: ‘xxian’, ‘xxned’, ‘xxofer’. The only letter that I have altered is his ‘j’, which I have changed to ‘i’ where necessary. In the introduction, Woodford's surname is spelled without a final ‘e’ because this is the way that he spells the word throughout the diary; the only exception to this applies to later generations of the family. Where editorial additions and explanations have been made they appear either in square brackets or in a note. Some of Woodford's abbreviations and contractions have been expanded in this way: Northampton, which he writes ‘Northton’, has been rendered ‘North[amp]ton’.

The first intimation that I might be asked to go to Ghana as Governor General came in a 6d Air Letter hand-written by Kwame Nkrumah from the Prime Minister's Office in the Castle at Accra, and dated May 5th, 1957. There was something rather pleasantly informal about the use of the cheap Air Mail service for such an important communication. The letter, in green ink, read as follows:

486 Final concord in the king's court at Westminster in the quin-dene of Easter, 14 Henry III, before Thomas of Moulton (Muleton'), Stephen of Seagrave (Segrave), William of Raleigh (Ralegh'), Robert of Lexington (Lexinton'), William of London (Lond') and master Robert of Shardlow (Sherdelawe), justices, and others, between Abbot Adam [of Lathbury] of Reading, seeking by Hugh of Fulford (Fuleford') as attorney, and Aumary son of Robert, whom William son of Aumary called to warranty and who warranted to him concerning 8½ virgates of land in Carswell (Kersewell') [Berks.]. The abbot quitclaimed all his right in the said land to Aumary and his heirs. In return Aumary gave and quitclaimed to the abbot and abbey of Reading the homage and full service of William son of Richard and his heirs from the tenement which he held of Aumary in Adwell (Adewell'), viz., 2 marks annually and the foreign service appurtain-ing to the tenement. This concord was made in the presence of the said William, who acknowledged that he owed that service.

I Notification by King Henry I of his foundation of Reading Abbey and gift of Reading, Cholsey and Leominster with their churches and with a mint and moneyer at Reading, Thatcham and the church of Wargrave; and grant of specified liberties and immunities

[? March] 1125

A f 13r–v; B f 16r–v; D ff 17r–18r; E ff 48r–49r; F f 75r–v (not fully collated); PRO Cartae Antiq. Roll, C52/22(X), no. 9 (not fully collated)

Pd. Mon. Aug., iv. 40–1 (no. ii); Barfield, Thatcham, ii. 5–6; (cal.) Regesta, ii. 192–3 (no. 1427); Farrer, Itin., 111 (no. 512), reprinted from EHR, xxxiv (1919), 535; (transl.) Hurry, Reading Abbey, 151–5

Henricus del gratia rex Anglorum et dux Normannorum archiepiscopis, episcopis, abbatibus, comitibus baronibusque suis et omnibus christianis tam presentibus quam futuris, salutem perpetuam. Sciatis quia tres abbatie in regno Anglie peccatis exigentibus olim destructe sunt, Radingia scilicet atque Chealseia et Leoministria, quas manus laica diu possedit earumque terras et possessiones alienando distraxit.

At the Carlton Club meeting in October 1922 Balfour had reflected caustically that while ‘it has never been a Conservative principle to abandon a Leader … I concede it has sometimes been a Conservative practice’. At this meeting, the Conservative Party had abandoned Austen Chamberlain. A little over a year later it appeared as if a similar fate would befall his principal successor. Amid the ruins of Law's victory for ‘Tranquillity’ many observers subscribed to Hanky's view that ‘Baldwin, though a nice fellow is not the stuff of which British Prime Ministers are made’. In the immediate aftermath of this disaster, most also assumed he would be compelled to pay the ultimate price for this inadequacy. Certainly Birhenhead was one of them. Electoral defeat was a vindication of all that he had predicted since the fall of the Coalition. Rejoicing that it had finally ‘put an end to the idea that fifth rate intelligence could govern the Empire’, Birkenhead set in motion the final act in a strategy to which he had committed the Chamberlainites in November 1922. Between 6 and 10 December rumours abounded that the former Conservative Coalitionists were about to displace Baldwin, replace him variously with Balfour, Derby or Chamberlain and then form some sort of Liberal-Conservative combination to exclude Labour from office. In the event, the plan miscarried. The apparent recrudescence of the ‘old intrigue’ rallied the victors of the Carlton Club to defend the Party, their brand of Conservatism and, by necessity, its leader from coalitionist conspiracy. Virtually overnight, Baldwin was transformed from the wanton destroyer of Law's majority into the guarantor of Conservative principle. As Amery told Baldwin, ‘you embody and personify the decision of the Party to live its own life and have its own constructive policy’. Ultimately, therefore, despite much Conservative anger, frustration and despair at Baldwin's perceived folly, the impulse which brought about the coalescence of figures as diverse as the Cecils, Younger, Strachey, Gretton and the ministerial beneficiaries of the Carlton Club was the consensus that they were ‘not prepared to cut off Baldwin's head and make Austen Chamberlain King’. They were even less inclined to install Birkenhead as Regent.