Guide to the Papers of William Keith Hancock, 1930-1974

Summary

Collection number:

MS 2886

Creator:

William Keith Hancock

Extent:

2.1 metres and (15 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of William Keith Hancock, National Library of Australia, MS 2886, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection consists of the drafts, typescripts and related material of some of the later books written by Sir Keith Hancock, particularly his biography of General J.C. Smuts. The material related to the Smuts biography includes copies of letters by General Smuts and Sir Keith's correspondence with various people while collecting material for the book. Correspondents include Lord Trenchard, Professor P.G. H. Boswell, Piet Beukes, Sir Dougal Malcolm, Professor D.W. Kruger, Dr W.J. de Kock, Professor K. Kirkwood, Lord Reith, Alan Paton, Mrs M.C. Gillett, Professor L.W. Thompson, V.C.H.R. Brereton, Lord Brand, J.C. Smuts and Clark Bancroft.

The material in the collection relating to the Fraser Island and Black Mountain Tower controversies include the draft of the book on Black Mountain by Hancock and his correspondence with various people over the issue.

Biographical Note:

William Keith Hancock was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on the 26 June 1898. The son of Archdeacon William Hancock, he was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and later the University of Melbourne. At the age of nine he won the Royal Humane Society's medal for rescuing another child from drowning in the Mitchell River, Victoria.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Hancock went to Balliol College, Oxford in 1922. He graduated in 1924 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in Modern History. He then became the first Australian to gain a Fellowship of All Souls College, Oxford in 1923. After returning to Australia he was Professor of Modern History at the University of Adelaide between 1924 and 1933. His highly influential book Australia was published in 1930.

From 1934 to 1944 Hancock was the Professor of History at Birmingham University and during this war period was also appointed to the War Cabinet Offices. His Survey of British Commonwealth affairs was published in three volumes in 1937-42. He was appointed Supervisor of the Civil History of the War in 1941 and was thereafter editor of the series and the author of The British war economy (1949). Between 1944 and 1949, he was Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford.

In 1949 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and he was the Professor of British Commonwealth Affairs at the University of London until 1956. During this period he was sent as a government expert to examine constitutional questions in Uganda in 1954. He also began to write the biography of General Smuts, which appeared in two volumes in 1962 and 1968.

Hancock returned to Australia in 1957. He was Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University from 1957 to 1961 and was Professor of History at the Institute of Advanced Studies, ANU until his retirement in 1965. On his retirement he was made Emeritus Professor (1968) and created the first University Fellow of ANU. Other positions he has held were Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography from 1958 to 1965 and President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1970-1971.

Hancock was knighted in 1953 and made a Knight of the British Empire in 1965. He married Theaden Brocklebank in 1925; she died in 1960. He married Marjorie Eyre in 1961. He died in Canberra in 1988.

Provenance:

The first part of this collection was donated by Sir Keith Hancock in February 1963 when he gave his original manuscript of the first volume of his biography of General Smuts to the National Library. He subsequently made several large additions to the collection.

In October 1968 Sir Keith donated a further draft of his Smuts biography, working notebooks, correspondence, and copies of excerpts from the Smuts archives. Sir Keith destroyed his own personal papers and gave material relating to the Australian National University to the Registrar of the University. Any material he had retained on the British War History was sent to the Australian War Memorial.

The corrected typescript of Attempting History was received by the National Library in June 1969. The manuscript of Discovering Monaro was donated by Sir Keith in August 1971, with the typescript following in February 1972.

In August 1975 Sir Keith donated all his material on the Black Mountain Tower and Fraser Island controversies. This included court transcripts, correspondence, newspaper cuttings and other papers. These were supplemented by further donations by Pam Coward (Hancock's secretary) in October 1976, Joan Lynravn in 1978 and Stephen Foster in 1996.

Indexed terms

Names:

William Keith Hancock

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1790491).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of William Keith Hancock, National Library of Australia, MS 2886, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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