Guide to the Papers of Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom, c.1867-1962 (bulk 1867-1942)

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 10046
Creator:
Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom
Extent:
4.60 metres and (26 boxes + 1 folio box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom, National Library of Australia, MS 10046, [series and/or folder number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
This collection consists of papers that were accumulated by Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom. They include correspondence, manuscript drafts, addresses, speeches, articles, newspaper cuttings, legal documents, diaries, notebooks, photographs, invitations, other ephemera and publications.
Biographical Note:

Littleton Ernest Groom was born in Toowoomba on 22 April 1867, to William Henry Groom and Grace (née Littleton). In 1891 he graduated as a Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne and in the following year as LLM. From 1891-1901 he practised as a Barrister in Brisbane. On the 4 July 1894, Groom married Jessie (née Bell), the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister from Wagga Wagga.

On 14 September, following his father's death, Groom was elected at by-election to the seat of Darling Downs in the House of Representatives. He held a number of ministerial positions. In the Deakin Ministry Groom was Minister for Home Affairs (1905-1906), Attorney General (1906-1908) and Minister for External Affairs (1909-1910). In 1913-1914 he served as Minister for Trade and Customs in the Cook Ministry. In the Hughes Ministry, he also held a number of different positions - he was Vice-President of the Executive Council (1917-1918), Minister for Works and Railways (1918-1921) and Attorney-General (1921-1923). Groom was also Attorney-General in the Bruce-Page Ministry (1923-1925).

In 1924 Groom was appointed KCMG. In the same year he led the Australian delegation to the the League of Nations General Assembly. From 1926-1929 he was made Speaker of the House of Representatives. On 12 October 1929 he was defeated at the general election, but was re-elected to the seat of Darling Downs at a general election on 15 December 1931. In 1933 he joined the United Australia Party. Sir Littleton Groom died on 6 November 1936 in Canberra.

Lady Jessie Groom was the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister, Charles Bell, from Wagga Wagga. In 1894, she married Sir Littleton Groom in South Melbourne. Throughout Littleton Groom's career, Lady Groom played an active role in community life. She established, and was President, of the Toowoomba Literary Society and played a pivotal role in the Queensland Electoral League. She gave addresses and speeches to a number of organisations on topics such as literature, children and the church. Following Sir Littleton's death, Lady Groom played a role in keeping the memory of her late husband, and his work, alive. She published a biography of her late husband and edited works by a number of contributing authors titled Nation building in Australia : the life and work of Sir Littleton Groom (Angus Robertson, 1941).

Bibliographic Reference(s)

  • Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm
  • Toowomba's Literary History, http://www.publicmemory.org/ToowoombaLiteraryHistory/GroomMemorial.htm
  • Liberal Party of Australia, http://www.liberal.org.au/about/documents/FederalWomensCommitteeHistoryto2003.pdf
Provenance:

The collection was passed to Cecil Pearce, husband of Jessie, one of Sir Littleton and Lady Groom's daughters. Mr Pearce subsequently bequeathed the papers to his daughter-in-law, who together with her three children, donated the material to the Library.

Arrangement:

The collection was donated to the Library by family members under the Cultural Gifts Program in 2006. As the papers had passed through successive generations of family hands, it was assumed that the original order of the collection, as maintained by Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom, had not been retained. Many of the groupings, however, formed logical series. This is particularly true in the case of correspondence to Lady Jessie Groom (Series 12), legal documents and papers (Series 4), addresses, debates, articles and papers (Series 6), publications, pamphlets and other printed items (Series 11) and newspaper cuttings (Series 10). Folders in the remaining series have been organised by the Library. For the most part, original file titles have been retained.

Container List:
Series Subseries File Box
1 1-3 1
2 1 1
3 1-2 1
4 1 1
4 2 2
5 1-4 2
5 5-7 3
6 1-2 3
6 3-8 4
6 9-15 5
6 15a-21 6
6 22-30 7
6 31-39 8
6 40-48 9
6 49-56 10
6 57-62a 11
6 63-67 12
6 68-71 13
7 1-8 14
7 9-10 15
8 1-2 15
9 1 15
10 1-4 16
11 Folio Box 1
12 12.1 1-7 17
12 12.1 8-14 18
12 12.1 15-20 19
12 12.1 21-27 20
12 12.1 28-34 21
12 12.1 35-42 22
12 12.1 43-50 23
12 12.2 51-58 24
13 1 24
14 1-8 25
15 1 26
16 1-4 26
17 1-2 26

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Available for research. Not for loan.
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 Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom, National Library of Australia, MS 10046, [series and/or folder number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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