Correspondence, diaries, memoranda etc. as Director of Recruitment in the Colonial Service, and as Colonial Office representative at Empire Forestry Conferences.
Dates
- Creation: 1916-1964
Extent
11 boxes
Language of Materials
- English
Preferred Citation
Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 415].
Full range of shelfmarks:
MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 415
Collection ID (for staff)
CMD ID 1927
Biographical / Historical
Sir Ralph Dolignon Furse was born in London on the 29 September 1887 and educated at Eton, and Balliol College, Oxford. He joined the Colonial Office in 1910 as Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of State, Lewis (later Viscount) Harcourt. During World War I he was on active service in France and Italy; he was wounded in 1917, twice mentioned in despatches, and appointed to the DSO in 1918 with bar in 1919.
Furse rejoined the Colonial Office in 1919 as Assistant Private Secretary, later Private Secretary, to successive Secretaries of State (Viscount Milner, 1919; Churchill, 1921; Duke of Devonshire, 1922; J.H. Thomas, 1924; Amery, 1924, and Lord Passfield, 1929). In 1930 he was appointed Director of Recruitment in the Colonial Service, a post which he held until his retirement in 1948. After retirement Furse served as an adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on training courses for the Colonial Service (1948-1950).
He was appointed CMG (1935), KCMG (1941) and in 1949 the University of Oxford made him an honorary DCL (Doctor of Civil Law). Sir Furse died on the 1 October 1973.
Other Finding Aids
The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room and a handlist is also available for this collection.
Listed as no. 14 in Manuscript Collections (Africana and non-Africana) in Rhodes House Library, Oxford, Supplementary accessions to the end of 1977 and Cumulative Index, compiled by Wendy S. Byrne (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1978).
Subject
- Title
- Papers of Sir Ralph Dolignon Furse
- Status
- Published
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk