165 pieces of Conservative Party electoral ephemera gathered together by the victorious candidate in the General Election of 1922 in East Dorset. It is a collection of original letters (handwritten and typed), postcards, telegrams and cables sent to Gordon Ralph Hall Caine on his election victory for the East Dorset seat.
The letters have been tipped in to a bespoke album, bound in full burgundy roan, titled in gilt to the upper board "G. Ralph Hall Caine, CBE, MP, East Dorset, 15th November 1923"—and it must be noted the binder made a mistake with the titling as it was 1922 not 1923. The album measures 27.5 × 22cm, unpaginated but contains in excess of 165 enclosures.
The letters are mostly from the print and publishing with signatories include Ernest Hodder-Williams (director of Hodder & Stoughton), Henrietta Bankes of Kingston Lacy, and the journalist Evelyn Wrench (editor of The Spectator). There are different styles of telegrams and cables (these are the slips that would have been received by Hall Caine's local post office, the text noted down in pencil by the post office worker and then sent on) and these include communications from Western Union, Cablegrams and from the Commercial Cable Company. There are also two telegrams to his father, the author Hall Caine.
Gordon R Hall Caine (1884–1962) was a British publisher and politician, son of prolific author (Thomas Henry) Hall Caine. With his brother, Derwent Hall Caine, he founded The Readers Library Publishing Company Ltd which specialised in publishing novelisations of films. He became Deputy Controller of Paper in 1920 before entering Parliament in 1922 as an independent Conservative, taking the Conservative Whip the following year. He lived in Greeba Castle (on the Isle of Man, his father's house), Maidenhead and Park Lane.
Condition
The album is in good condition, with some dusty marks to the boards and some rubbing to the head of the spine. The contents are all in very good condition and remain well attached. Further pictures available on request.
