Skip to main content

Robert Saunders Papers

 Fonds
Reference code: 119

Scope and Contents

This collection is rare in that it comprises an almost complete series of administrative files, covering the work and activities of the Dorset West District of the British Union of Fascists. These files, which were compiled by Robert Saunders, contain correspondence with local members of the movement, and officials involved in the administration and organisation of the National Headquarters.

Later files, include correspondence sent and received by Robert Saunders, concerning his internment under Defence Regulation 18B, and then his subsequent involvement in the Dorchester Constituency of the Union Movement. There are also some special correspondence files, concerning his role in the Union Movement Agricultural Group and the Rural Reconstruction Association, and a file of personal correspondence with Oswald Mosley dated 1955 to 1970. This material is accompanied by appointment diaries, an autobiographical memoir and other writings, an oral history interview, as well as political books and pamphlets, collected together by Robert Saunders.

Dates

  • Creation: 1933 - 1970

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Available by appointment

Copyright

Variously according to document

Biographical / Historical

Robert Saunders (1910-1993) was a farmer, who became a leading member of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF), serving as the District Treasurer and then later District Officer for the Dorset West District. Due to his involvement in the BUF, he was interned during the Second World War under Defence Regulation 18B from 3 June 1940 to 15 September 1941. He was detained at Walton Gaol, Ascot and York Racecourse Internment Camps, Peel Internment Camp in the Isle of Man and Brixton Prison.

After the Second World War, Saunders’ became a Constituency Organiser for the Union Movement (UM). He was also a member of the UM Agricultural Group and played a prominent part in the formation of Union Movement’s agricultural policy, summarised in the pamphlet titled, “None Need Starve”. At the end of 1951, Saunders resigned as local Constituency Organiser but continued to serve as Union Movement Agricultural Group Organiser.

Saunders formerly resigned from the UM in 1963, and went on to become increasingly involved in the National Farmers Union. However, he continued to maintain a close interest in the UM, advising and corresponding with Mosley and other National Headquarters officials, mainly on agricultural and food policy matters, until 1970. He wrote about his life in his unpublished memoir titled, ‘A Tiller of Several Soils’. He died in 1993.

Extent

23 Box(es)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

As received

Custodial History

The majority of the archive (119/A-E) was donated by Robert Saunders via Jeffrey Wallder in 1987. The diaries, books and pamphlets (119/F-H) were bequeathed by Saunders to Jeffrey Wallder, and donated by Wallder in 1994 (books and pamphlets) and 2000 (diaries).

Related Materials

British Union Collection

Description rules
International Standard for Archival Description - General
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299