| Summary: | The Home Office papers contain correspondence, printed material and papers which were created or accumulated as a result of WSC's activities as Home Secretary. The papers have been arranged into correspondence and subject-based files. The Home Office papers form a departmental sub-class of the official class of the Chartwell Papers which was divided according to the various offices held by WSC. Files containing varying numbers of items were created within each sub-class and include subject based files (e.g. CHAR 12/4 devoted to prison reform) and chronologically arranged correspondence files (e.g. CHAR 12/2). This introduction comprises four sections: 1. The historical background to the Home Office papers; 2. The administrative position and responsibilities of Home Secretary; 3. WSC as Home Secretary: including sections on prison reform, shops, social reform, the "Siege of Sidney Street", aliens, industrial relations and strikes, female suffrage and the Peers versus the People crisis; 4. WSC's politics: including sections on his commitment to social reform, his attitude to the working class and party politics.
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