| Summary: | The papers in this class span the periods 1920-22 and 1924-29 and comprise papers acquired or produced by WSC in his capacity as a Cabinet Minister. Cabinet material and departmental Treasury material, however, have not been separated for WSC's period as Chancellor of the Exchequer (November 1924 to June 1929). This was due firstly to the fact that the Cabinet papers for this period were on the whole carefully preserved together, and it would have been undesirable to disturb this original arrangement, and, secondly, the Treasury is closely involved in the work of all departments, which makes it very difficult to distinguish between WSC the Chancellor and WSC the Cabinet Minister. The series of numbered Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers, including papers relating to Treasury work, have been assigned 'en bloc' to the Cabinet class (CHAR 22). Various subject files of this period have been allocated between Treasury (CHAR 18) and Cabinet according to the tendency of each file as a whole without attempting to break up the individual files, so that in a few cases Cabinet papers and other documents with a Cabinet bearing are to be found in the Treasury class and vice versa. In some difficult cases there is material on one subject in both classes. The Cabinet papers largely consist of printed papers on issues normally outside the province of WSC's department, prepared by WSC and other ministers. The papers also include correspondence on matters brought (or intended to be brought) before the Cabinet and some manuscript notes which appear to have been written during Cabinet meetings. The papers have been divided into correspondence and subject-based files and are arranged chronologically. A wide range of subjects is covered by the material in this class, including topics such as foreign policy and affairs in foreign countries (including Turkey, Egypt and China), reform of the House of Lords, unemployment, naval policy, the General Strike, and the coal industry. There are papers from Cabinet Committees formed to focus on particular subjects such as the Irish settlement, and regular reports on unemployment, economic affairs and revolutionary organisations in the United Kingdom. There are often indexes to the printed Cabinet papers, and where these exist, the catalogue description includes a note referring to the relevant index.
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