History

Beaverbrook was a great collector of historical material which he not only used in his own books, but also made available to other writers and historians at his country home in Cherkley, Surrey. He started to write as early as 1916 with Canada in Flanders and the first draft of Politicians and the War, and in his writings he drew very largely from his own experience and memory, from his own papers and from the papers he acquired. His first windfall was Bonar Law’s papers, which were bequeathed to him. His second and greatest acquisition was his purchase in 1951 of the Lloyd George papers. He obtained other collections relevant to his work by purchase or by gift through his own personal influence.

The Beaverbrook Library, established after his death, contained some of the more important private historical collections of the twentieth century, and it naturally attracted to itself further donations or deposits.

The Beaverbrook Library itself closed in March 1975, only 8 years after its foundation. It had been built in the first instance, onto the back of the Daily Express building, by the First Beaverbrook Foundation to house the extensive collection of politic papers and documents amassed by Lord Beaverbrook. The Library’s Honorary Director, Mr AJP Taylor held twentieth century history seminars in the Library at which researchers gave papers on their particular fields of study.

The greater part of the contents of the Beaverbrook Library was deposited in the House of Lords Records Office, now known as the Parliamentary Archive. Other papers were sent to the University of New Brunswick and the collection of cartoons, 8,790 pieces of artwork by the cartoonists Low, Strube, Vicky, and Cummings, held at the library were sent to the University of Kent.

Beaverbrook brought together an eclectic collection of art, much of which hung in his own properties. He also built and filled the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick. In 1977 the National Portrait Gallery accepted the donation of a portrait of Lord Beaverbrook by Walter Richard Sickert.

Bought by Lord Beaverbrook in 1911 and his home until he died in 1964, Cherkley Court, near Leatherhead in Surrey, was acquired by the Foundation in 1982 as the result of a Deed of Settlement drawn up by Beaverbrook 20 years earlier.

Substantially rebuilt after a fire in 1893, the property had been much used by Beaverbrook to entertain friends and colleagues, among them Bonar Law, Rudyard Kipling, Asquith, Duff Cooper, Harold Macmillan, H.G. Wells and Winston Churchill.

From 1994 to 2010 the Trustees focussed the Foundation’s charitable giving on the restoration of Cherkley Court, recognising that, as a heritage property, it was their responsibility to undertake a total refurbishment of the house and gardens.

Following the death of the Dowager Lady Beaverbrook in 1994, the Trustees embarked on a project to restore the Grade II listed property as a conference and wedding venue and to allow visits from the public. After extensive works and some delays, the property was opened to the public in 2007, attracting over 4,000 visitors in the first three months.

In November 2010, due to economic pressures, the property was sold to a group that agreed to preserve the special character of the house while transforming the estate into a five-star country hotel and golf club, now named, in honour of its famous occupant, Beaverbrook. Cherkley Court retains all the character of a Victorian country house and sits in 400 acres of beautiful grounds and woodlands with magnificent views of the Mole Valley.

William Maxwell Aitken, the first Lord Beaverbrook, moved to Britain from his native Canada as a young man. Arriving in London in 1910 equipped with a unique blend of financial backing, energy and intelligence, he became a huge influence in the worlds of politics, finance and newspapers.