Letter to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, dated January 14, 1925
Homestead, Hindhead, Surrey, England: Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, 1925. Original manuscript, typed letter signed. Single sheet, typed on one side. The format is approximately 8 inches by 10 inches. It is date stamped on 15 Jan. 1925 by the Royal Society of Arts. The letter is typed on the author's stationery with minor notations. The contents dated January 14, 1925 read: Dear Mr. Menzies, I have your letter of yesterday in which you tell met that the Council ask me to succeed Mr. Slater as a Sloane Trustee. I should be very pleased to do anything in my power to meet the wishes of the Council, but I may mention that Monday and Tuesday are the two days in the week on which if is very inconvenient for me to be in London. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I make a rule of being at the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington, and if any of these days suited for the various meetings I should make a point of doing my best to attend and would do so with pleasure. Yours sincerely, A. F. Yarrow. George Kenneth Menzies first became associated with the Royal Society of Arts when in 1908 he was appointed Assistant Secretary. In 1917 he succeeded Sir Henry Wood as Secretary, and held that position until 1935. Sir John Soane's Museum was the home of architect John Soane. It holds drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects and a collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and antiquities. The museum was established by a private act of Parliament, Sir John Soane's Museum Act 1833, which took effect on his death in 1837. The act stipulated that his house and collections would pass into the care of a board of trustees acting on behalf of the nation, and be preserved as nearly as possible exactly as they were at his death. Sir Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, 1st Baronet, (13 January 1842 – 24 January 1932) was a British shipbuilder who started a shipbuilding dynasty, Yarrow Shipbuilders. Yarrow was born of humble origins in East London. After serving an apprenticeship in nearby Stepney, he opened a yard – Yarrow and Hedley (a partnership) – at Folly Wall, Poplar on the Isle of Dogs in 1865 to build steam river launches. Yarrow's stern wheel steamers, designed with a shallow draft suitable for river navigation, were used in the early stages of the 1884 Nile Expedition. Yarrow ventured into military vessels from the early 1870s, building torpedo boats for the Argentine and Japanese navies, among other customers. Then in 1892 he built the first two destroyers for the Royal Navy: Havock and Hornet of the Havock class. He struck up a strong friendship and correspondence with Lord Fisher ("Jackie Fisher"), and subsequently Yarrow Shipbuilders became a lead contractor for the Royal Navy for smaller, but almost always fast, boats. By this time, the Hedley partnership had been dissolved (1875), and the company was known as Yarrow & Co. Yarrow's strong naval engineering capabilities and inventive mind were behind a number of inventions designed to drive ships ever faster, and in 1912 he was appointed to the Royal Commission on Fuel and Engines. Long after he died, the shipyard remained famous throughout navies of the world for building smaller fast vessels. He was honored in 1922 as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, Royal Society of Arts, George Kenneth Menzies, Member, Fellow, Entrepreneur, Shipbuilder, Soane Trust, Trustee, Soane Museum
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