From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter to W. A. Robotham requesting assistance in finding employment for a struggling individual named Barnes.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 169\2\ img124 | |
| Date | 9th April 1934 | |
| - 2 - W. A.{Mr Adams} Robotham, Esq., 9th. April, 1934. as I know no-one in Derby except the members of your Company, I am afraid I am going to find it very hard to do anything for him. There is not the slightest hope of anything here, because we are still working at round about 30% below our normal capacity, and we have a great number of our own men still out of work; I thought that if he had been employed by you once, there would be some chance of his being taken on again now that you are busy. I think the difficulty is that he is no longer strong enough to do heavy manual work, and I imagine this is due very largely to insufficient nourishment. As I said in my letter to you before, I lost touch with him shortly after we both came down from Cambridge, and I do not know why he got in such difficu-lties. He may have made a fool of himself, and I do know that he quarrelled with his father, but I think that he is fundamentally honest, but lacking rather in the higher forms of intelligence. If your Firm can do nothing for him, I wonder if you could get someone to give him a recommendation, to give him a better chance of finding work elsewhere in the town. This is assuming, of course, that during the time that he worked as a labourer for your Firm, his character was considered by your people as satisfactory. I hate to worry you about this, but the man is rather on my conscience. While I have helped him from time to time with a little cash, he always scrupulously avoids asking for help in this way, which I think is to his credit. Hoping to see you soon, Yours ever, Sidney Summers P.S. Barnes' address is 17, Melbourne Street, Derby. | ||