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- 1981. (Creation)
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Albert James Sylvester (1889-1989) served as Principal Private Secretary to David Lloyd George from 1923 until his death in March 1945. A native of Staffordshire, Sylvester served as private secretary to the Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence, 1914-1921, to the Secretary of the War Cabinet and the Cabinet, 1916-1921, to the Secretary of the Imperial War Cabinet, 1917, to the British Secretary of the Peace Conference, 1919, and to three successive Prime Ministers, 1921-3: D. Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin. He ran Lloyd George's private office in London. After Lloyd George's death, A. J. Sylvester earned his living as a member of Lord Beaverbrook's staff from 1945 until 1948, and spent a further year as unpaid assistant to Liberal Party leader, E. Clement Davies. In 1947, he published The Real Lloyd George, based on his diaries. In 1949, he retired from political life, and moved to a farm at Corsham, Wiltshire, England. His ambition to publish a full-scale autobiography, upon which he was actively engaged in extreme old age, never came to fruition. His papers provide an insight into the life of Lloyd George after his fall from power in 1922.
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Letter, 7 January 1981, from A. J. Sylvester, Corsham, Wiltshire, to Miss Ann Parry. Describes his many afflictions, including cataract. Would like to write a book based on his experiences and his time with Sir Maurice Hankey and Lloyd George. Writer played a key part in the research for Lloyd George's War Memoirs during the 1930's. Much resents that Countess Lloyd-George chose Malcolm Thompson to write the official biography of Lloyd George and double-crossed Sylvester in so doing. Has a very high regard for Jennifer Longford today - 'She is a wonderful woman now, ... She is worth ten times that of Frances'. Frances left no more than £11,000 when she died in 1972 although she was the widow of Lloyd George. He refused to support her plan to establish an agricultural college in north Wales, and the setting up of the Lloyd George Museum at Llanystumdwy was due mainly to the efforts of the recipient. His health and the court case in which he is presently involved.
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Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions set out in information provided when applying for their Readers' Tickets, whereby the reader shall become responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to any processing by them of personal data obtained from modern records held at the Library. = Disgwylir i ddarllenwyr sydd am ddefnyddio papurau modern yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru gydymffurfio â Deddf Gwarchod Data 1998 yng nghyd-destun unrhyw brosesu ganddynt o ddata personol a gasglwyd o gofnodion modern sydd ar gadw yn y Llyfrgell. Nodir y manylion yn yr wybodaeth a roddir wrth wneud cais am Docyn Darllen.
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Preferred citation: G1/43.
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- Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945. War memoirs of David Lloyd George. (Subject)
- Parry, Ann, 1889- (Subject)