OEDA Chase Manhattan T&N papers

OEDA CM	OEDA Chase Manhattan T&N papers

Finding Aid - OEDA Chase Manhattan T&N papers (OEDA CM)

Generated by Access to Memory (AtoM) 2.3.0 Printed: April 11, 2017
Language of description: English

Table of contents
Summary information  	  # 
Administrative history / Biographical sketch  	  # 
Scope and content  	  # 
Notes  	  # 
Collection holdings  	  # 
OEDA CM/1, Correspondence re Chase Manhattan Bank’s Turner & Newall documents (1944-1991, 1993-1998)  	  # 
OEDA CM/1/1, Correspondence with and re Michael O’Connor (1944-1991, 1993-1998)  	  # 
OEDA CM/1/2, Correspondence with BBC re environmental asbestos exposure (1964-1965, 1984, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/2, T&N minutes of meetings (1929-1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/2/1, T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings 1967-1990 (1967-1990)  	  # 
OEDA CM/2/2, T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings, 1931-1988 (1931-1988)  	  # 
OEDA CM/2/3, Minutes of J W Roberts Ltd, 1929-1949 (1929-1949)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3, Industry regulation (1944-1979, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3/1, Regulations re asbestos insulation on ships, 1944-1961 (1944-1961)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3/2, Asbestos Regulations (1969) (1965-1973, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3/2/1, New asbestos regulations (including “evil day” memorandum, 1968) (1965-1972, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3/2/2, New asbestos regulations, 1968-1973 (1968-1973)  	  # 
OEDA CM/3/3, Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee) (1950-1979)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4, Compensation (1923-1994)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/1, ’Lung cancer documents’ (1923-1986)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2, Asbestos injury cases c.1930-1993 (1927-1994)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/1, Asbestos injury cases and compensation claims brought against T&N, 1928-1991 (1928-1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/2, Pneumoconiosis / asbestosis cases, c.1944 to 1966 (1944-1966, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/3, Early compensation cases Apps to Wren 1934-1977 (1934-1977)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/4, Five early compensation cases (1944-1961, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/5, ”Cases from Dr Knox’s period”, 1946-1957 (1946-1957, 1994)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/6, Ex gratia payments 1977-1978 (1977-1978)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/7, Inquests on asbestosis cases, 1942-1956 (1942-1964)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/2/8, Ian Martin Donaldson Grieve (1927): ‘Asbestosis’ (MD thesis, University of Edinburgh) (1927, 1994)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/3, Asbestos-related disease at TAC Co Ltd factories (1931-1990)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/4, Claimants and asbestos claims by occupation (1930-1977)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/5, T&N legal costs of asbestos claims 1965-1980 (c.1965-1980)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/6, Personal injury litigation in the US, 1978-1979 (1978-1979)  	  # 
OEDA CM/4/7, Compensation records including re William Ashton Tait, 1975-1989 (1975-1989)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5, T&N health and safety measures (1931-1986)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/1, Asbestos safety labelling, 1931-1986 (1931-1986)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/2, Dust level monitoring (1952-1983)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/2/1, Sampling of airborne dust (1952-1957)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/2/2, Airborne asbestos dust surveys, in particular Hindley Green, 1965-1974 (1965-1974)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/2/3, Asbestos dust levels in T&N overseas companies, 1972-1986 (1965-1983)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/3, Instruction on asbestos and health (1970-1976)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/3/1, Seminars for industrial medical officers (IMO), 1970-1974 (1970-1974)  	  # 
OEDA CM/5/3/2, Asbestos and health slide / tape presentations (1974-1976)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6, Epidemiological research on asbestos and health (1947-1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/1, Safety of blue asbestos, 1959-1982 (1959-1982)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/2, Asbestosis and pulmonary cancer, 1947-1951 (1947-1951)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/3, Correspondence on asbestos and health 1965-1966 (1965-1966)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/4, Peter Elmes as T&N consultant (1978-1988)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/4/1, Havelock mine, Swaziland, 1978-1985 (1978-1985)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/4/2, Elmes correspondence (1981-1988)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/5, Mesothelioma deaths in the Leeds area (1967-1989)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/5/1, Leeds University report on the health hazards of asbestos (1967-1969)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/5/2, Mortality studies of workers at J W Roberts Armley (1973-1989)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/6, Follow-up study of Rhoose asbestos workers (1977-1986, c.1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/7, Northern Ireland Hospital authority (1966-1969)  	  # 
OEDA CM/6/8, Asbestos and health presentation to T&N Board of directors (1976)  	  # 
OEDA CM/7, Documentaries on the asbestos industry and other media coverage (1969-1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/7/1, ’Alice - a fight for life’ (1982) (1969-1988, 1993)  	  # 
OEDA CM/7/2, ’Too close to home’ (1988) (1988-1992)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8, T&N company histories (c.1920-c.1980)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/1, An account of Turner & Newall Ltd, issued by the Directors (n.d. (1920x1930))  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/2, Turner & Newall Ltd (George Pulman & Sons Ltd, London) (n.d.)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/3, A brief history of Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Ltd, by Mr N A Morling (1959-1960)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/4, Turner & Newall: the first fifty years, by L T C Rolt, c.1970 (c.1970)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/5, Turner & Newall today (n.d.)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/6, A history of J W Roberts up to 1964 (c.1964)  	  # 
OEDA CM/8/7, TAC [Turners Asbestos Cement Co Ltd] history: origin to end of 1967 (c.1967)  	  # 
OEDA CM/9, Legal actions re the site of the Dalmuir factory of TAC Co Ltd (1959-1986)  	  # 

Summary information
Repository: |
Title: | OEDA Chase Manhattan T&N papers
ID: | OEDA CM
Date: | c.1920-1998 (date of creation)

Physical description:

16 archive boxes / c.3 linear meters [currently seven folders are incompletely rehoused]
Paper

Administrative history / Biographical sketch
Note
O’Connor studied at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and New York Law School. He was legal Vice President of Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, during the bank’s legal proceedings against international asbestos giant Turner & Newall plc (T&N), 1987-1997.
Recognising the value of corporate documents uncovered during the discovery process of the bank’s lawsuit against T&N, O’Connor began sending copies of key content from the T&N archive to victim support groups, the media, lawyers, doctors, and historians. In March 1995 O’Connor was presented with a Freedom of Information Award for his efforts to supply British victims of asbestos-related diseases with documents supporting their compensation claims.
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
Note
Turner & Newall (T&N) was a leading manufacturing business based in Manchester, UK. The company was one of the first to industrialise asbestos. Its demise in 2001 left an aftermath of asbestos litigation.
The business originated with Turner Brothers, founded in Rochdale in 1871 to manufacture cotton-cloth-based packaging. In 1920 Turner Brothers merged with the Washington Chemical Company, Newalls Insulation Company, and J W Roberts to become Turner & Newall. That year T&N also became listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Subsequently the company acquired Bells’ United Asbestos Companies and several asbestos insulation companies in the UK, among others operating a plant in Armley, West Yorkshire, and an asbestos mine in Bulembu in Swaziland, Southern Africa. After World War II T&N diversified into components for the automotive industry (including gaskets). In 1953 it also bought Porters Cement Industries Ltd, a major producer of chrysotile asbestos products based in Salisbury and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe (at the time: Southern Rhodesia).
In 1998 T&N was acquired by Federal Mogul, which as a result of a surge of asbestos-related personal injury claims filed for Chapter 11 protection. In the UK the business went into administration in October 2001, leaving a pension fund deficit estimated at £400 million.
Parts of T&N continue trading. Porters Cement Industries Ltd, for instance, which had been renamed Turnall Fibre Cement Ltd after becoming part of T&N in 1952, continues to operate as an independent company in Zimbabwe, mainly producing asbestos cement sheets and pipes.
The T&N Subfund of the Federal Mogul Asbestos Trust was organised to process, liquidate, and pay all valid Asbestos Trust claims for which T&N entities have legal responsibility. The Trust was created 27 December 2007 as a result of the confirmation of The Federal-Mogul Chapter 11 Joint Plan of Reorganization. For claimants whose principal exposure to asbestos was in the UK or one of several other non-US countries, a UK Asbestos Trust was established to provide for the payment of asbestos claims.
Custodial history
Copies of content from the T&N corporate archive, Manchester. The T&N corporate archive was accessed by the legal representatives of Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, in the course of the bank’s proceedings against T&N for damages resulting from use of sprayed asbestos on the bank’s headquarter in New York. OEDA received a selection of the material through the legal department of Chase Manhattan Bank in 1993 and 1994. The focus of the selection was on records of potential use specifically to British asbestos victims.
Scope and content
- correspondence about the papers and Michael O’Connor’s mission to distribute them, followed by T&N corporate papers relating to:
- minutes of meetings
- industry regulation
- compensation (including all manner of case information)
- health and safety measures
- epidemiological research on asbestos
- documentaries on the asbestos industry
- company histories
The subfonds concludes with a single dossier on legal actions relating to the former TAC site at Dalmuir.
Notes
Title notes
Other notes
Publication status: draft
Collection holdings
Series: OEDA CM/1 - Correspondence re Chase Manhattan Bank’s Turner & Newall documents
Title: Correspondence re Chase Manhattan Bank’s Turner & Newall documents
ID: OEDA CM/1
Date: 1944-1991, 1993-1998 (date of creation)
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/1/1 - Correspondence with and re Michael O’Connor
Title: Correspondence with and re Michael O’Connor
ID: OEDA CM/1/1
Date: 1944-1991, 1993-1998 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence 1993-1998, re Michael O’Connor’s move to release copies of T&N records gathered in preparation of Chase Manhattan Bank v. T&N plc et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
At the time O’Connor was Vice President and Senior Associate Counsel of Chase Manhattan Bank.
Includes
- set of T&N documents re insulation and shipbuilding, 1944-1950, with an overview
- SPAID documentation on Dr Kevin Browne
- set of T&N documents re asbestosis widows and press coverage of one of them, Molly Fisher
- press coverage on Chase Manhattan’s case turning to dust, and an inquiry from Nancy Tait with London colleagues, asking could they let her have “the index to Mike O’Connor’s papers”
Closes with Nancy Tait corresponding re O’Connor’s Freedom of Information Award in the UK, 1995, in recognition of “his remarkable efforts to supply British victims of asbestos diseases with documents needed for their compensation claims.”
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/1/2 - Correspondence with BBC re environmental asbestos exposure
Title: Correspondence with BBC re environmental asbestos exposure
ID: OEDA CM/1/2
Date: 1964-1965, 1984, 1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence with Fiona Bruce (BBC, ‘First Sight’), 1993, re case information on a probable environmental asbestos exposure, received through Chase Manhattan.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/2 - T&N minutes of meetings
Title: T&N minutes of meetings
ID: OEDA CM/2
Date: 1929-1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Company minutes
Physical description: 3 archive boxes
Paper
File: OEDA CM/2/1 - T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings 1967-1990
Title: T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings 1967-1990
ID: OEDA CM/2/1
Date: 1967-1990 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copies of minutes and other papers relating to T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings, 1967-1990.
Physical description: 7 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/2/2 - T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings, 1931-1988
Title: T&N Board and Executive Committee meetings, 1931-1988
ID: OEDA CM/2/2
Date: 1931-1988 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Foliated minutes and papers of T&N Ltd Board and Executive Committee meetings. Includes an inventory. Among subjects covered are reports on the Asbestosis Fund, information on employers’ liability insurance for asbestosis, asbestosis cases, research into asbestosis and mesothelioma cases and claims, deaths of asbestos workers, claims and payments, etc.
Physical description: 1 archive box
Paper
File: OEDA CM/2/3 - Minutes of J W Roberts Ltd, 1929-1949
Title: Minutes of J W Roberts Ltd, 1929-1949
ID: OEDA CM/2/3
Date: 1929-1949 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copies of minutes 1929-1949. There are gaps, notably 1944, 1945, 1947 are missing. Other years appear incomplete.
J W Roberts Ltd were part of the T&N group.
Physical description: 1 archive box
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/3 - Industry regulation
Title: Industry regulation
ID: OEDA CM/3
Date: 1944-1979, 1993 (date of creation)
Physical description: 12 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/3/1 - Regulations re asbestos insulation on ships, 1944-1961
Title: Regulations re asbestos insulation on ships, 1944-1961
ID: OEDA CM/3/1
Date: 1944-1961 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers, itemised, re new shipbuilding regulations. Includes many draft versions of the regulations. Also covers asbestosis statistics and meetings of the Scottish Insulating Engineers’ Association.
Continues a similar series (1944-1950) that forms part of the Nancy Tait - Michael O’Connor correspondence. See link below.
Physical description: 5 folders
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/3/2 - Asbestos Regulations (1969)
Title: Asbestos Regulations (1969)
ID: OEDA CM/3/2
Date: 1965-1973, 1993 (date of creation)
Physical description: 5 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/3/2/1 - New asbestos regulations (including “evil day” memorandum, 1968)
Title: New asbestos regulations (including “evil day” memorandum, 1968)
ID: OEDA CM/3/2/1
Date: 1965-1972, 1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
With a detailed covering letter from Michael O’Connor, 20 July 1993. Correspondence and papers re proposed changes to the Asbestos Regulations and T&N’s subsequent steps for compliance.
Papers include
- minutes of T&N Chairman’s Committee meetings, meetings of Advisory Panel on Problems Arising from the Use of Asbestos, meetings between the Ministry of Labour (renamed Department of Employment and Productivity in 1968) and the Asbestosis Research Council (ARC)
- also records re first prosecution of T&N for breaching the new regulations, 1971
- and what Michael O’Connor (and Nancy Tait with him) termed the “evil day” memorandum of 12 August 1968. This came from the manager of J W Roberts Railways and Insulation Department, advising the Chairman of J W Roberts (A N (‘Sandy’) Marshall) on the probable impact of the provisions made in the draft Regulations on Asbestos re sales of sprayed and other asbestos.The memorandum includes the comment: “If … we demonstrate, by a token effort only of ostensible intention to comply with the regulations, it is conceivable that we can ward off the evil day when asbestos cannot economically be applied …”
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/3/2/2 - New asbestos regulations, 1968-1973
Title: New asbestos regulations, 1968-1973
ID: OEDA CM/3/2/2
Date: 1968-1973 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re the new asbestos regulations, in some respects filling gaps in the previous aggregation.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/3/3 - Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee)
Title: Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee)
ID: OEDA CM/3/3
Date: 1950-1979 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re testimony submitted to the HSC Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee), its conclusions, and T&N’s reaction. Includes:
- typescript summary ‘Advisory Committee on Asbestos’ (n.d. and of unidentified provenance)
- photocopy of the final report of the committee, ‘Asbestos: volume 1: final report of the advisory committee’ (1979)
- correspondence about the activities and reports of the Simpson Committee, 1976-1979, and press reports 1976
Also contained in this aggregation was a photocopy of ‘Selected written evidence submitted to the Advisory Committee on Asbestos 1976-77’ (1977). This was disposed of as it contained no annotations. A copy of the original text can be consulted at http://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/oeda-selected-written-evidence-submitted-to-the-advisory-committee-on-asbestos-1976-77
The Simpson Committee effectively reviewed the 1969 Asbestos Regulations. However, it had only the power to make recommendations, not to pass regulations or laws.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/4 - Compensation
Title: Compensation
ID: OEDA CM/4
Date: 1923-1994 (date of creation)
Physical description: 2 archive boxes + 25 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/1 - ‘Lung cancer documents’
Title: ‘Lung cancer documents’
ID: OEDA CM/4/1
Date: 1923-1986 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Includes:
- company correspondence re lung cancer, 1923-1946, including statistics on occupational lung cancer mortality, lists of ‘suspended employees’ (= suspended on health grounds) and of employees whose cause of death (as stated by coroner or medical board) involved some degree of asbestosis; also correspondence re Dr Leroy U Gardner’s asbestosis research at the Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis, New York
- correspondence and papers re medical research conducted by Drs T Belt and E J King on behalf of T&N, 1942-1952
- records relating to Drs R Doll and J Knox’ study on mortality from lung cancer among asbestos workers, and T&N seeking to suppress the findings, 1953-1954
- records chiefly re epidemiological studies on lung cancer among asbestos workers, 1954-1959
- correspondence and papers re asbestos and health, 1959-1986, including lists of claims settled or still proceeding, list of deaths from lung cancer and mesothelioma, etc
Physical description: 2 archive boxes
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/4/2 - Asbestos injury cases c.1930-1993
Title: Asbestos injury cases c.1930-1993
ID: OEDA CM/4/2
Date: 1927-1994 (date of creation)
Physical description: 17 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/1 - Asbestos injury cases and compensation claims brought against T&N, 1928-1991
Title: Asbestos injury cases and compensation claims brought against T&N, 1928-1991
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/1
Date: 1928-1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers (foliated), 1928-1991, chiefly re asbestos injury cases and compensation claims brought against T&N. With a telephone message from Michael O’Connor (Chase Manhattan Bank), 25 May 1993, inquiring whether copies of the T&N material had been received and offering more.
Includes:
- inventory of the papers
- copies of T&N Board meetings and Executive Committee meetings
- correspondence on T&N factories at Hindley Green, Armley, etc.
- documents relating to inquests, lists of deceased, newspaper articles, lists of asbestos-related deaths and claims (containing date of birth, cause of death), copies of medical records and autopsy reports
- research papers
- account (incomplete) by defendants’ law firm Richards & O’Neil, addressed to the magistrate judge in Chase v. T&N, detailing progress made by T&N in complying with court’s orders re disclosure
- affidavit of John Mason Atkinson (25 August 1991), in Chase Manhattan Bank v. T&N plc et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York. J M Atkinson was the Group Solicitor of T&N plc, 1966-1988
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/2 - Pneumoconiosis / asbestosis cases, c.1944 to 1966
Title: Pneumoconiosis / asbestosis cases, c.1944 to 1966
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/2
Date: 1944-1966, 1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Chiefly T&N’s periodical compilations of pneumoconiosis / asbestosis cases, c.1944-1966, starting at around the time when the Workmen’s Compensation Acts were replaced by the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (1946). Also corporate correspondence.
This aggregation was processed by SPAID: Nancy Tait instructed her colleague Mrs Robinson to number the documents and to extract case information. The resulting table lists all case names including any information that seemed ususual, such as ‘death at a young age’, ‘lung cancer’, ‘short exposure’.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/3 - Early compensation cases Apps to Wren 1934-1977
Title: Early compensation cases Apps to Wren 1934-1977
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/3
Date: 1934-1977 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
T&N compensation claims files (incomplete) for 31 cases, in alphabetical order.
Further includes SPAID’s manuscript listing attempting to detail the T&N work period of the first 8 cases.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/4 - Five early compensation cases
Title: Five early compensation cases
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/4
Date: 1944-1961, 1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re five asbestosis claim files, received from Michael O’Connor through Eamonn Markham, 1 July 1993. Includes minutes of periodic board meetings re the asbestosis fund. The claims relate to
- Mr Prince William Apps
- Mr Charles Coyle
- Mr Joseph Meanen
- Mr Walter Willows
- Mr James William Wren
The Meanen file includes paper re Meanen’s widow’s lawsuit against Newalls Insulation Co Ltd, 1954. The Willows file includes legal correspondence and court papers (statement of claim, defense) re Willows v. TAC Company Ltd, 1960. Also photocopy of judgement in Nash v. Parkinson & Cowan Ltd, 24 March 1961 (a silicosis case).
Physical description: 6 folders
Paper
Note [generalNote]:
An account of the Coyle case can be found in Gorman (1997) ’A case study of the settlement process’, \ Sourcebook on asbestos diseases\  vol 15: 354-373.
File: OEDA CM/4/2/5 - “Cases from Dr Knox’s period”, 1946-1957
Title: “Cases from Dr Knox’s period”, 1946-1957
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/5
Date: 1946-1957, 1994 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
So labelled. Correspondence and papers re T&N pneumoconiosis cases, 1946-1957.
Includes instructions from Nancy Tait, 10 May 1994, to extract case information from this batch of documents, as well as the resulting listing (in tabled form).
”Dr Knox period” is not an exact descriptor. John F Knox became Factory Medical Officer to Turner Brothers Asbestos Co in 1949 (from 1959 Chief Medical Officer). In 1965 he was appointed Medical Consultant to T&N, retiring in 1968.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/6 - Ex gratia payments 1977-1978
Title: Ex gratia payments 1977-1978
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/6
Date: 1977-1978 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers (including minutes of board meetings re ex gratia payments to widows of industrial disease cases).
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/7 - Inquests on asbestosis cases, 1942-1956
Title: Inquests on asbestosis cases, 1942-1956
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/7
Date: 1942-1964 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re more than a dozen asbestosis cases, including K J Spencer, George Smith, Charles Crewe, Frederick B Dowling, Arthur Robert Jones, Thomas Jones, Rebecca Pretoria James, Doris Haslan, J H Clegg, S Hillier, Stanley Tooby, and Stanley Wild. Further includes a report on the Asbestosis Fund, 1964.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/2/8 - Ian Martin Donaldson Grieve (1927): ‘Asbestosis’ (MD thesis, University of Edinburgh)
Title: Ian Martin Donaldson Grieve (1927): ‘Asbestosis’ (MD thesis, University of Edinburgh)
ID: OEDA CM/4/2/8
Date: 1927, 1994 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copy of Grieve’s MD thesis on asbestosis, submitted at the University of Edinburgh, 1927.
Further includes SPAID’s tabled listing of case information extracted from the thesis at Nancy Tait’s instruction, c.1994.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/3 - Asbestos-related disease at TAC Co Ltd factories
Title: Asbestos-related disease at TAC Co Ltd factories
ID: OEDA CM/4/3
Date: 1931-1990 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re asbestos-related diseases within TAC Co Ltd / TAC Construction Materials Ltd. Covers mainly sites at Trafford Park, Tamworth, Dalmuir, Rhoose, Ditton, Widnes and Erith. Includes:
- multiple lists of asbestosis cases since 1929, lists of formal legal claims settled or still proceeding, also copies of death certificates (1980-1990)
- quarterly reports on health (incomplete series), minutes of the Tamworth Health & Safety Committee 1976-1980
- correspondence re a project ‘Mortality study of chrysotile asbestos workers’, to be undertaken by the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit, Penarth
- documentation of the company’s Asbestos and Health Communications Group and its ‘We fight back’-concept, started 1976, to take more control of the public image of asbestos.
- updates on the activities of the Simpson Committee 1976-1979, memorandum on steps to insure compliance with the Committee’s recommendations
Turners Asbestos Cement Co Ltd (TAC) was formed in 1929 as result of re-organisation of the parent company, T&N, to administer the Trafford Park works and former Bell’s United Asbestos Co Ltd companies. In 1970 TAC absorbed J W Roberts’ operations and formed Turners Asbestos Cement Construction Materials Ltd. In the intervening years, TAC’s sites included factories at Tamworth, Dalmuir, Rhoose, Ditton, Widnes and Erith (in addition to the Trafford Park works).
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/4 - Claimants and asbestos claims by occupation
Title: Claimants and asbestos claims by occupation
ID: OEDA CM/4/4
Date: 1930-1977 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copies of tabled information re claimants and the status claims, also analysis by occupation.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/5 - T&N legal costs of asbestos claims 1965-1980
Title: T&N legal costs of asbestos claims 1965-1980
ID: OEDA CM/4/5
Date: c.1965-1980 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
T&N records re legal costs of asbestos claims. Includes copies of lawyers bills, records of claims payments etc.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/6 - Personal injury litigation in the US, 1978-1979
Title: Personal injury litigation in the US, 1978-1979
ID: OEDA CM/4/6
Date: 1978-1979 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence re asbestosis litigation in the US.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/4/7 - Compensation records including re William Ashton Tait, 1975-1989
Title: Compensation records including re William Ashton Tait, 1975-1989
ID: OEDA CM/4/7
Date: 1975-1989 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copies of records relating to compensation, 1975-1989, including extracts specifically on William Ashton Tait and his wife Nancy. Includes extensive drafts for a compensation scheme.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/5 - T&N health and safety measures
Title: T&N health and safety measures
ID: OEDA CM/5
Date: 1931-1986 (date of creation)
Physical description: 1 archive box + 6 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/1 - Asbestos safety labelling, 1931-1986
Title: Asbestos safety labelling, 1931-1986
ID: OEDA CM/5/1
Date: 1931-1986 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Corporate correspondence and papers on asbestos and health, including information leaflets on the topic, and safety labelling for asbestos products. Predominantly 1972-1986.
Physical description: 1 archive box
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/5/2 - Dust level monitoring
Title: Dust level monitoring
ID: OEDA CM/5/2
Date: 1952-1983 (date of creation)
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/2/1 - Sampling of airborne dust
Title: Sampling of airborne dust
ID: OEDA CM/5/2/1
Date: 1952-1957 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Chiefly correspondence between National Coal Board and Turner Brothers Ltd, Rochdale, re dust samplers and dust sampling. Includes results of dust sampling and counting, Rochdale Factory ‘B’ block, 1957.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/2/2 - Airborne asbestos dust surveys, in particular Hindley Green, 1965-1974
Title: Airborne asbestos dust surveys, in particular Hindley Green, 1965-1974
ID: OEDA CM/5/2/2
Date: 1965-1974 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers chiefly re dust count surveys at TBA Ltd factories, Hindley Green and Rochdale.
Includes copies of minutes of meetings and reports of the Study Group to Investigate Dust Control, 1965-1968. The Group was originally chaired by Dr S Holmes (Head of Physics Research at TBA Co Ltd, Rochdate) and included W P Bamblin, M Nowell, A Austin, F Dobson and A G Spencer.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/2/3 - Asbestos dust levels in T&N overseas companies, 1972-1986
Title: Asbestos dust levels in T&N overseas companies, 1972-1986
ID: OEDA CM/5/2/3
Date: 1965-1983 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers, chiefly re a visit of H C Lewinsohn (Chief Medical Officer, TBA Industrial Products Ltd) to India, November 1975.
Includes
- memoranda on T&N occupational health and safety policy
- instructions to T&N companies overseas to take up dust sampling and medical examinations, etc., 1972 onwards
- photocopies of index cards relating to information about overseas companies
- a little material 1965-1967 relating to the Asbestos Research Council Subcommittee on Health Precautions in the Insulation Contracting Industry, whose membership was recruited from the asbestos industry (mainly Cape Asbestos and T&N)
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/5/3 - Instruction on asbestos and health
Title: Instruction on asbestos and health
ID: OEDA CM/5/3
Date: 1970-1976 (date of creation)
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/3/1 - Seminars for industrial medical officers (IMO), 1970-1974
Title: Seminars for industrial medical officers (IMO), 1970-1974
ID: OEDA CM/5/3/1
Date: 1970-1974 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copies of correspondence and papers relating to T&N seminars of Industrial Medical Officers (IMO seminars), 1970-1974. Also re offering similar seminars for GPs in the Rochdale area.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/5/3/2 - Asbestos and health slide / tape presentations
Title: Asbestos and health slide / tape presentations
ID: OEDA CM/5/3/2
Date: 1974-1976 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re the use and production of a slide / tape package to provide refresher courses on asbestos and health for shop stewards and supervisors.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/6 - Epidemiological research on asbestos and health
Title: Epidemiological research on asbestos and health
ID: OEDA CM/6
Date: 1947-1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence, reports, presentations etc. relating to epidemiological research on asbestos, including how T&N sought to influence the epidemiological image of its products.
Physical description: 16 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/1 - Safety of blue asbestos, 1959-1982
Title: Safety of blue asbestos, 1959-1982
ID: OEDA CM/6/1
Date: 1959-1982 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re health and asbestos, in particular crocidolite (blue asbestos) 1959-1982.
The aggregation was triggered by J C Wagner’s discovery, in South Africa, of a probable relationship between exposure to crocidolite and mesothelioma. (See Wagner (1959), ‘Some pathological aspects of asbestos in the Union of South Africa’, in \ Proceedings of the Pneumoconiosis Conference held at the University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, 1959\ , ed. A J Orenstein (London: J&A Churchhill Ltd, 1960): 383–390).
Closes with a 6pp summary ‘T&N’s use and sale of blue asbestos’ (n.d.) and listing of ‘Asbestos and health: possible questions’ by PR company Hill and Knowlton International, London, c.1982.
Further includes photocopies of ‘Bulletin JWR’ (n.d., c.1960s).
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/2 - Asbestosis and pulmonary cancer, 1947-1951
Title: Asbestosis and pulmonary cancer, 1947-1951
ID: OEDA CM/6/2
Date: 1947-1951 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Company correspondence relating to lung cancer, 1947-1952, in particular research at the Saranac Laboratory of the Edward L Trudeau Foundation, New York
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/3 - Correspondence on asbestos and health 1965-1966
Title: Correspondence on asbestos and health 1965-1966
ID: OEDA CM/6/3
Date: 1965-1966 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re new research on the biological effects of asbestos; also re public perceptions of risks associated with asbestos.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/6/4 - Peter Elmes as T&N consultant
Title: Peter Elmes as T&N consultant
ID: OEDA CM/6/4
Date: 1978-1988 (date of creation)
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/4/1 - Havelock mine, Swaziland, 1978-1985
Title: Havelock mine, Swaziland, 1978-1985
ID: OEDA CM/6/4/1
Date: 1978-1985 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re asbestos workers at the Havelock/Bulembu asbestos mine, Swaziland. The bulk of the file relates to an epidemiological study of workers at the mine, undertaken jointly by the Medical Research Council Pneumoconiosis Unit at Llandough Hospital, Penarth (Wales), T&N Ltd, Manchester, and the Havelock Mine, Swaziland.
Includes reports of visits to the mine, preliminary reports of the epidemiological study of chrysotile workers. The study was triggered by a report of Peter Elmes, at the time director of the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit, Penarth, following a visit in 1978.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/4/2 - Elmes correspondence
Title: Elmes correspondence
ID: OEDA CM/6/4/2
Date: 1981-1988 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence including confidential reports prepared by Dr Peter Elmes, a medical consultant hired by T&N to review the asbestos and health conditions in T&N’s factories and mines. The documents contain references to efforts by senior T&N executives to suppress a number of reports. Includes copy of R H Armstrong & P C Elmes (1987) ‘Asbestos and health in Zimbabwe: a report on miners, millers and asbestos cement workers’.
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Subseries: OEDA CM/6/5 - Mesothelioma deaths in the Leeds area
Title: Mesothelioma deaths in the Leeds area
ID: OEDA CM/6/5
Date: 1967-1989 (date of creation)
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/5/1 - Leeds University report on the health hazards of asbestos
Title: Leeds University report on the health hazards of asbestos
ID: OEDA CM/6/5/1
Date: 1967-1969 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence documenting T&N’s efforts to counter the findings in a report by the University of Leeds re the health hazards of using asbestos in buildings.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/5/2 - Mortality studies of workers at J W Roberts Armley
Title: Mortality studies of workers at J W Roberts Armley
ID: OEDA CM/6/5/2
Date: 1973-1989 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re successive studies of mortality among former workers at J W Roberts Armley factory. One survey looked specifically at women and was undertaken by Dr Leo Kinlan, statistican to Dr Richard Doll, Oxford, during the 1970s. The second project was undertaken by Leeds City Council and looked more broadly at mesothelioma deaths in Leeds.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/6 - Follow-up study of Rhoose asbestos workers
Title: Follow-up study of Rhoose asbestos workers
ID: OEDA CM/6/6
Date: 1977-1986, c.1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence, 1977-1986, between the Medical Research Council and the Company Medical Adviser of TAC Construction Materials Ltd re a follow-up study of TAC asbestos workers at Rhoose. The study had commenced in 1978. It followed up on an earlier study of 1000 workers conducted in 1962.
Includes a cover note by Michael O’Connor, c.1993.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/7 - Northern Ireland Hospital authority
Title: Northern Ireland Hospital authority
ID: OEDA CM/6/7
Date: 1966-1969 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence documenting T&N’s efforts to persuade the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority not to ban the use of asbestos products in its hospitals.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/6/8 - Asbestos and health presentation to T&N Board of directors
Title: Asbestos and health presentation to T&N Board of directors
ID: OEDA CM/6/8
Date: 1976 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence documenting T&N’s efforts to persuade the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority not to ban the use of asbestos products in its hospitals.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/7 - Documentaries on the asbestos industry and other media coverage
Title: Documentaries on the asbestos industry and other media coverage
ID: OEDA CM/7
Date: 1969-1993 (date of creation)
Physical description: 10 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/7/1 - ‘Alice - a fight for life’ (1982)
Title: ‘Alice - a fight for life’ (1982)
ID: OEDA CM/7/1
Date: 1969-1988, 1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Corporate correspondence and papers re media coverage on the asbestos industry, in particular the Yorkshire Television documentary ‘Alice: a fight for life’ (broadcast 20 July 1982). The programme was named after Alice Jefferson, who developed malignant pleural mesothelioma thirty years after working at an asbestos plant for a few months as a teenager. The film documented her last days and explored the health issues surrounding the manufacture and use of asbestos products.
Includes
- formal complaint to the Independent Broadcasting Authority by Wilfred Penney (Asbestos Information Centre)
- T&N’s extensive point by point refutations of statements made in the documentary, among them the allegation that T&N had removed four pages from the evidence it submitted to the Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee) in 1976-1977; presumably the tables ‘Airborne asbestos dust survey results’ 1961-1972, see http://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/oeda-turner-newall-tables-to-aca )
The bulk of the file dates from 1982-1983. Covering correspondence with Chase Manhattan is dated 1993.
Physical description: 8 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/7/2 - ‘Too close to home’ (1988)
Title: ‘Too close to home’ (1988)
ID: OEDA CM/7/2
Date: 1988-1992 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Corporate correspondence and papers re media coverage on the asbestos industry, in particular the Yorkshire Television documentary ‘First Tuesday: Too close to home’ (broadcast 6 December 1988). ‘Too close to home’ told the story of the Armley community, where mortality from mesothelioma was unusually high due to exposure to asbestos dust from J W Roberts factory, which had closed in 1958.
Includes
- correspondence re I M D Grieve’s MD thesis (University of Edinburgh, 1927) on asbestos deaths at the J W Roberts factory at Armley
- list of J W Roberts compensation claims to 1988
- correspondence re the Leeds mesothelioma study of Dr Lorna Arblaster
A copy of Grieve’s MD thesis was removed as it duplicated copies elsewhere in the archive. See link below.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Series: OEDA CM/8 - T&N company histories
Title: T&N company histories
ID: OEDA CM/8
Date: c.1920-c.1980 (date of creation)
Physical description: 8 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/1 - An account of Turner & Newall Ltd, issued by the Directors
Title: An account of Turner & Newall Ltd, issued by the Directors
ID: OEDA CM/8/1
Date: n.d. (1920x1930) (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of an account of Turner & Newall Ltd, issued by the directors of T&N “so that the shareholders of the company may be acquainted with the nature and scope of its operations”. Appeared while the company was still chaired by Frederick Stirling Newall, who died 1930.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/2 - Turner & Newall Ltd (George Pulman & Sons Ltd, London)
Title: Turner & Newall Ltd (George Pulman & Sons Ltd, London)
ID: OEDA CM/8/2
Date: n.d. (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of booklet ‘Turner & Newall Ltd’, designed, produced and printed by George Pulman & Sons Ltd, Thayer Street, London. Appeared after the company was registered at a Manchester address, i.e. 1949 or after.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/3 - A brief history of Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Ltd, by Mr N A Morling
Title: A brief history of Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Ltd, by Mr N A Morling
ID: OEDA CM/8/3
Date: 1959-1960 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of a brief history of Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Ltd, based on a paper delivered to the Rochdale Literary and Scientific Society by Mr N A Morling, 19 February 1959 and published also in ‘Transaction of the Rochdale Literary and Scientific Society’ 24 (1960): 49-64
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/4 - Turner & Newall: the first fifty years, by L T C Rolt, c.1970
Title: Turner & Newall: the first fifty years, by L T C Rolt, c.1970
ID: OEDA CM/8/4
Date: c.1970 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of typescript ‘Turner & Newall: the first fifty years’, by L T C Rolt, c.1970. Also includes photocopy of form ‘Department of Employment Medical Examination of Asbestos Workers (Asbestos Regulations 1969)’, marked “From Ferodo”.
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt (1910-1974) was an English writer and engineer.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/5 - Turner & Newall today
Title: Turner & Newall today
ID: OEDA CM/8/5
Date: n.d. (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of booklet ‘Turner & Newall today’ (n.d.), an overview of the company’s global achievements and organisation, including emphasis on its deliberate decentralisation (p. 30). Also stressed is that the parent company “is responsible for the operation of the Turner & Newall Ltd Asbestos Fibre Laboratory in Manchester, the only establishment in the world exclusively devoted to fundamental research on asbestos”.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/6 - A history of J W Roberts up to 1964
Title: A history of J W Roberts up to 1964
ID: OEDA CM/8/6
Date: c.1964 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of a typescript ‘A history of J W Roberts Ltd up to 1964’, n.d.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/8/7 - TAC [Turners Asbestos Cement Co Ltd] history: origin to end of 1967
Title: TAC [Turners Asbestos Cement Co Ltd] history: origin to end of 1967
ID: OEDA CM/8/7
Date: c.1967 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopy of typescript ‘TAC history: origin to end of 1967’
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
File: OEDA CM/9 - Legal actions re the site of the Dalmuir factory of TAC Co Ltd
Title: Legal actions re the site of the Dalmuir factory of TAC Co Ltd
ID: OEDA CM/9
Date: 1959-1986 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Records (including legal opinions, court summons etc.) relating to legal actions regarding the site of the Dalmuir factory of Turner Asbestos Cement Co Ltd (TAC), later TAC Construction Materials Ltd.
Legal papers is re Monaville Estates Ltd v. TAC Construction Materials Ltd.
Closes with account of legal costs 1981-1986 for professional services rendered by Biggart Baillie & Gifford, W.S., Solicitors, in regard to “the first Action by Clydebank City Council against Monaville Estates Ltd [etc. and] regarding the second Action raised by Monaville Estates Ltd”.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper