This material contains underleases for rooms sublet on the Ground Floor of 56 Queen Anne Street, and selected correspondence. There is also a print block for the "Exhibition of Embroidery Then & Now" 1959 for the Embroiderers' Guild Expansion Fund. This must have been left at the premises.

Letter from Perowne, Gedge and Company, Solicitors, to Royal Asiatic Society, to inform the Society that the Embroiderers' Guild had just entered into a contract for purchase of their own property and therefore would be vacating the rooms at 56 Queen Anne Street. Dated 7 April, 1950.
Also a print block for an advertisement for the for "Exhibition of Embroidery Then & Now" 1959 for the Embroiderers' Guild Expansion Fund to be held at the Old Knoll, Eliot Hill, Lewisham. The exhibition was being held by the kind invitation of Dr and Mrs J.E. Stokes, presumably the then inhabitants, and to be opened by Wingfield-Digby, Keeper of Textile Department at the V&A.

Correspondence concerning the letting of the rooms formerly occupied by the Embroiderers' Guild to Mr J. Harris, an architect. These letters are primarily between the Royal Asiatic Society, Howard de Walden Estates and T.L. Wilson & Company, Solicitors, and concern the change of usage for the rooms to a commercial nature and the drawing up of the underlease. Dated from 2 May 1960 - 7 September 1960.

it is presumed that Mr Ralph Tubbs took over the tenancy of these rooms from Mr J. Harris. It is unknown when he began his tenancy as the correspondence for 1966 suggests that Mr Tubbs was already occupying the premises. It seems at this time there was also a suggestion that rooms at the rear of the premises might also be sublet.

• A photocopy of the Lease between the Royal Asiatic Society and Mr Ralph Tubbs, Architect, for the two front rooms. Dated 2 April 1977.
• Correspondence regarding Mr Tubbs tenancy between the Royal Asiatic Society, Mr Tubbs, Morton-Smith & Company, Chartered Surveyors, and T.L. Wilson and Company, Solicitors. Mr Tubbs wrote to relinquish his tenancy on 25 December 1975.

The Royal Anthropological Institute began making inquiries regarding the lease of rooms at 56 Queen Anne Street in January 1976 and they began to occupy the premises in 1977. In 1979 they extended the numbers of rooms to include two small back rooms to house their photographic collections. They finally agreed to leave the premises on 5 January 1988.
The material concerns the Underlease agreements between the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute. These are:

• Underlease between the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for the Ground Floor Front Rooms at 56 Queen Anne Street, dated 7 February 1977.
• Licence between the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for the use of the various rooms for storage, administration and lectures. Dated 7 February 1977.
• Licence between the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland relating to the use of ground floor rooms and other facilities. Dated 1 March 1983.
• Photocopy of Licence between the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland relating to the use of ground floor rooms and other facilities. Dated 27 July 1984.
• Correspondence concerning the agreements between the two Societies, the rental arrangements, and the timing of the move of the Institute on the Royal Asiatic Society relinquishing the lease for the premises. These are mainly between the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Howard de Walden Estate and the institutions' solicitors.

Lease agreements and correspondence concerning the residential flat on the second floor of 56 Queen Anne Street. These include:

• Correspondence regarding the setting of the rent in 1958. The tenant Richard Bailey had taken a 13 year lease in 1947 and in 1958 began to inquire as to whether his tenancy would be renewed.
• Correspondence with Richard Bailey regarding the renewal of his lease in 1962
• Lease Agreement between the Royal Asiatic Society and Richard Bailey for the 2nd floor flat, dated 28 February 1962.
• Correspondence regarding Richard Bailey leaving the flat in 1964 and the tenancy being taken on by Dr A.A. Alderdice.
• Letter concerning the surrendering of the lease by Dr Alderdice in 1965.
• Correspondence regarding a Dr Layard assigning the remainder of his lease to Mr Hugo Alyasha Kensho, 1968.
• Correspondence regarding the relinquishing of the lease by Layard and its reassignment to Messrs Parry and Norris, 1970.
• Correspondence regarding Mr Norris's guests and his damage of the property, 1976 -1978.
• Correspondence regarding the tenancy of Professor Charles Beckingham, potential conflict of interest as a member of the Society and his subsequent relinquishment of the flat when the Society vacated the premises, 1978 -1988.

The correspondence is primarily between the Royal Asiatic Society, the tenants, and their solicitors.

Correspondence regarding the lease of the third floor flat. These include:

• Correspondence with Mr Seal regarding an extension to his lease, 1956.
• Correspondence regarding the transfer of the lease from Dr Seal to Elizabeth Holloway (later Mrs Erleigh), 1961.
• Correspondence regarding the Erleigh's tenancy. This includes a newspaper cutting about the unexpected birth of Mrs Erleigh's child, 1962 -1965.
• Correspondence regarding temporary/unofficial residents, Mr Leon and Mrs Hardy, 1968.
• Correspondence regarding the relinquishment of the lease by Mrs Erleigh and its reassignment to Mr N. A. Lane and Mr M.E. Feirtag, 1969.
• Correspondence regarding the relinquishment of the lease by Mr N. A. Lane and Mr M.E. Feirtag and reassignment to Howard Anthony Jacobs and Michael Horowitz, 1971.
• Correspondence regarding the tenancy of Mr and Mrs Jacobs, 1976 - 1985.
• Director's Note regarding possible tenancy of Mr and Mrs Davidson, 1986.

The majority of the correspondence is between the Royal Asiatic Society, their tenants, and their respective solicitors.

Correspondence from organisations wishing to hire room from the Royal Asiatic Society for their meetings. These are:

• The Shakespearean Authorship Society, 1975.
• The Association of South-East Asian Studies, 1976.
• The China Society, 1976.
• The Asian House Trust Committee, 1976.
• The Centre for South-East Asian Studies, 1978.
• The Muhammadi Trust, 1979.
• The Society for the Preservation of the Architectural Resources of Egypt, 1980.

Correspondence concerned with the repair of the glass roof dome. Application was made for funds from the Historic Buildings Council (refused), the Greater London Council and The Pilgrim Trust (accepted). The correspondence is with these organisations, and with the Building Surveyors, Morton-Smith & Co. There are also two large and sixteen small black and white photographs of the dome and 17 photographic negatives.

The Royal Asiatic Society considered over its tenancy both ways of developing the property, of increasing its income through extra rental, of extending the lease and of trying to buy the property from Howard de Walden Estates. For this purpose, at various times a Development Committee was established. These papers contain Minutes from Development Committee Meetings and allied correspondence.