RICHARD OLNEY is a retired archivist who formerly worked for the Historical Manuscripts Commission. This article is based principally on the archive of the Pilgrim Trust, which is available for consultation by students at the London Archives (LA), subject only to a 20-year access rule. He is grateful to the trust for this generous arrangement, and to the staff of LA for their unstinted help at a time of exceptional difficulty due to public health requirements. His warm thanks, too, to Ms Georgina Nayler, fo