Administrative/Biographical History:

Founded in 1981 by bereaved families, INQUEST began as a coming together of groups and individuals who were involved in campaigns about deaths in custody, including the Blair Peach, Jimmy Kelly, Liddle Towers and Richard Campbell Committees. A time of social and political upheaval marked by economic decline, INQUEST was part of a broader movement for racial and social justice that flourished in the 1980s.

INQUEST was set up to help the families and friends of people who die as a result of state violence and neglect. From its inception, INQUEST has fought for fairer investigation systems (including the provision of legal aid), better treatment of bereaved families, and it has challenged the way that state impunity, cover-ups and false narratives have thwarted the possibility of meaningful justice.

While INQUEST has grown and changed since the 1980s, it has been uncompromising in its values and has continued to fight for the same things: truth, justice and accountability. In the 1980s the small team of two staff members focused on a wide variety of cases including: police, prison, mental health, deaths at work, disasters and medical negligence.

As the organisation grew, deaths in custody – police, prison, mental health and immigration – became the specific focus of the charity. INQUEST also works on other deaths involving the state, including the Hillsborough football disaster and the Grenfell Tower fire.

Throughout its lifespan, INQUEST has been committed to several key areas of work that are reflected in its archive e.g., women in prison, the disproportionate deaths of racialised peoples in custody, restraint, mental health, and deaths of children and young people in prison. Campaigning alongside families, supporters and lawyers, the charity continues to support families, hold institutions to account, and push for transformative change to prevent future deaths.

Scope and Content:

Administrative archive of campaign group, INQUEST, including: Inquest annual reports, including Inquest North West annual report 1982-1983, 1982-2006; Inquest staff meetings minutes, 1998-2002; Press releases compiled and shared by Inquest, 1982-1999; Promotional materials including publications and ephemera created and published by INQUEST, art and events inspired and in support of INQUEST's work, and t-shirts and tote bags, 1986-2020; press cuttings, journal articles and other extracts featuring the work of Inquest and its campaigning on numerous cases, 1982-2020; Press cuttings, articles and internet press print-outs, collated by Inquest for research and information, regarding high profile cases, 1980-2013. papers and ephemera relating to family campaigns, 2012-2022; casebooks with summaries of calls to Inquest regarding police brutality and deaths in custody, and information relating to inquests, 1987-1995; diaries kept by Inquest with administrative information regarding inquests, appointments and meetings, staff sickness and annual leave, and other miscellaneous events (1995-1998, 2000-2001), and post book kept by Inquest to record their incoming and outgoing post (November 1994-December 2000, 1994-2001; photographic prints and digital photographs depicting people, places, and/or events relating to Inquest, 2004-2007; audio-visual materials and born digital items relating to INQUEST and its work, 2002-2014; correspondence, press releases, papers, press cuttings, ephemera, materials relating to Geoffery Rofe, and materials relating to John Salter, relating to deaths in custody at HM Prison Brixton, 1989-1990; materials relating to INQUEST and its work deposited by members/people associated with the organisation, 1975-2018; working case files on various cases compiled by Inquest in their campaign work and held at the Inquest offices for reference, including correspondence, legal documents, ephemera and coverage, 1979-2018; additional papers relating to Inquest and their campaigns transferred from the INQUEST offices and catalogued by volunteers, including minutes, correspondence, papers, Lawyers Group material, events, publications and other material, 1982-2015.

Quantity:

c75 Boxes