The collection consists of 4 letters, three from LM and one from JHM at the Department of Health and Social Security, 286 Euston Road, London. The letters detail LM's struggle to obtain compensation for the amputation of his leg in 1966. LM had visted his GP as he approached retirement rearding a hernia, his doctor advised him to lose weight before any operation and prescibed a German drug called Lucofen. LM lost weight and went into Brighton General Hospital for the operation, he was to remain in hospital for 9 1/2 weeks as a routine operation ended with his leg being amputated. LM researched Lucofen and discovered that it was withdrawn in Germany and was a blood clotting agent, LM came to believe that this was the cause of his illness and the subsequent amputation of his leg.
Les Moss wrote a memoir called 'A Life and Struggle for Progress', which was published by QueenSpark Books in 1979. In his will, he left all his papers to QueenSpark.
The memoir is described in QueenSpark's catalogue as follows:
"In the memoir, he tells of his lifelong struggle in search of progress, and his personal triumph over adversity. Also documented is the eventful daily and working lives of both himself and his family.
Examples of the struggles experienced by Les's family are shown in the tale of how his grandfather's Northampton shoe manufacturing company was driven out of business by the advent of mass production and how his father, who played the flute in the Camden Music Halls in London, could no longer work when mass entertainment became prevalent.
In turn, Les's own craft as a centre-lathe turner became largely displaced during his lifetime. This fascinating life history also describes one man's involvement in trade unionism and provides a picture of political activism in London and Brighton from the 1920s onward."
Moss, Les; Martin JH (DHSS)
Digital copies of the letters have been donated to the East Sussex Record Office and are listed here; the original letters and all of Les Moss's papers were left to Queenspark Books on his death.