the rectangular trunk with steel straps and with a slightly domed hinged lid, bearing the maker's label and the owners label painted to the front: "The Hon(ble) George F. Stanley",

Sir George Frederick Stanley GCSI GCIE CMG (14 October 1872 – 1 July 1938) was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician who served as a member of the UK Parliament for Preston and later, Willesden East. He also served the Governor of Madras from 1929 to 1934 and as Acting Viceroy of India in 1934.

The sixth son of Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby he was educated at Wellington and at Woolwich. He was the grandson of Edward Smith-Stanley, the former British Prime Minister.  He entered the Royal Horse Artillery in 1893 and served in the Second Boer War in 1899–1900. He was Adjutant with the Honourable Artillery Company from 1904–1909. He later served in World War I and was mentioned in despatches and awarded the CMG in 1916.

He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1910–1922 and for Willesden East from 1924–1929. A raft of government posts and honours then followed – most notably Governor of Madras. He arrived in India and took over as governor on 12 November 1929. This was a critical juncture in India - the Great Depression had just begun and the economy was deteriorating – political turmoil followed for the next five years.

During his tenure as governor, Stanley was responsible for implementing the Mettur Dam across the Kaveri River. The project's inauguration was on 21 August 1934 and the reservoir created by the Dam was named Stanley Reservoir in his honour. He oversaw other infrastructure projects on the railways and the Stanley Medical College in Chennai (Madras) is named after him.

LASSCO has salvaged a number of the sturdy travelling cases that he returned with from India in the late 1930’s.