Royal Navy
Organization
Found in 52 Collections and/or Records:
File
Public and Political: General: Defence., 08 Jan 1938 - [1940]
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/336
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence issues include: 5th Lord Munster [earlier Geoffry FitzClarence] (2); Robert Cary on developments in Japanese naval armaments and the implications for Singapore; Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister, on WSC's notes on aircraft types (2); Sir Henry Strakosch (3); F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] on Strakosch's figures for the air raids on Barcelona [Spain]; [Eric] John Hodsoll [Inspector-General], Home Office ARP Department, on the state of the ARP programme,...
Dates:
08 Jan 1938 - [1940]
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence., 06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/371A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence issues include: Sir Thomas Inskip [Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, later 1st Lord Caldecote]; Harry Sellar, Private Secretary to Inskip (2); Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, on subjects including the arming of the Guards Battalions; Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, on showing WSC [air construction graphs]; 1st Lord Swinton [former Secretary of State for Air, earlier Philip Cunliffe-Lister and Philip Lloyd-Greame] on the formation...
Dates:
06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence and papers., 09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/302
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficiency of the RAF; Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt [former Vice-President of the Tank Board] (2); Sir William Beveridge [Director of London School of Economics and Political Science]; Oswald Frewen on working with German and Italian sailors, German fanaticism, Italian aid to Franco and how the policies of Neville Chamberlain [Prime Minister] encourage Germany and Italy; Leo Amery; Basil Liddell Hart; Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson...
Dates:
09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/266A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Basil Liddell Hart [Military Correspondent to the Times] on the troop system used in India; "Harold R" [1st Lord Rothermere, earlier Sir Harold Harmsworth] on subjects including 1st Lord Weir's position in defence [as Adviser to the Air Ministry], the likely stop to any battleship programme, pilot training, the likelihood of a quick German victory against Britain and France, German contempt for the British Government, and the Government's refusal to discuss the...
Dates:
12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open, (folio 93 opened as a 'sanitised' photocopy, original closed on advice of Cabinet Office).
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Inventions and suggestions., Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/278
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence inventions and suggestions from the general public include: Richard Powell [Assistant Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty] (3); Desmond Morton [Director, Industrial Intelligence Centre]; Sir Christopher Bullock [Permanent Secretary], Air Ministry; Ralph Assheton [later 1st Lord Clitheroe]; Colonel George Turner [former Superintendent, Design Department, Royal Arsenal]; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thoroton on the advantages of Admiralty control of the...
Dates:
Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Inventions and suggestions., 09 Mar 1936 - 31 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/279
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence inventions and suggestions from the general public include: K N Coates [Assistant Private Secretary to the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence] (4); Vernon Bovenizer, Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for War (2); [Edward] Jerome Dyer; Harry Sellar [Private Secretary to the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence] (2); P Warburton, [Assistant Secretary], Committee of Imperial Defence (4); Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Elles, Master General of the...
Dates:
09 Mar 1936 - 31 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Memoranda etc., 14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/268
Scope and Contents
Includes: memorandum by Desmond Morton on subjects including German propaganda on French military aviation and the Soviet army, and notes [added to file in January 1996] on a speech by the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence [Sir Thomas Inskip, later 1st Lord Caldecote], rebutting Inskip's claims for military production; memorandum by Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficient state of the RAF, and its need for expansion; press cuttings from the Figaro, with an article on the Anglo-French crisis...
Dates:
14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Minister for Co-ordination of Defence: Correspondence with., 14 May 1936 - 23 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/269
Scope and Contents
Correspondence between Sir Thomas Inskip [later 1st Lord Caldecote], Minister for Co-ordination of Defence and WSC on subjects including: the Fleet Air Arm; progress in the 1922 Committee on realizing the inadequacy of air defences and general delays in the committee; the possibility of an airborne invasion; the usefulness of WSC's advice; the role of a Minister of Supply; the visit and report of Allen Clark, Joint Managing Director of Plessey Company Limited, to German munitions works;...
Dates:
14 May 1936 - 23 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Personal Office: Correspondence T - Y., 11 Apr 1939 - 20 Dec 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/368
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Colin Thornton-Kemsley, apologizing for his former opposition to WSC; representatives of Barclays Bank Limited, Thornton Heath [Surrey] on WSC standing as guarantor for Walter Thompson [WSC's former detective] (4); Benjamin Tillett, congratulating WSC on his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty, and offering his services; Josiah Wedgwood on subjects including the policy of building aircraft carriers and battleships after [the sinking of the Royal Oak], WSC's...
Dates:
11 Apr 1939 - 20 Dec 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Personal Office correspondence, T-Z., Jan 1940 - Dec 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/399
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Archbishop of York William Temple, [Sir] Hugh Tudor, Alice, Lady Wimborne (2), 2nd Lord Wimborne [earlier Ivor Guest and Lord Ashby St Ledgers], and Edward, Duke of Windsor [earlier Edward, Prince of Wales, and Edward VIII], congratulating WSC on becoming Prime Minister; Captain William Tennant on Dunkirk [France]; Benjamin Tillett praising the "gallantry of the Sea Titans"; Ronald Tree and Sir Ralph Wedgwood, [Chairman] Railway Executive Committee, thanking WSC for...
Dates:
Jan 1940 - Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons and Non-House of Commons: Speech notes., 05 Mar 1952 - 26 Jun 1952
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 5/47A-B
Scope and Contents
Speech notes, typescript and galley proofs for WSC's speech (5 March, House of Commons) entitled "Defence" on subjects including: WSC's resignation as Minister of Defence; the Conservatives' voting on defence while in Opposition; the short-fall of defence spending; aid from the United States; the scarcity of home defence, and the training of new forces, including the registration of the Home Guard and forming of new battalions; the extension of National Service; armoured forces and new...
Dates:
05 Mar 1952 - 26 Jun 1952
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes., 01 Jun 1937 - 21 Dec 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/124
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (1 June) on the finance bill, taxation, and objecting to the method of raising the proposed National Defence Contribution. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5857-67.Notes for WSC's speech (15 July) supporting the government and objecting to the opposition motion of censure on non-intervention in Spain. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5870-4.Notes for WSC's speech (19 July) expressing his concern about the mounting of heavy howitzer cannons near Gibraltar,...
Dates:
01 Jun 1937 - 21 Dec 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and other material., 23 May 1940 - 04 Jul 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/140A-B
Scope and Contents
Statement by WSC (23 May) on fighting in France. Also includes relevant extract from Hansard. Published: Complete Speeches VI p 6223.Hansard copy of statement by WSC (28 May) on the fall of Belgium. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 6223-4.Notes for WSC's speech (4 June) entitled "Wars are not won by evacuations" on the fall of Belgium, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk [France] and the successes of the RAF. Speech includes the phrase "We shall fight on the...
Dates:
23 May 1940 - 04 Jul 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and other material., 08 Oct 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/142A-B
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (8 October) on the Battle of Britain, the Home Guard and the Home Front, Hitler's threat to invade Britain, events at Dakar [Senegal], the desertion of Vichy France, the Burma road [between Burma, later Myanmar, and China] and events in Spain. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6284-94.Notes for WSC's statement (17 October) on Robert Boothby [Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Food] and Czechoslovak claims.Notes for WSC's speech (5 November) on the war situation,...
Dates:
08 Oct 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and source material., 28 Jul 1936 - 10 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/119A-B
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speeches (28 and 29 July, Secret Defence Deputation to the Prime Minister [Stanley Baldwin]) on the relative strengths of the British and German air forces, the war making capacity of British and German industry, British air training facilities, and German power to bomb British cities.Notes for WSC's speech (5 November) on supporting the League of Nations, collective security, and policy towards Germany and Italy. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5800-4.Notes for WSC's...
Dates:
28 Jul 1936 - 10 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., 05 Nov 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/175
Scope and Contents
Speech notes for WSC's speech (5 November) on the war situation including the air battles, the bombing of London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, the threat posed by U Boats, the possibility of invasion by Germany, civil defence and the Home Guard, affairs in Egypt and the Middle East, and the Italian invasion of Greece. Source material includes correspondence from 1st Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Max Aitken, Minister for Aircraft Production], Henry Strutt [Assistant Under-Secretary of...
Dates:
05 Nov 1940 - 19 Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: speech notes and other material [dated 1939 unless otherwise indicated]., [Nov] [1938] - Apr 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/136
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (23 May, House of Commons) on his objections to the White Paper on Palestine, and the legacy of the Balfour declaration [supporting a Jewish national home in Palestine]. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 6128-37 [further notes in CHAR 9/135].Typed report of WSC's speech (1 February, Buckhurst Hill [Essex]) on Germany, the international situation, and civil defence. Part published: Complete Speeches VI pp 6063-4.Typed report of WSC's speech (10 March, Chigwell [Essex])...
Dates:
[Nov] [1938] - Apr 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: speech notes and source material., 31 May 1937 - 20 Nov 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/126
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (31 May, Caxton Hall [Westminster, Conservative Party meeting]), moving the motion for Neville Chamberlain's [Prime Minister] election to the Conservative Party leadership and praising his achievements as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5856-7.Notes for WSC's speech (11 June, [London] Australia Club Dinner) proposing a toast to the Prime Minister of Australia, Joseph Lyons, and commenting on naval security in the Far East and Singapore....
Dates:
31 May 1937 - 20 Nov 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Fonds
The Papers of Sir Winston Churchill
Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR and CHUR
Scope and Contents
The papers consist of original documents accumulated by Sir Winston Churchill throughout his life (1874-1965). They have been divided into two sections: the Chartwell Papers (CHAR) and the Churchill Papers (CHUR). Together, the two sets of papers cover the following major areas:
Personal (CHAR 1 and CHUR 1), 1884-1965
The papers of Churchill as a private person. They include correspondence with or about his family and friends on non-public topics and papers relating to...
Dates:
The majority of files date from the 1870s to 1965.
Conditions Governing Access:
The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.
This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.
Found in:
Churchill Archives Centre
Item
(Untitled), 02 Jan 1944 - 31 Jan 1944
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/152/1
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, January 1944.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; Major-General Leslie Hollis [Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet]; General Sir Henry Wilson [Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean Theatre]; Desmond Morton [Prime Minister's Personal Assistant]; the Chiefs of Staff; senior civil servants, including Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the...
Dates:
02 Jan 1944 - 31 Jan 1944
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/104/1
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, July 1943.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; the Chiefs of Staff; senior civil servants, including Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; "C" [Major General Sir Stewart Menzies, Head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service].Subjects covered by the minutes...
Dates:
01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Sep 1943 - 30 Sep 1943
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/104/3
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, September 1943. Some written by WSC when in Canada and the United States.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: senior civil servants, particularly Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; President Roosevelt; Harry Hopkins [Special...
Dates:
01 Sep 1943 - 30 Sep 1943
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Dec 1939 - 31 Dec 1939
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 19/3/4
Scope and Contents
First Lord of the Admiralty's printed minutes, December 1939.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (sometimes annotated with additional printed information) to: the Sea Lords, particularly [3rd Sea Lord and] Controller [Rear-Admiral Bruce Fraser], 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound], and 4th Sea Lord [and Chief of Supplies and Transport, Vice-Admiral Guy Royle]; Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips]; Prime Minister [Neville Chamberlain]; [Permanent] Secretary...
Dates:
01 Dec 1939 - 31 Dec 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 May 1942 - 31 May 1942
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/67/4
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, May 1942.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence].Subjects covered by the minutes include: aircraft production; bombing policy; operation "Ironclad" in Madagascar; the availability of ammunition for the Home Guard; naval operations in the Indian Ocean;...
Dates:
01 May 1942 - 31 May 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Aug 1940 - 01 Sep 1940
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/5
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, August 1940. Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff, General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence], and other senior military figures; F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell, Prime Minister's Personal Assistant]; a press statement by WSC; and a minute...
Dates:
01 Aug 1940 - 01 Sep 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open