Skip to main content

Public and Political: General: Personal Office: Correspondence A - B., 05 Jun 1918 - 27 Dec 1939

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/363

Scope and Contents

Correspondents include: [Samuel] Vyvyan Adams on WSC's broadcast (18 December [on the scuttling of the Graf Spee]); Herwald Ramsbotham [later 1st Lord Soulbury], 1st Commissioner of Works, on WSC's occupation of Admiralty House; 17th Duke of Alba [Spanish Ambassador to Britain] on false allegations about WSC in the French and Spanish press (2); 1st Lord Alness [earlier Robert Munro], congratulating WSC on his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty; Leo Amery on subjects including congratulations on WSC's appointment, hoping to see him in a larger role, offering his own services, the failure of Neville Chamberlain [Prime Minister] to unify the House of Commons, and sending an article by WSC for use in Julian Amery's British Review in Yugoslavia [later Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia] (5); Sir George Arthur [former Private Secretary to 1st Lord Kitchener] congratulating WSC on his appointment and on Kitchener's respect for him; John Duncan, Official Secretary in Britain for the Commonwealth of Australia, on reproducing WSC's broadcast (1 October ["The First Month of War"]) in Australia; Sir Reginald Barnes, congratulating WSC on his appointment (2); 1st Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Max Aitken] on the reaction of the Scandinavian population in the United States to the invasion of Finland by the Soviet Union; Wedgwood Benn [later 1st Lord Stansgate] (2); Margaret, Lady Birkenhead, congratulating WSC on his appointment; Charlotte, Lady Blood, on Sir Bindon Blood's illness; Lady Violet Bonham-Carter [earlier Violet Asquith, and Violet, Lady Bonham Carter, later Lady Asquith of Yarnbury] on subjects including the scuttling of the Graf Spee; "Bob" [Robert Boothby] on subjects including a letter from Colin Coote [the Times] on the newspaper's refusal to print anything against Chamberlain, Chamberlain's determination to keep WSC out of Cabinet, a warning to Chamberlain from Arthur Greenwood [Deputy Leader of the Labour Party] on his position in the House of Commons, public dissatisfaction with the War Cabinet, German strategy over Poland, and an offer of his services by Harold Macmillan [later 1st Lord Stockton] (3); Frederick Ogilvie [Director-General] of the BBC, asking WSC to give a broadcast (1 October); Sir Richard Maconachie, Director of Talks, BBC, on arrangements for WSC's broadcasts (1 October and 12 November, "Ten Weeks of War") (2). Other subjects include: a propaganda film on the Navy; requests to WSC for help, including on gaining service commissions; an article on WSC for the Yugoslav press. Also includes: copy of the regulations for occupation of Admiralty House; cutting from the African World with an article by Sir Abe Bailey on the future of South Africa; notes and copies of correspondence by WSC and Bernard Sendall [Admiralty Private Secretary], Brendan Bracken [Parliamentary Private Secretary to WSC], Mary Shearburn [later Mary Thompson] and Kathleen Hill [Secretaries to WSC]. The majority of material in this file dates to 1939.

Dates

  • Creation: 05 Jun 1918 - 27 Dec 1939

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Extent

1 file(s) (1 bound file (80 folios))

Language of Materials

English

External Documents

Repository Details

Part of the Churchill Archives Centre Repository

Contact:
Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill College
Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 0DS United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 336087