Skip to main content

Speeches: House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., 27 Jan 1942 - 13 Apr 1942

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/183A-C

Scope and Contents

Speech notes for WSC's speech (29 January) winding up a debate on the war situation and responding to parliamentary questions on subjects including: the vote of confidence in the government; general policy in the Far East; the defence of Singapore and Malaya [later Malaysia]; the scorched earth policy at Penang; the conduct of the war; and troops and supplies in India. Also includes correspondence from Oliver Locker-Lampson; Percy Harris; Sir Arnold Gridley; Colin Thornley [Principal Private Secretary to Secretary of State for the Colonies]; Robert Burns [Private Secretary to Minister of Supply]; Lord Halifax [earlier Edward Wood and Lord Irwin, British Ambassador to the United States]; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to Minister of Defence, WSC]; 1st Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Max Aitken, Minister of Supply]; General Sir Alan Brooke [later 1st Lord Alanbrooke] Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces; 1st Lord Cherwell [earlier Frederick Lindemann]; Rosalind Culhane; Sir Archibald Sinclair [later 1st Lord Thurso, Secretary of State for Air]; Leo Amery [Secretary of State for India and Burma, later Myanmar]; Saville Garner [Private Secretary to Secretary of State for the Colonies]; and notes and copies of correspondence from John Martin [Private Secretary to WSC], Leslie Rowan [Principal Private Secretary to WSC] and John Peck [Assistant Private Secretary to WSC; an extract from a speech by Mackenzie King [Prime Minister of Canada]; newspaper cuttings; and details of the agreement between WSC and President Roosevelt [the Atlantic Charter]. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6571-8.Speech notes for statement by WSC (17 February) on the war situation including the fall of Singapore and attacks on the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen. Also includes correspondence from Averell Harriman [United States Special Representative in Great Britain] and notes from John Martin. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6588-92.Speech notes for WSC's speech (24 February) on government changes, the structure of the War Cabinet, the Pacific War Council and WSC's position as Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Leader of the House of Commons and on the war situation including shipping losses, the fall of Singapore and the entry of Japan into the war. Also includes correspondence from Sir James Grigg [Secretary of State for War], Alfred Duff Cooper [later 1st Lord Norwich] Minister of Information and notes from Francis Brown [Assistant Private Secretary to WSC] and John Martin. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6593-6601.Speech notes for WSC's statement (13 April) on the war situation including: policy in the Far East and answers to parliamentary questions on Malaya and Singapore; Indian self-government; the appointment of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten as Advisor on Combined Operations; and the loss of the HMS Dorsetshire, HMS Cornwall and HMS Hermes. Published: Complete Speeches VI, pp 6608-11.

Dates

  • Creation: 27 Jan 1942 - 13 Apr 1942

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Extent

3 file(s) (3 bound files (291 folios))

Language of Materials

English