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Literary: correspondence with consultants and others on WSC's war memoirs ("The Second World War", mainly volumes 1 to 4), M-Z., Jan 1942 - Mar 1949

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/23A-B

Scope and Contents

Correspondents include: Sir Ian Fraser, Chairman of St Dunstan's; Anthony Moir of Fladgate and Company [WSC's solicitor]; Sir Thomas Moore (2); Lord Mountbatten of Burma (3) including (2) on Canada and the Dieppe raid [France]; 1st Lord Camrose [earlier Sir William Berry, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Telegraph]; Cecil Aspinall-Oglander on 1st Lord Keyes and King Leopold of Belgium; Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall (3); William Deakin (2); Admiral William Leahy, Chief of Staff [to President Truman]; President Harry Truman; Sir Norman Brook [later 1st Lord Normanbrook, Secretary of the Cabinet from 1947] (6); Lewis Douglas [United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom]; Sir Orme Sargent [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] (5); Leslie Rowan [Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Clement Attlee] (8); Eric Seal [former Principal Private Secretary to WSC]; Clement Attlee; Michael Joy [Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-Secretary of State]; General Dwight Eisenhower on a history of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force; Sir Patrick Hamilton, Chairman of Henry Simon Limited; Malcolm McCorquodale and [Wilfrid] Kent Hughes on the fall of Singapore; Sir John Slessor on British action in Greece at the end of the war; Oliver Stanley; Charles Eade [editor] and John Bingham [later 7th Lord Clanmorris] of the Sunday Dispatch; 1st Lord Swinton [earlier Philip Lloyd Greame and Philip Cunliffe Lister] on his book on the Air Ministry; 1st Lord Tedder on lectures at Cambridge; Charles Thompson [former Personal Assistant to WSC] (2); Robert Barrington-Ward, [editor] of the Times; Lady Clementine Waring; William Weech; Edith Watson [former Private Secretary] on WSC's visits to 10 Downing Street during the Munich crisis [Germany] (2); Sir Bruce White on his article on mulberry harbours; Margaretta, Lady Winchilsea; Charles Wood [WSC's literary assistant] (6); Ian Montgomery [Private Secretary to the Secretary to the Treasury], Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the Cabinet until 1946], and General Sir Hastings Ismay (4) on finding research assistants to work on the memoirs; Harry Hinsley offering his services. Also includes notes and copies of correspondence from: secretaries Elizabeth Gilliatt, Jo Sturdee ("N S") [later Lady Onslow], Jane Portal [later Lady Williams of Elvel], Lettice Marston [later Lettice Shillingford], Chips Gemmell, Anne Hipwell, and Penelope Wall; [literary assistant] Denis Kelly; and from WSC to some of those mentioned above and to Sir Desmond Morton [former Personal Assistant to WSC], 1st Lord Portal of Hungerford [earlier Sir Charles Portal], 5th Lord Salisbury [earlier Robert Gascoyne Cecil and Lord Cranborne], Duncan Sandys, and General Carl Spaatz.Other subjects include: matters concerning production and printing including maps, comments on proofs, permission to publish correspondence between WSC and President Franklin Roosevelt, WSC's access to official wartime material including locating his May 1940 minutes, and spelling conventions; reproducing material from the memoirs in various forms; comments and suggested amendments; WSC signing books and photographs; foreign and serialisation rights; discussion of other matters arising from the memoirs, including the Norwegian campaign, radar, tank production in 1940, and relative British and German air strengths; a Canadian espionage report; government publication of various wartime despatches.Also includes: text of address by General Henry Crerar; outline of speech by Mountbatten; texts of messages by WSC and Roosevelt to be published in volume 3 ["The Grand Alliance"]; January 1942 War Cabinet note by WSC; copy of WSC and Morton minutes from May 1940; list of WSC's engagements for the first half of May 1940; summary of structure of the entire work; chapter titles for volume 1 ("The Gathering Storm"); draft material on Britain's role in European affairs over the centuries; Kelly's corrections; review of "The Gathering Storm"; House of Lords question by Swinton; notes by Thompson on WSC's first wartime visit to Washington, United States; Life publicity leaflet; personal details of Norman Gibbs and Edwin Rich.Please note that the majority of material dates from 1946 to 1949.

Dates

  • Creation: Jan 1942 - Mar 1949

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Extent

2 file(s) (373 loose folios)

Language of Materials

English

Existence and Location of Copies

Folios 36, 40-9: Copyright holder (Lord Mountbatten) has withheld permission for online publication. Available at Churchill Archives Centre.

Repository Details

Part of the Churchill Archives Centre Repository

Contact:
Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill College
Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 0DS United Kingdom
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