The Papers of Sir Eric Seal

Fonds

Reference Code: GBR/0014/SEAL

Citation

Scope and Contents

Includes: correspondence with Winston Churchill, with Seal giving his views at times on the direction of the war; more general correspondence, particularly with Seal's Private Office colleagues once he had gone to the United States; an account of the Admiralty mission to Washington; papers relating to Seal's work as Chief of the Trade and Industry Division in the British zone in Germany after the war; personal letters to his wife during his time with Churchill; a draft memoir, again particularly featuring the early years of the war.

Dates

Creation: 1938-c 1970

Creator

Seal, Eric Arthur, Sir, 1898-1972 (Knight, civil servant) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holder, and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Biographical / Historical

Eric Seal was born on 16 September 1898, the eldest son of Arthur Seal and Wilhelmina Youll. In 1926 he married Gladys Mary, daughter of Frank Leadbitter, having three sons.

After serving in the Royal Flying Corps and RAF at the end of the First World War, 1918–19, Seal entered the Civil Service in 1921. Initially working in the Patent Office, he moved over to the Admiralty in 1925 and worked his way up to Principal Private Secretary to the First Lord, from 1938–40. During this short time Seal served three different First Lords: [Alfred] Duff Cooper [later 1st Lord Norwich] before his resignation in October 1938 over Munich, then 7th Lord Stanhope [earlier Lord Mahon] and finally Winston Churchill from September 1939.

Seal and Churchill clearly got on well, because when Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940, he took Seal with him as his Principal Private Secretary. Seal stayed in this post until the following year, when in May 1941 Churchill appointed him as Deputy Secretary of the Admiralty for North America, particularly to help negotiate the Lend-Lease aid agreement with the United States. After a brief period as a member of the British Supply Council in Washington in 1943, Seal then returned to the Admiralty as Under-Secretary, 1943–45.

After the war he served in a number of short-term posts, as Chief of the Trade and Industry Division at the Control Commission for Germany, 1946–47 and Director-General for Building Materials at the Ministry of Works, 1947–48. Seal then had a spell as Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office (German Section), 1948–51, before returning to the Ministry of Works as Deputy Secretary, from 1951 until his retirement in 1959.

Seal was awarded the CB in 1941, and was knighted in 1955. He died on 31 March 1972.