Winston S. Churchill Typed Letter Signed.

CHURCHILL, Winston S.

Item Number: 141835

Rare typed letter signed by Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. One page, on Churchill’s Admiralty Whitehall letterhead the letter reads in full, “3rd May, 1913. Dear Sir, My father’s papers, which were entrusted to me by his literary executors, have now passed out of my hands and are deposited at Blenheim in the care of the Duke of Marlborough, to whom application for their examination should be addressed. My recollection of these papers, which I examined carefully and thoroughly during the three years I was engaged in writing my “Life of Lord Randolph Churchill”, makes me confident that you would not discover in them any letters of significance or value for your purposes from Mr Isaac Butt, or any material which would be of service to you in writing his life. Yours faithfully, “Winston S. Churchill.” In very good condition. Double matted and framed with a portrait of a young Churchill. The entire piece measures 15 inches by 12.5 inches.

In October 1911, Asquith appointed Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty, and he took up official residence at Admiralty House. As First Lord, Churchill was tasked with overseeing Britain's naval effort when the First World War began in August 1914. In the same month, the navy transported 120,000 British troops to France and began a blockade of German North Sea ports. Churchill sent submarines to the Baltic Sea to assist the Russian Navy and he sent the Marine Brigade to Ostend, forcing a reallocation of German troops. In September, Churchill assumed full responsibility for Britain's aerial defense and, in October, he visited Antwerp to observe Belgian defenses against the besieging Germans and promised British reinforcements for the city. Soon afterwards, however, Antwerp fell to the Germans and Churchill was criticized in the press. In May, Asquith agreed under parliamentary pressure to form an all-party coalition government, but the Conservatives' one condition of entry was that Churchill must be removed from the Admiralty. Churchill pleaded his case with both Asquith and Conservative leader Bonar Law, but had to accept demotion and became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.