Winston Churchill

TLS signed “W. S. Churchill,” one page, 8 x 10, Chartwell, Westerham, Kent letterhead, April 6, 1939. Letter to Margaret K. Haskell, in full: “I thank you for your letter, and greatly appreciate the kind offer of your services. Mrs. Edward C. Pratt is the Honorary Secretary of my Conservative Association in the Epping Division. I am sure she would find your help invaluable when the preliminary work is begun for a General Election, and I will ask her to get into touch with you at that time. With renewed thanks for your letter, which is most encouraging to me.” In very good to fine condition, with scattered light foxing.

Churchill writes an optimistic letter to a Conservative supporter offering their services in the run-up to the planned 1939 General Election. The last General Election in Great Britain before the outbreak of WWII was in 1935. The war commenced less than six months after this letter was written, and no General Elections were held during the wartime period. In the inaugural post-war election, Clement Attlee's Labour Party won an unexpected landslide victory over Churchill and the Conservatives.