[General Sir Kenneth Anderson, commander of British First Army during Operation Torch.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Kenneth Anderson'), discussing Kenya, the 'severe crisis' in Britain, conscription. With ANS from recipient Brigadier H. H. Dempsey

Dempsey's obituary in The Times, explains how 'In April, 1945, he was appointed Brigadier I/C Administration, East Africa Command', holding the position into the following year, and retiring in December 1947 on account of ill health. For a full account of Dempsey's military career, see his entry in Catholic Who's Who, vol.35 (1952). In an eight-line Autograph Note Signed at the end of Anderson's letter, Dempsey states that Anderson 'had been my personal & immediate superior as G.O.C. in C., East Africa Command, when I was his Brigadier I/C Administration. He became Governor of Gibraltar and has been dead some time now, having himself got a coronary thrombosis.' The present item is an Air Mail letter. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium on blue paper. Addressed to 'Brigadier M. C. [sic] Demspey CBE | No 87 General Hospital | Nairobi | Kenya Colony'. (Anderson has confused Dempsey with the more illustrious General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey (1896-1969).)Anderson begins by condoling with Dempsey on 'a return of your thrombosis': 'it is no use going on kicking against the pricks, and you must I fear face the need for a quiet life'. He next describes the weather in Scotland ('our 21st day of hard frost & snow'). A report on his wife's trip to the metropolis turns into an attack on the postwar Labour government: 'Kathleen is in London trying to buy clothes by candle & torch light and shivering in her hotel. I fear this country is in for a very severe crisis, made worse by the theories & idealisms of the Govt, which fiddles while Rome does not burn.' After more domestic news he reports: 'I saw Brown and also Fisher while in London at the end of last month. The War Office continues hopeful about all their grand schemes for Kenya: but it will be a miracle if they get 1/10th of the present estimated cost. And, on the same lines, I dont see how the country can carry a large Army and 18 months conscription. We are so hard pressed economically that I think it is fanstastic to try & carry such a Burden.'