AID

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB: ' Also in 1941 she embarked upon what became the most substantial public work she ever undertook when she became chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund. Of the £9,000,000 collected in Britain to help the USSR, ‘Mrs Churchill's Fund’, as it was popularly known, raised £6,700,000. In March–May 1945, at the invitation of the Russian Red Cross, she visited Russia to inspect many of the institutions equipped or otherwise helped by her fund.

Two scarce pieces of wartime ephemera. See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. The former explains how, during the Second World War, Lady Cripps was president of the British United Aid to China Fund, and that in 1946 ‘she undertook an extensive and arduous tour of China’, being entertained by both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. The journey was ‘one of 30,000 miles which included travel by air, sea, road, rail, and truck. Most of the great cities of China were visited and to see co-operative work in rural areas the Gansu Desert was crossed by lorry.

Ainsworth's 'Thesaurus' (1752) neatly defines 'The Royal Aid, or subsidy money' as 'tributum quod regi ex plebiscito in sumptus belli, &c. praestatur'. It was a one-off household tax, set by assessors and collected locally. (For further information see M. J. Braddick's 2013 paper 'Resistance to the Royal Aid and Further Supply in Chester, 1664–1672'.) The present two documents are each laid out in identical fashion, the two carrying different assessments for 'Land' and 'Goods' for the same 58 individuals.

The three items in uniform light-blue wraps. Housed in a worn solander box with brass clasp. With labels, stamps and shelfmarks of the Board of Education Reference Library. The first of the three 128pp., 8vo. Bound with 'The Law relating to Child-Saving and Reformatory Effecs. Being extracts from Acts of Parliament And other Information. Compiled by Arthur J. S. Maddison' (London: Reformatory and Refuge Union, 1896), 91 + [1]pp., 8vo. The second item is 139 pp., 8vo, and the third 160pp., 8vo.

1p., 4to. On aged paper, with slight damage at margin and head, not affecting text. She congratulates him 'on the news that I have read in this morning's paper'. She is sorry 'that there are probably no D.B.S. in Tangier', but hopes that 'some day you will go "en poste" to U.S.S.R.' She concludes by thanking him 'for all that you have done to help us with the work for D.B.S. in Russia'.

66pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each of the letters kept together with rusty staples. All the letters are signed 'David' and addressed to 'My Dear All'. Accompanying them is an envelope addressed in another hand to S. W. J. Tennant, Beechcote, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, and this may provide a clue to the identity of the recipients, to whom 'David' makes it clear on a couple of occasions that he is not related, signing off one letter 'from your muddle-headed friend'.

[1] + 38pp., 12mo. Stapled into brown printed wraps, with the title and printer's slug on the cover, which also carries the price of two shillings and sixpence. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Introductory note reads: 'These few pages refer to war-time troubles at home and in hospital, and other people's love laments. C.P.' Unpretentious poetry, giving an insight into the work of a V.A.D.

Three pages, 12mo, some staining, but text clear and complete. In asking your consideration of the claims of the Childrens' Aid Society a Branch of the Reformatory & Refuge Union of which I am the President, I am not seeking your help for a mere experiment but for work which has been in progress now for nearly forty years with marked success.