WORLD

Agnes Bennett’s life of unobtrusive achievement is described in her entries in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (by Ann Curthoys) and the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (by Beryl Hughes), as well as the book ‘Doctor Agnes Bennett’ by Cecil and Celia Manson (London, 1960). The daughter of a noted engineer, she was born in Sydney and educated at Cheltenham Ladies College, Sydney University (where she was reputed to be the first woman to gain a science degree with honours) and Edinburgh University, where she gained her degree in medicine.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Folded into four quarters, with the blank reverse of one of them mounted on a leaf extracted from an album. The glue from the mount has discoloured the letter, and one corner has been cut away (with no loss of text), otherwise in good condition. He begins by reminding him that ‘Some time ago you read a Play of mine, entitled “Mr Bridie’s Finger” which I had forwarded to Messrs Benn. / You handed it to me at your office and asked me to return it later.’ He is enclosing the play, and asks whether to send it to Messrs Benn.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Mr Scarr: / I’m sorry but I have already engaged myself for three talks besides my offical three and, not being an extemporizer, can’t undertake any more. / Yours sincerely / Robert Graves’. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Bates was employed in writing short stories as propaganda for the Air Ministry. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘H. E. Bates’.He begins by thanking him for sending a print, and is sorry he could not reply before: ‘like so many other people I have been ill & in bed’. He is keeping the print and enclosing five pounds. ‘Next time I come to Leicester I hope to have time to come in & make your acquaintance.’ He ends by asking him to look out for books on ‘collecting old silver’ for him.

Although large numbers of Irishmen had willingly signed up to fight for the British cause in the First World War, by April 1918 a shortage of troops moved the British government to propose conscription in Ireland. This was violently opposed by republicans, and O’Neill convened an Irish Anti-Conscription Committee which met at the Mansion House in Dublin. Strikes and protests followed, and although a law was passed, conscription was never implemented in Ireland. These two items are now extremely scarce.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

A scarce item. See Somerville's entry in the Oxford DNB, for the controversy, involving Churchill. 8pp, 8vo. With two plates of maps, the first a fold-out extending to the width of three pages. Stapled. In fair condition, on lightly worn and discoloured paper. In the customary double column. Begins, despite the date of the number, 'Wednesday, 5 May 1948 / Action between British and Italian Forces off Cape Spartivento on 27th November 1940. / The following Despatch was submitted to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on the 18th December, 1940, by Vice-Admiral Sir James F.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In poor condition, aged, worn and creased, with damage to edges. Tape was previously present as a border along all the edges, and the corners are still strengthened with tape, causing discoloration that affects the end of Handley's signature. Reads: 'B.B.C. / London / Dear Pte Dean. / In reply to Yours. I would send you a ticket with Pleasure but I have no control over same. I'm afraid you will have to write direct to the B.B.C. / Best wishes. / Tommy Handley'. Scan available.

Fourteen items from the papers of Sir Noel Galway Holmes, all but the last relating to his three decades of service in the British Army, with reports and recommendations by superior officers from 1920 to 1939.

The topic of this material is wartime training (in part during the Blitz) of sergeants for ‘Search Light Control’ or SLC (nicknamed ‘Elsie’). A larger archive of similar material from the papers of Sgt. J. L. B. Royall on the same theme is offered separately. Sixteen items, a few of which are discoloured and creased, but the collection being in good overall condition. The first three items are in manuscript (i.e. Royall’s autograph).

Two very interesting unpublished documents, the first giving an assessment of Churchill by a colleague who worked closely with him throughout the Second World War, and the second describing the important part that individual himself played in the logistical management of the war, from before Dunkirk to after D-Day. This material is from Sir Noel Galway Holmes’s private papers, another batch of which, comprising confidential reports on him, recommendations by superior officers, and particulars of his service, is offered separately.

This offprint is scarce. The only copy on WorldCat at the Caird Library of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. See Watt's entry in the Oxford DNB, which underlines his pre-eminence: 'At the battle of Jutland (31 May 1916) twenty-nine of the thirty-four British battleships and battle cruisers engaged were of Watts's design.' The item is an offprint from the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, vol. 61 (1919). 65 + [1]pp, 4to. Side-stapled, with no covers.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states: ‘After the death of his first wife he married second, on 24 June 1933, Caroline Maud Abadie (1863–1948), the widow of General Sir Henry Richard Abadie; she was the daughter of Colonel Fanshawe Gostling, of the Royal Berkshire regiment.’ In addition to the two letters apiece from Sir Reginald and Lady Tupper, the material includes, as Item Five, a leaf carrying a 26-line postscript from Lady Tupper to a lost letter. All but Item Five below are on uniform 12mo leaves of grey paper.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. Eighteen lines. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Ilbert’ and signed ‘James W Lowther’. He has ‘prepared a series of telegram [sic] to all the news agencies and to the Clerk of the Works at Westminster’, and will dispatch them as soon as he receives ‘any intimation from the P.M’. He has another telegram ready for the London Gazette. ‘I think we can reasonably expect that, with 48 hrs notice, all M Ps and the staff would have sufficient notice’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Large bold signature - ‘Richard F. Phillimore / 1920.’, a third of the way down the page on what is clearly the fly leaf of a book. The rest of the leaf is blank. The side of the leaf with the signature is somewhat discoloured, the reverse not so much. In good condition otherwise.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The identity of the recipient is unclear. Written on one side of a small (12 x 9.5 cm) plain card. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with one vertical crease. Reads: ‘Dear Walter / Enclosed is, as you may see, addressed to Speaker Court. I opened it & think it may be for Miss Erskine. If not, will you send it on to Lady Ilbert. Nothing is known of it here. / Yours sincerely / James W Lowther’. Lady Ilbert was wife of the Clerk of the Commons, Sir Courtenay Ilbert, from whose papers the item derives.

See the entries on Grey and Lady Ilbert's husband (who was Clerk of the Commons) in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. In an elegant hand. Reads: '15. 2. 15 / Dear Lady Ilbert / Many thanks: I shall be very glad to dine on Wednesday / Yours sincerely / E Grey.'

A nice piece of WW2 RAF ephemera, written on the eve of the Battle of Britain. Scarce: the only copies on JISC at the National Library of Scotland and Bishopsgate Institute in London. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The ‘Text of the Letter’ is printed across the centrefold, with an introduction on the first page, reading: ‘Among the personal belongings of a young R.A.F. pilot in a Bomber Squadron who was recently reported “Missing, believed killed,” was a letter to his mother - to be sent to her if he were killed.

This is an extremely scarce item, not held by the Imperial War Museum, and significant for the five-page eye-witness account it contains (pp.29-33): ‘‘H.M.S. “Ardent” and the Jutland Action. / By A. M.’, i.e. Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Marsden, who was in command of the Ardent and one of only two survivors of its sinking. It is remarkable that he was allowed to disseminate such a candid account (for the perusal of naval cadets!) within months of the engagement. On cover: ‘The Britannia Magazine / Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. / Christmas, 1916.’ and printers’ slug.

Scarce. None of these four numbers is held by the Imperial War Museum. Motto: ‘Pro Rege et Patria.’ 4to and uniform, with covers of various shades of blue paper. Varying in length from 42pp (Easter 1946) to 64pp (Easter 1940). One number with grubby markings, but the four items in good overall condition, lightly worn and aged. The first perfect bound, the other three with slightly rusty staples. On the cover of each is an illustration by Bernard Partridge of Britannia scanning the sea from the White Cliffs of Dover. One copy with newspaper cutting loosely inserted.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, but with the blank reverses of the two leaves both carrying traces of glue from previous mounting, and slight damage and loss at the foot of both. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘Dear Gibson - / I have just received your note asking for my signature. I think you were at Westgate in the early months of 1915 when I was. I wonder how you are getting on these days. I do hope that the scouts are all right and going strong & that you yourself are in the best of health & spirits / Yours very Sincerely. / Red. H. Mulock.’ See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He apologises for an engagement that will keep him ‘out of Town’ on the date proposed. Reads: ‘My dear Joyce / I should so much have enjoyed coming to your party, & it was very kind of you & Olive to think of it / Yours affec[tion]ately / Milner’.

Two pages, oblong 12mo, pencil markings, grubby in parts, text clear and complete.Down with a touch of Influenza, busy with letters & work, I'd no time to answer you. I hadn't time to think of any article. I've written Peace messages to Moscow, New Yor, Paris, Plymouth & Melbourne; so, you see, I've not been standing idle in the market place. | I was very, very sorry to hear of your father's (Bob) death. All in all, he was a grand generous lad. Too fond of Ulster, maybe, but none the worse of that same. | My sympathy to you, dear lass.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. On aged paper, creased at the edges. Signed ‘Irwin’. He thanks him for his letter and states that it is good of him ‘to offer the help of the Indian Church Aid Association for the receipt of the money. I should think we might be very glad indeed to take advantage of your suggestion.’ He is sending Wilson’s letter ‘to Sir John Thompson, who is really the active partner in the business!’ Halifax was Viceroy of India between 1926 and 1931.

The note was written in a momentous month for Wainwright. On 5 September 1945, on his release after three years in captivity following his surrender at Corregidor, Wainwright was promoted to four-star General. On 10 September he was presented with the Medal of Honor by President Truman at the White House. On 13 September a ticker-tape parade in New York City was held in his honor. And on 28 September he was named commander of the Second Service Command and the Eastern Defense Command at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York.

The original item. On one side of a piece of a piece of paper roughly 70 x 100 cm, folded into a 10.5 x 15.5 cm packet of fifty panels. An attractive item, but in need of some attention: on brittle and discoloured paper, with several closed tears. The map was the work of Col. H. B. Hudson. A significant map, still cited in the Sino-Indian border dispute. For the background see 'Two Important Maps from the Survey of India', Geographical Journa, October 1915. First published in 1914, but the only copy of this 1917 version located in the National Library of Australia.

All three in black and white. The first and third item lightly aged and creased; the first stained on reverse; the second item lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 8 x 12.5 cm. Stamped on reverse ‘4 JAN 1950’. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. TWO: Half-length portrait, apparently from the same shoot as One, with autograph signature. 8 x 11 cm. Written on reverse: ‘HECKINGEN. / SEP. 7. 1951’. Same outfit as One, but with cigarette in right hand.

Both in black and white, and in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 10 x 14 cm. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. On reverse, a typed note addressed to 'Mr. James Dandy / England.', and dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember 1949': 'Herzlichen Dank für Ihr liebes Paket, es hat mich sehr gefreut. / Beste Wünsche u. Grüse'. TWO: View of Hechingen Castle. 8.5 x 13 cm. Typed message on reverse, also signed by him: ‘Herzlichen Dank für das freundliche Gedenken zu Weihnachten.

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.