ORIGINAL TYPED SPEECH FRAGMENT With Handwritten Emendations by Winston Churchill

Description

A typed working draft fragment for a Parliamentary speech on “World Disarmament” that Winston Churchill would deliver in the House of Commons on March 14 1955.

There are lengthy handwritten emendations, all in Churchill’s hand. The typed draft reads: “On our homeward voyage from the United States in the first month of July last, I sent a personal and private telegram to Mr. Molotov.”

Churchill has edited the text and added in red ink: “During our latest Defence debate I made an intervention during the speech of the rhg Ebbw Vale which, though impromptu, was correct and I believe not unhelpful. I should like, if the House will permit me, to tell the story more fully this afternoon.”

The fragment measures roughly 7 1/4 x 2 inches and is in excellent condition. It is here museum matted and gorgeously framed with an original press photograph of Winston Churchill in speech form (16 3/4 x 20 inches overall).

This fragment was acquired from the estate of Sir John Colville (1915-1987), Winston Churchill’s Principal Private Secretary during the war, and after, right through Churchill’s second stint as Prime Minister. No one was closer to Churchill at work than Sir John Rupert Colville, familiarly known as “Jock.”