During the Battle of Britain in 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill Donates a Signed Copy of His Memoirs to Benefit Sick and Wounded Soldiers of World War II

Reminiscent of the donations of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation to be donated for the sick and wounded soldiers of the Civil War.

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“To the Red Cross, from Winston S. Churchill, July 1940.”   Churchill was named Prime Minister in May 1940, after the Nazi juggernaut had overwhelmed Poland and then smashed into Denmark and Norway, followed shortly by invasions of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. From that moment his life and career became...

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During the Battle of Britain in 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill Donates a Signed Copy of His Memoirs to Benefit Sick and Wounded Soldiers of World War II

Reminiscent of the donations of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation to be donated for the sick and wounded soldiers of the Civil War.

“To the Red Cross, from Winston S. Churchill, July 1940.”
 
Churchill was named Prime Minister in May 1940, after the Nazi juggernaut had overwhelmed Poland and then smashed into Denmark and Norway, followed shortly by invasions of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. From that moment his life and career became one with Britain’s story and its survival. Churchill’s task was to inspire resistance at all costs, to organize the defense of the island, and to make it the bastion for an eventual return to the continent of Europe. To do this, he needed to breathe a new spirit into the government and a new resolve into the people. His magnificent oratory, his immense confidence, and his stubborn refusal to accept anything but total victory, did just that, and rallied the nation, particularly during the dark days in 1940 and 1941 before the United States entered the war. The speeches he made in accomplishing this are classics and among the most moving and important ever written in the English language. From his first blunt talk to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940, in which he warned “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”; to his pledge to resist – “We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!”; to his memorable plea for strength and courage – “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour”; his words effectively inspired the people and led ultimately to victory over Nazi tyranny.
 
France fell in June 1940, and from July to September 1940 all waited tensely for the expected German invasion of Britain to begin, as the Battle of Britain was fought to secure air supremacy and the skies above the south of England became the scene of battles between German and British fighter planes.  On July 16, Hitler ordered the preparation of a plan to invade Britain.  
 
England was fighting alone during the Battle of Britain, and the British Red Cross was on the front lines of the war. They helped the sick and wounded, civilians injured in the air raids, prisoners of war, and others.  As England looked skyward and the battle for air supremacy raged on; as it anticipated imminent invasion as the Germans closed in; and as it came increasingly under fire, threatened at home and in its colonies around the world, leaders across the country joined forces to support the sick and wounded soldiers and civilians by raising money together for the Red Cross. They created an event, one great fundraising sale, The Red Cross Sale, held on July 25, 1940.  Royalty donated objects; some donated jewelry, a manuscript of Byron was donated.  And Winston Churchill gave a copy of a book he had written, “My Early Life, A Roving Commission,” which he inscribed to the Red Cross. The sale, held at Christie's, realized £84,023, quite a large sum at the time.
 
Book signed and inscribed, as Prime Minister during the Blitz, “My Early Life, A Roving Commission,” by Winston Churchill, in its original jacket as presented by the Prime Minister, dated during the Blitz.  “To the Red Cross, from Winston S. Churchill, July 1940.”  Some age toning.
 
This is the only piece donated by Churchill himself for this sale that we can find.  It is reminiscent of the donations of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and other items to be donated for the sick and wounded soldiers of the Civil War.

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