Description
Object description
1 typed letter (no date, but probably late summer early autumn 1940, 3pp [2 folios]) written by 'Willie' or 'Bill', living at 5 Guilford Place, writing to his sister [?] Margaret, giving a fantastic description of the London Blitz from his perspective living in 5 Guilford Street, near Great Ormond Street, with details of the destruction of houses down his street, getting used to the night time bombing and not always going to shelters in the night, instead "living by the law of chances", and saying that London can stand up to it, but also with very interesting details of conversations he overheard that working class people in the shelter, for which he was Air Raid Shelter Marshal, had been having about the war and their scepticism about Churchill and his cabinet, saying "Working class people don't seem convinced by the story that we are fighting for our Liberties and Way of Life. They don't particularly like their way of life..." and "They are anti-Hitler, without being wholeheartedly pro-Churchill" due to too many 'Chamberlainites' in the cabinet, and quoting one man as saying "Wot's it all about? We go across there and knock 'ell out o' them and they come and knock 'ell out of us - and who makes a profit out of it?" He also talks of his upcoming marriage to his fiancée Carlotta.
Content description
1 typed letter (no date, but probably late summer early autumn 1940, 3pp [2 folios]) written by 'Willie' or 'Bill', living at 5 Guilford Place, writing to his sister [?] Margaret, giving a fantastic description of the London Blitz from his perspective living in 5 Guilford Street, near Great Ormond Street, with details of the destruction of houses down his street, getting used to the night time bombing and not always going to shelters in the night, instead "living by the law of chances", and saying that London can stand up to it, but also with very interesting details of conversations he overheard that working class people in the shelter, for which he was Air Raid Shelter Marshal, had been having about the war and their scepticism about Churchill and his cabinet, saying "Working class people don't seem convinced by the story that we are fighting for our Liberties and Way of Life. They don't particularly like their way of life..." and "They are anti-Hitler, without being wholeheartedly pro-Churchill" due to too many 'Chamberlainites' in the cabinet, and quoting one man as saying "Wot's it all about? We go across there and knock 'ell out o' them and they come and knock 'ell out of us - and who makes a profit out of it?" He also talks of his upcoming marriage to his fiancée Carlotta.
History note
Cataloguer SJO