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4 APPEASEMENT AND WAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2022

Extract

Lothian on his meeting with Adolf Hitler.

Many thanks for sending me the book of Letters which I am delighted to have.

I had an interesting time with Hitler. It is going to be a difficult job but I think it is possible to get a basis for assured peace in Europe for ten years if we go about it the right way.

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Primary source material
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Historical Society

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References

1 Philip Henry Kerr (1882–1940), ed. Round Table 1910–1916; private sec. to Lloyd George 1916–1921; sec., Rhodes Trust 1925–1939; Chanc. Duchy of Lancaster 1931; Under-Sec. India 1931–1932; chair., Indian Franchise Ctte. 1932; Amb. in Washington 1939–1940; KT 1940; suc. 11th Marquess of Lothian 1930.

2 Francis Percival Don (1886–1964), air force officer; RAF Air Attaché to Berlin 1934–1937.

3 Londonderry suggests here that Döberitz is the German equivalent of Aldershot.

4 Chiang Kai-Shek (1887–1975), Chinese general, nationalist, and statesman.

5 Göring married his second wife, Emmy Sonnemann, an actress, in 1935.

6 Official palace in Berlin of the Reichstag president.

7 Philipp of Hesse (1896–1980), German royal and Nazi functionary.

8 George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright.

9 Otto Meissner (1880–1953), German civil servant; head of Reich Chancellery 1934–1945; Min. of State 1937–1945.

10 Paul von Benckendorff und Hindenburg (1847–1934), German army officer; Chief of the Gen. Staff 1916–1918; Pres. of Germany 1925–1934.

11 Maria Müller (1898–1958), German opera singer.

12 Rudolf Bockelmann (1892–1958), German opera singer.

13 Edith, Lady Londonderry.

14 Lady Mairi, the Londonderrys’ youngest daughter.

15 Paul Schmidt (1899–1970), German civil servant; chief interpreter of the Reich 1933–1945.

16 The Anglo-German naval agreement was confirmed in June 1935. Germany agreed to limit its surface tonnage to 35 per cent of the Royal Navy, and the United Kingdom conceded submarine parity with Germany.

17 The League of Nations’ system of awarding mandates to the victor powers following the First World War was meant to avoid the outright annexation of the defeated powers’ colonial possessions. Categorized as A, B, and C, depending on the territories’ purported suitability for self-government, the mandated powers were charged with preparing the territories for that outcome.

18 Rudolf Hess (1894–1987), dep. leader Nazi Party 1933–1941; Min. without Portfolio 1933–1941; flew to Scotland in May 1941 in pursuit of peace agreement, carried list of names including Londonderry's, arrested and interned; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1946.

19 George V died on 20 January 1936.

20 Konstantin von Neurath (1873–1956), German diplomat; Amb. in Rome 1921–1930; Amb. in London 1930–1932; For. Min. 1932–1938; Protector of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1943; Gen. Schutzstaffel (SS) 1943–1945; sentenced to 15 years for war crimes 1946, released 1954.

21 August von Mackensen (1849–1945), German soldier; Field Marshal 1915.

22 Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte of Prussia (1892–1980), Duchess of Brunswick and Lüneburg.

23 Winter Olympic Games.

24 Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (1873–1955), Con. MP Birmingham South 1911–1918; Birmingham Sparkbrook 1918–1945; Under-Sec. Colonies 1919–1921; FS Admiralty 1921–1922; 1st Lord of Admiralty 1922–1924; Colonial Sec. 1924–1929, and Dominions Sec. 1925–1929; India Sec. 1940–1945.

25 The Times, 24 February 1936, p. 14.

26 Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary.

27 Bone, William A., ‘Germany's rearmament: A critical examination’, Nineteenth Century and After, 119 (May 1936), 529540Google Scholar.

28 William Arthur Bone (1871–1938), scholar and scientist; Prof. of Chemical Technology, Imperial College, London 1912–1936.

29 French general election held on 26 April and 3 May 1936.

30 Secret pact (1935) between Great Britain and France in response to Italy's invasion of Abyssinia.

31 House of Commons Debates, 6 May 1936, vol. 311, cols 1841–1842.

32 Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili (1879–1953), Soviet Union politician; Commissar for Nationalities 1917–1922; Gen. Sec. of Communist Party 1923–1953, head of state 1941–1953; adopted the alias of Stalin (‘man of steel’).

33 Germany's air attaché in London.

34 Mount Stewart.

35 Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (1884–1975), Soviet Union diplomat; Amb. in Helsinki 1929–1932, in London 1932–1943; Dep. For. Min. 1943–1946.

36 Maxim né Meer Wallach Litvinov (1876–1951), Soviet Union diplomat; Commissar of For. Affairs 1930–1939; Amb. in Washington 1941–1943; Dep. Commissar for For. Affairs 1946.

37 Horace John Wilson (1882–1972), civil servant; Perm. Sec. Ministry of Labour 1921–1930; Chief Industrial Adviser 1930–1939; Perm. Sec. Treasury and head of civil service 1939–1942; kt. 1924.

38 Göring to Lady Londonderry, 3 July 1936, D3099/3/35/24B.

39 Luke 17:29.

40 Annual Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg.

41 Londonderry refers here to the two letters that he wrote to Lord Hailsham in Nov. 1934: see pp. 189–191.

42 The mutual defence alliance agreed in May 1935 between France and the USSR.

43 Eric Clare Edmund Phipps (1875–1945), British diplomat; Counsellor in Brussels 1920–1922; Min. in Paris 1922–1928; Min. in Vienna 1928–1933; Amb. in Berlin 1933–1937, in Paris 1937–1939; kt. 1927.

44 German foreign office.

45 Baldwin's conduct during the abdication of Edward VIII.

46 Samuel Hoare.

47 Anthony Eden.

48 Congress of Vienna 1814–1815.

49 German defence forces.

50 League of Nations.

51 The Times, 22 December 1936, p. 13.

52 The Times, 21 December 1936, p. 13.

53 Robert Vansittart.

54 See pp. 189–191.

55 Ludwig Noé (1871–1949), industrial engineer, politician, and teacher; Prof. of Machine Tools and Factory Operations, Danzig Technical Univ. 1919–1926; German Democratic Party senator, Danzig 1920–1924; head of Danzig Shipyard Co., later known as International Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd. 1919–1945; teacher of factory organization, Munich Technical Univ. 1947–1949.

56 See The Times, 30 January 1937, p. 12.

57 Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), French prelate and politician; For. Min. 1797–1807, 1814–1815.

58 The Times, 1 February 1937, p. 11.

59 ‘Prof. Dr ing.e.h. Ludwig Noe. Generaldirektor der the International Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd.’

60 Lady Violet Georgina Milner née Maxse (1872–1958), ed. National Review 1929–1948.

61 Robert Stewart (1769–1822); Irish politician and statesman; MP Tregony 1794–1796, Orford 1796–1797, 1821–1822, Co. Down 1801–1805, 1812–1821, Boroughbridge 1806, Plympton Erle 1806–1812; Chief Sec. for Ire. 1798–1801; Pres. Bd. of Control 1802–1806; Sec. for War and Colonial Sec. 1805–1806, 1807–1809; For. Sec. 1812–1822; KG 1814, styled Viscount Castlereagh 1796–1821, suc. 2nd Marquess of Londonderry 1821.

62 Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), Irish soldier and politician; PM 1828–1830; kt. 1804, cr. Duke of Wellington 1814.

63 World Disarmament Conference 1932–1934.

64 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr 1923–1925 to seize German industrial output.

65 Greek gods of the sun and the north wind.

66 Mythical king condemned by Zeus to permanently roll a boulder uphill.

67 The 1936 abdication crisis.

68 House of Commons Debates, 9 June 1937, vol. 324 cols 1737–1738.

69 Nevile Meyrick Henderson (1882–1942), diplomat; Min. in Paris 1928–1929, in Belgrade 1929–1935; Amb. in Buenos Aires 1935–1937, in Berlin 1937–1939; kt. 1932.

70 Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.

71 Franz von Papen (1879–1969), German politician; Chanc. 1932, member of Hitler's cabinet 1933–1934; Amb. in Vienna 1934–1938; Amb. in Ankara 1939–1944; found guilty of war crimes, released on appeal 1946.

72 In June 1937 the German cruiser Leipzig – then conducting non-intervention patrols off the coast of Spain – was reportedly the target of torpedo attacks.

73 Winston S. Churchill, Great Contemporaries (London, 1938).

74 Ernst Udet (1896–1941), German pilot; inspector gen. Luftwaffe; committed suicide 1941.

75 Hans-Jürgen Stumpff (1889–1968), German air force officer.

76 Sonia Wachstein (1907–2001), Austrian scholar and US-based social worker.

77 Max Wachstein (1905–1965), Austrian physiologist and US-based pathologist. He was released in March 1939 and like his sister emigrated to the US: see Sonia Wachstein, Too Deep Were Our Roots: A Viennese Jewish Memoir of the Years between the Two World Wars (New York, 2001), 224. This letter from a 1937 archive must date from after the Anschluss.

78 The United Kingdom.

79 See pp. 189–191.

80 Adolf Hitler.

81 G. Ward Price, I Know these Dictators (London, 1937).

82 Alexander (Alistair) Charles Robert Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1937–2012), pianist; suc. 9th Marquess of Londonderry 1955.

83 Defence Requirements Committee.

84 See pp. 189–191.

85 James H. Stronge (dates unknown), hon. sec. and treasurer, Ulster branch of The Link.

86 Londonderry subsequently declined but sent a telegram of encouragement: see Londonderry's sec. to J.H. Stronge, 7 January 1938, D3099/2/19/45.

87 Barry Domvile (1878–1971), naval officer; Ass. Sec. C.I.D. 1912–1914; Dir. of Plans Division, Admiralty 1902–1922; Dir. of Naval Intelligence 1927–1930; Admiral 1936; kt. 1934; interned 1940–1943.

88 William Henry McKee (1881–1956), journalist; ed. Belfast News-Letter 1928–1954.

89 For reprinted report of Londonderry's message, see The Times, 3 January 1938, p. 9.

90 See pp. 189–191.

91 Godfrey Walter Phillimore (1879–1947), suc. 2nd Baron Phillimore 1929.

92 Phillimore to Londonderry, 3 January 1938, D3099/2/19/42.

93 The Times, 3 January 1938, p. 9.

94 (John) Evelyn Leslie Wrench (1882–1966), Irish author; bd member of The Spectator 1923–1966; ed. The Spectator 1925–1932; founder All Peoples Assoc. 1929–1936; kt. 1932.

95 The Spectator, 7 January 1938 p. 3.

96 Walter Runciman (1870–1949), Lib. MP Oldham 1899–1900, Dewsbury 1902–1918; Swansea West 1924–1929, St Ives 1929–1937 (Lib. Nat. from 1931); Parl. Sec. Local Govt. Bd. 1905–1907; FST 1907–1908; Pres. Bd. of Educ. 1908–1911; Pres. Bd. of Agric. 1911–1914; Pres. Bd. of Trade 1914–1916; 1931–1937; Lord Pres. 1938–1939; cr. Viscount Runciman of Doxford in June 1937, suc. 2nd Baron Runciman in August 1937.

97 Chief Diplomatic Adviser to FO.

98 Francisco Franco y Bahamonde (1892–1975), Spanish soldier and dictator; Chief of Staff 1935–1936; Gov. of Canaries 1936; leader of Nationalist forces in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939; Caudillo 1939–1975.

99 James Geoffrey Gordon (1881–1938), Bishop of Jarrow 1932–1938.

100 Oliver Chase Quick (1885–1944), Church of England priest and theologian.

101 From the Archbishop of Canterbury and W.D.L. Greer, sec. of Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland, D3099/2/19/48.

102 Cosmo Lang.

103 James Louis Garvin (1868–1947), ed. The Observer 1908–1942.

104 Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914), MP Birmingham 1876–1885, Birmingham West 1885–1914 (Lib. to 1886, then Lib. Unionist); Pres. Bd. of Trade 1880–85; Pres. Local Government Bd. 1886; Colonial Sec. 1895–1903.

105 Garvin had previously published The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, volumes 1–3 (London, 1932–1934), but it was Leopold Amery who completed volumes 4–6 (London, 1951–1969).

106 Edward (‘Ned’) William Grigg (1879–1955), Lib. Oldham 1922–1925, Con. MP Altrincham 1933–1945; Gov. of Kenya 1925–1930; Parl. Sec. Min. of Information 1939–1940; Under-Sec. War Office 1940–1942; Min. Resident in Middle East 1944–1945; ed. English Review 1948–1955; cr. Baron Altrincham 1945.

107 The Times, 3 January 1938, p. 9.

108 Deutsche Christliche Studentenvereinigung, a German student Christian movement.

109 Clergyman based in Ealing.

110 George O. Whitehead (1894?–1941), assistant master, Dover College.

111 The Times, 9 March 1938, p. 10.

112 Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), German cleric and theologian; imprisoned 1937 for anti-Nazi activities, freed by Allies 1945; Pres. World Council of Churches 1961–1968.

113 Marquess of Londonderry, Ourselves and Germany (London, 1938).

114 Adeline Cecilia de la Feld née Lister-Kaye (1881–1975), married Count de la Feld 1920.

115 Hitler.

116 Wilfrid William Ashley (1867–1939), soldier and politician; Con. MP Blackpool 1906–1918, Fylde 1918–1922, New Forest and Christchurch 1922–1932; Transport Min. 1924–1929; cr. Baron Mount Temple 1932.

117 House of Lords Debates, 29 March 1938 vol. 108, cols 477–486.

118 John Lawrence Baird (1874–1941), diplomat, politician and colonial governor; Con. MP Rugby 1910–1922, Ayr Burghs 1922–1925; Under-Sec. for Air 1916–1919; Under-Sec. for Home Affairs 1919–1922; Min. of Transport and 1st Comm. of Works 1922–1924; Gov. Gen. Australia 1925–1930; chair. Con. Party 1931–1936; suc. 2nd Bart. 1920, cr. Baron Stonehaven 1925.

119 House of Lords Debates, 29 March 1938 vol. 108, cols 470–473.

120 Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887–1961), banker; chair. Industrial Dwellings Society; Pres. Norwood Home for Jewish Children.

121 See pp. 249–251.

122 Vladimir Ilych Lenin (1870–1924), Russian Marxist revolutionary; head of Soviet government 1917–1924.

123 Charles Hardinge (1858–1944), diplomat and colonial governor; Perm. Sec. FO 1906–1910, 1916–1920; Viceroy of India 1910–1916; Amb. in Paris 1920–1923; kt. 1904; cr. Baron Hardinge of Penhurst 1910.

124 House of Lords Debates, 22 October 1935, vol. 98, cols 1111–1118.

125 Robert William Seton-Watson (1879–1951), historian; founded New Europe 1916; Masaryk Prof. of Central European History, Univ. of London 1922–1925; Prof. of Czechoslovak Studies, Oxford Univ. 1945–1949.

126 R.W. Seton-Watson, Britain in Europe, 1789–1914: A Survey of Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 1937).

127 George Canning (1770–1827), Anglo-Irish politician; MP for Newtown 1793–1796, 1806–1807, Wendover 1796–1802, Tralee 1802–1806, Hastings 1807–1812, Liverpool 1812–1822, Harwich 1823–1826, Newport 1826–1827, Seaford 1827; For. Sec. 1807–1809, 1822–1827; Pres. Bd. of Control 1816–1821; Chanc. of Exchequer 1827; PM 1827.

128 Harold William Vazeille Temperley (1879–1939), historian.

129 Horace George Montagu Rumbold (1869–1941): diplomat; Amb. in Ankara 1920–1924, in Madrid 1924–1928, in Berlin 1928–1933; vice chair. Royal Commission on Palestine 1936–1937; suc. 9th Bart. 1913; kt. 1917.

130 Armand Jean du Plessis (1585–1642), French prelate and politician; effective ruler of France 1624–1642; Cardinal, Duke of Richelieu.

131 Noel Edward Buxton (1869–1948), Lib. MP Whitby 1905–1906, North Norfolk 1910–1918, Lab. MP North Norfolk 1922–1930; Min. of Agric. 1924; Min. of Agric. and Fisheries 1929–1930; cr. Baron Noel-Buxton 1930.

132 The Times, 7 May 1938, p. 13.

133 The Times, 11 May 1938, p. 12.

134 (Henry) Wickham Steed (1871–1956), head of For. Dept. The Times 1914–1918, ed. 1919–1922; private sec. to Lord Rothermere; overseas broadcaster, BBC 1937–1947.

135 To deliver an ultimatum.

136 Seton Paul Gordon (1886–1977).

137 Donald Walter Cameron of Lochiel (1876–1951), landowner, soldier; KT 1934, suc. 25th Chief of Clan Cameron 1905.

138 Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945), head of Schutzstaffel (SS) 1929–1945; Min. for Interior 1944–1945; committed suicide 1945.

139 Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry.

140 Julius Streicher (1885–1946), German school teacher, Nazi propagandist and politician; ed. Der Stürmer 1923–1945; Streicher's notoriously coarse anti-Semitism eventually led to his removal from Nazi posts in 1940; executed 1946.

141 Negotiations between Great Britain and Germany over the servicing of Austrian guaranteed loans were concluded successfully at the start of July 1938.

142 Kamil Krofta (1876–1945), Czechoslovakian historian and diplomat; For. Min. 1936–1938.

143 The Times, 15 July 1938, p. 16.

144 Konrad Henlein (1898–1945), Sudeten German nationalist; Reich Commissioner for Sudetenland 1938–1945; Reich Gov. of Bohemia and Moravia 1938–1945; committed suicide May 1945.

145 Herbert von Dirksen (1882–1955), German diplomat; Amb. in Moscow 1928–1933, in Tokyo 1933–1938, in London 1938–1939.

146 Dirksen's reply is short and dismissive, Herbert von Dirksen to Londonderry, 23 July 1938, D3099/2/19/117.

147 Laura Livingstone to Londonderry, 12 July 1938, D3099/2/19/110.

148 Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), Czechoslovak philosopher and politician, 1st Pres. of Czechoslovak Republic 1920–1935.

149 Financial Times, 19 July 1938, p. 1: ‘No particular importance is attached to the Czechoslovakian development, but its effect is to lay a restraining hand upon the readiness, so evident a week ago, to purchase stock in the Consol[idated] market.’

150 This translation is provided by the FO: see Londonderry to Sir Horace Wilson, 17 September 1938, D3099/2/19/124.

151 The occupying Germans organized a plebiscite in Austria on 10 April 1938 that ratified the Anschluss by 99.75 per cent.

152 Annual September horse race at Doncaster.

153 Oliver Frederick George Stanley (1896–1950), Con. MP Westmorland 1924–1945, Bristol West 1945–1950; PPS to Lord Eustace Percy 1924–1929; Under-Sec. Home Office 1931–1933; Min. of Transport 1933–1934; Min. of Labour 1934–1935; Pres. Bd. of Educ. 1935–1937; Pres. Bd. of Trade 1937–1940; Sec. for War 1940; Colonial Sec. 1942–1945; younger son of 17th Earl of Derby, married Lady Maureen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, eldest daughter of 7th Marquess of Londonderry 1920.

154 See pp. 345–348.

155 Lord Halifax.

156 Chamberlain met with Hitler at Berchtesgaden on 15 September 1938.

157 See pp. 345–348.

158 James Duncan (dates unknown), Vicar of Dawdon to 1942; Rector of Easington 1942–1953.

159 Richard Winn Livingstone (1880–1960), classical scholar and univ. administrator; kt. 1931.

160 Richard Winn Livingstone, Greek Ideals and Modern Life (London, 1935).

161 Constantine I (c. 285–337), Roman emperor 306–337.

162 Emperor Constantine's military standard that bore a Christogram.

163 James Andrews (1877–1951), lawyer and judge; Lord Chief Justice of NI 1937–1951; cr. Bart. 1942.

164 Presumably a reference to Londonderry's Ourselves and Germany.

165 Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor (1879–1953), suc. 2nd Duke of Westminster 1899.

166 Harford Montgomery Hyde (1907–1989), barrister, historian, and politician; private sec. to Lord Londonderry 1935–39; Ulster Unionist MP North Belfast 1950–1959; Prof. of History and Political Science, Univ. of Punjab 1959–1961.

167 The Times, 3 October 1938, pp. 13–14.

168 J.L. Garvin to Londonderry, 10 October 1938, D3099/2/19/143.

169 A.C. Benedict Eyre (1901–1985).

170 The Times, 12 October 1938, p. 16.

171 Joseph Paul Goebbels (1897–1945), Nazi Party chief in Berlin 1926–1930; in charge of Nazi propaganda from 1929; Min. of Propaganda 1933–1945; Reich Comm. for Total Mobilization 1944–1945; committed suicide 1945.

172 Walther Funk (1890–1960), German financial journalist and Nazi; Min. of Economic Affairs 1937–1945.

173 Frederick II (1712–1786), King of Prussia 1740–1786.

174 Millicent Wippell (dates unknown), resident of Blackheath, London.

175 A reservist in the Territorial Army.

176 Mervyn Richard Wingfield (1880–1947), Irish landowner; K.P. 1916, suc. 8th Viscount Powerscourt 1904.

177 Léonie Blanche Leslie née Jerome (1859–1943).

178 See pp. 189–191.

179 (Aubrey) Leo Kennedy (1885–1965), journalist and author; foreign leader writer The Times 1923–1941; European Service, BBC 1941–1945.

180 The Times, 29 October 1938, p. 13.

181 The Times, 3 October 1938, pp. 13–14.

182 Spanish merchant ship which sank off the coast of Norfolk in November 1938.

183 Ed. The Times.

184 The Times, 12 March 1936, p. 15.

185 Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (1858–1946), Church of England prelate; Bishop of Stepney 1897–1901; Bishop of London 1901–1939.

186 Violent anti-Jewish pogrom throughout Germany on 9–10 November 1938.

187 Churchill's brief reply expresses his pleasure that ‘we are in full accord’: see Churchill to Londonderry, 18 November 1938, D3099/2/5/2/19A.

188 F.C. Spencer-Davison (dates unknown), resident of Kitzbühel, Tyrol.

189 G.H. Perry (dates unknown), resident of Horninglow, Burton-on-Trent.

190 Thomas P. Conwell-Evans (1891–1968), Prof. of English, Univ. of Königsberg 1932–1934; joint sec. Anglo-German Fellowship 1934–1939.

191 Douglas Veale (1891–1973), civil servant and univ. administrator; Registrar, Oxford Univ. 1930–1958; kt. 1954.

192 See pp. 189–191.

193 England blickt auf Deutchland (Essen, 1938).

194 The assassination of a German diplomat at the Paris embassy on 7 November 1938.

195 Martha Bibesco née Lahovary (1886–1973), Romanian aristocrat and writer; married Prince Georges-Valentin Bibesco 1902.

196 Gladys d'Erlanger née Sammut (dates unknown), married Gerard John Regis Leo D'Erlanger 1937.

197 Godfrey John Vignoles Thomas (1889–1968), private sec. to Prince of Wales 1919–1936, to King Edward VIII 1936; private sec. to Duke of Gloucester 1937–1957; kt. 1925, suc. 10th Bart 1919.

198 Bessie Wallis Warfield (1896–1986), married Duke of Windsor 1937.

199 Marjorie D. Brooks to Londonderry, 13 December 1938, D3099/2/19/200.

200 Marjorie D. Brooks (dates unknown), resident of Hampstead, London.

201 Edward Ettingdene Bridges (1892–1969), civil servant; Cabinet Sec. 1938–1945; Perm. Sec. Treasury and head of civil service 1945–1956; cr. Baron Bridges 1957.

202 See pp. 189–191.

203 See pp. 203–208.

204 See pp. 203–208.

205 (Victor) Alexander John Hope (1887–1952), Civil Lord Admiralty 1922–1924; Con. Party dep. chair. 1924–1926; chair., India Joint Select Ctte. 1933–1934; Viceroy of India 1936–1943; styled Earl of Hopetoun 1887–1908, suc. 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow 1908, KG 1943.

206 Christopher Bullock.

207 In 1936 Baldwin appointed a board of inquiry to investigate the allegation that Bullock had sought a place on the board of Imperial Airways pending his retirement as a civil servant: Bullock was summarily dismissed.

208 S.S.G. Parker (dates unknown), resident of Tackley, Oxford.

209 Léon Blum (1872–1950), French politician; PM 1936–1937, 1938, 1946–1947; Dep. PM 1937–1938, 1948; Min. of Finance 1938; interned in Germany 1940–1945; For. Min. 1946–1947.

210 Isidro Gomá y Tomás (1869–1940), Spanish theologian and prelate; Bishop of Tarazona 1927–1933; Archbishop of Toledo 1933–1940; Cardinal 1935.

211 Albert Sarraut (1872–1962), French politician and colonial administrator; Gov. Gen. of Indochina 1911–1914, 1916–1919; Colonies Min. 1920–1924, 1932–1933; Interior Min. 1926–1928, 1934, 1937–1940; Navy Min. 1930–1931; PM 1933, 1936.

212 Bridges’ immediate predecessor as Cabinet Secretary, Maurice Hankey.

213 See pp. 189–191.

214 C.E. Carroll (dates unknown), ed. Anglo-German Review; detained 1939–1943.

215 The Times, 21 January 1939, p. 7.

216 See p. 301.

217 See pp. 189–191.

218 J.C. Gibbs (dates unknown), resident of Bromley, Kent.

219 Sven Anders Hedin (1865–1952).

220 Joachim Stresemann (1907–1999), German banker in New York.

221 Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929), German politician; Chanc. 1923; For. Min. 1923–1929; awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1926.

222 See also Stresemann to Londonderry, 16 May 1938, reprinted in Londonderry, Ourselves and Germany, 171–175.

223 United States.

224 David George Brownlow Cecil (1905–1981), athlete and politician; Con. MP Peterborough 1931–1943; Gov. of Bermuda 1943–1945; kt. 1943, styled Lord Burghley 1905–1956, suc. 6th Marquess of Exeter 1956.

225 Käte Stresemann née Kleefeld (1883–1970).

226 Édouard Daladier (1884–1970), French politician; Colonies Min. 1924–1925; Works Min. 1930–1931; Min. for War and Defence 1932, 1933, 1936–1937, 1938–1940; PM 1933, 1934, 1938–1940; For. Min. 1934; imprisoned by Vichy government 1942–1945.

227 John Sankey (1866–1948), judge of King's Bench Div. 1914–1928; Lord Justice of Appeal 1928–1929, Lord Chanc. 1929–1935; chair. Royal Commission on the Coal Industry 1919; kt. 1914, cr. Baron Sankey 1929, Viscount 1932.

228 See also Londonderry to Lord Sankey, 21 March 1939, D3099/2/17/45.

229 Quotation from George Macaulay Trevelyan, History of England: From 1714 to the Present Day (London, 1927), 585.

230 Drang nach Osten (‘Drive to the East’) refers to German colonization of Slavic lands in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that was revived under Nazi rule.

231 Adolf Dubsky (1878–1953), Austrian noble and diplomat; German nationalist citizen of Czechoslovakia.

232 See Franz von Papen to Londonderry, 17 April 1938, D3099/2/19/80, reprinted in Ourselves and Germany, 167–170.

233 Henry Bucknall Betterton (1872–1949), Con. MP Rushcliffe 1918–1934; Min. of Labour 1931–1934; cr. Bart. 1929, Baron Rushcliffe 1935.

234 The Times, 3 May 1939, p. 15.

235 Alfred Duff Cooper (1890–1954), Con. MP Oldham 1924–1929, St George's 1931–1934; FS War Office 1928–1929, 1931–1934; FST 1934–1935; Sec. for War 1935–1937; 1st Lord of Admiralty 1937–1938; Min. of Information 1940–1941; Chanc. Duchy of Lancaster 1941–1943; British rep. with Free French 1943–1944; Amb. in Paris 1944–1947; cr. Viscount Norwich 1952.

236 Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil (1893–1972), Con. MP South Dorset 1929–1941; Under-Sec. FO 1935–1938; Paymaster Gen. 1940; Dominions Sec. 1940–1942, 1943–1945; Lord Privy Seal 1942–1943, 1951–1952; Commonwealth Sec. 1952; Lord Pres. 1952–1957; KG 1946, styled Viscount Cranborne 1903–1947, summoned to House of Lords as Baron Cecil of Essendon 1941, suc. 5th Marquess of Salisbury 1947.

237 The Times, 6 May 1939, p. 13.

238 Józef Beck (1894–1944), Polish soldier and politician; For. Min. 1932–1939.

239 Erich Gritzbach (1896–1968), Göring's biographer 1938; Göring's chief of staff 1938–1945.

240 Robert Eisler (1882–1949), Austrian historian and economist; Wilde Lecturer, Oxford Univ. 1938; imprisoned by Nazis at Buchenwald and Dachau 1938–1939.

241 Londonderry passed copies of this letter to Seymour Berry of the Daily Telegraph, 16 June 1939, D3099/2/19/309, and the former British ambassador in Berlin, Sir Horace Rumbold, 20 June 1939, D3099/2/19/313.

242 The 1918 treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union obliged the latter to withdraw from the First World War and cede vast areas of territory and resources to the former.

243 See pp. 189–191.

244 Papen's diplomatic posting.

245 National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations.

246 Germany's air attaché in London.

247 Anon., The Man Who Killed Hitler (London, 1939).

248 See pp. 401–412.

249 The Times, 20 June 1939, p. 16.

250 Gerhard von Schwerin (1899–1980), German aristocrat, soldier, civil servant, and lobbyist.

251 Konstantin Deym von Střítež (1873–1955).

252 See pp. 420–423.

253 The Times, 30 June 1939, p. 16.

254 The Times, 22 June 1939, p. 12.

255 Gwladys Alice Gertrude Chaplin née Wilson (1881–1971); married 2nd Viscount Chaplin 1905.

256 Otto Dietrich (1897–1952), German journalist and Nazi; Reich press chief 1933–1945; State Sec. Propaganda Min. 1937–1945.

257 Unknown.

258 Arthur Ronald Nall Nall-Cain (1904–1967), company dir. and politician; Con. MP Wavertree 1931–1934; suc. 2nd Baron Brocket 1934.

259 See The Times, 12 August 1939, p. 10.

260 See pp. 189–191.

261 Great Britain had been at war with Germany since 3 September 1939.

262 Daily Mail, 19 September 1939, p. 1. It reported Londonderry's public refutation of rumours that he had been interned a spy.

263 The Times, 4 November 1939, p. 7.

264 Baldwin, Lord, An Interpreter of England: The Falconer Lectures (Delivered at the University of Toronto April 1939) (London, 1939)Google Scholar.

265 In June 1931 Great Britain was unable to continue to repay its wartime debt to the United States. A one-year moratorium and the Lausanne conference on debt repayments in 1932 merely postponed the final default, having paid $2.2 billion out of $4.3 billion.

266 Stourport on Severn, Worcestershire.

267 Geoffrey Storrs Fry (1888–1960), private sec. to Andrew Bonar Law 1919–1921; private sec. to Stanley Baldwin 1923–1939; cr. Bart. 1929.

268 House of Lords Debates, 15 November 1939, vol. 114, cols 1801–1831.

269 James Richard Stanhope (1880–1967), Under-Sec. for War 1931–1934; Under-Sec. FO 1934–1936; 1st Comm. of Works 1936–1937; Pres. Bd. of Educ. 1937–1938; 1st Lord of Admiralty 1938–1939; Lord Pres. of Council 1939–1940; KG 1934, suc. 7th Earl of Stanhope 1905, 13th Earl of Chesterfield 1952.

270 (Isaac) Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957), MP Plymouth Devonport 1923–1945 (Lib. to 1931 then National Lib.); FST 1932–1934; Min. of Transport 1934–1937; Sec. for War 1937–1940; Min. of National Insurance 1945; cr. Baron Hore-Belisha 1954.

271 Frederick Walter Pick (1912–1949), writer; translated German edition of Ourselves and Germany.

272 See pp. 231–233.

273 On 13 October 1939 HMS Royal Oak, at anchor in Scapa Flow, was sunk by a German submarine torpedo resulting in the loss of 833 lives.

274 A German heavy cruiser responsible for multiple sinkings of Allied ships, it continued to evade capture.

275 William Althelstane Meredith Goode (1875–1944), journalist and financial adviser; ed. Standard 1904–1910; unofficial financial adviser to Hungarian government c.1921–1939.

276 György Barcza (1888–1961), Hungarian diplomat; Min. in London 1938–1941; ex officio vice pres. of Anglo-Hungarian Society.

277 Thomas Beaumont Hohler (1871–1946), diplomat; Min. in Budapest 1921–1924; Min. in Santiago 1924–1927; Min. to Denmark 1928–1933; kt. 1924.

278 World Disarmament Conference 1932–1934.

279 Having already signed an economic treaty in March 1939, Germany and Romania concluded a further agreement in December 1939 that committed the latter to exporting to Germany 130,000 tons of its oil products each month.

280 Kingsley Wood.

281 It is always the unexpected.

282 On 7 November 1939 the Dutch and Belgian monarchs offered jointly to mediate in the European war.

283 House of Lords Debates, 13 December 1939, vol. 115, cols 231–265.

284 Albert Edward Delaval Astley (1882–1956), landowner and politician; chair. Independent Peers Assoc. 1935–n.d.; suc. 21st Baron Hastings 1904.

285 Auxiliary Territorial Service.

286 Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

287 Voluntary Aid Detachment.

288 (Edgar Algernon) Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1864–1958), 3rd son of 3rd Marquess of Salisbury; Con. MP Marylebone East 1906–1910, Hitchin 1911–1923; Under-Sec. FO 1915–1918, Min. for Blockade 1916–1918; Lord Privy Seal 1923–1924; Chanc. of Duchy of Lancaster 1924–1927; Pres. League of Nations Union 1923–1945; cr. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood 1923; organized the peace ballot of 1934–1935; awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1937.

289 Steed, Wickham, The Fifth Arm (‘Some Call it Propaganda’) (London, 1940)Google Scholar.

290 Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant (1899–1985), historian; kt. 1954.

291 Archibald Henry MacDonald Sinclair (1890–1970), Lib. MP Caithness and Sutherland 1922–1945; Sec. for Scotland 1931–1932; Sec. for Air 1940–1945; Lib. leader in Commons 1935–1945; KT 1941, suc. 4th Baronet 1912, cr. Viscount Thurso 1952.

292 Wickham Steed, ‘Aerial warfare: Secret German plans’, Nineteenth Century and After, 116 (July, 1934), pp. 1–16.

293 Northern Ireland.

294 See pp. 133–134, 137.

295 Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (1900–2002), married Duke of York 1923; Queen 1936–1952; Queen Mother 1952–2002.

296 Albert Lebrun (1871–1950), French politician; Pres. of France 1932–1940.

297 Donald Banks (1891–1975), civil servant; Dir. Gen. Post Office 1934–1936; Perm. Sec. Air Ministry 1936–1939 (as Perm. Sec. until 1938, then Perm. Under-Sec.); kt. 1935.

298 Roger Roland Charles Backhouse (1878–1939), naval officer; C.-in-C. Home Fleet 1935–1938; 1st Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 1938–1939; Admiral of the Fleet 1939; kt. 1933.

299 The visit occurred on 30 January 1936: see p. 240.

300 John Seely.

301 Isle of Wight.

302 Italian invasion of British Somaliland in August 1940.

303 Owen St Clair O'Malley (1887–1974), diplomatist; Min.-Plenipotentiary to Mexico City 1937–1938; Min.-Plenipotentiary to Budapest 1939–1941; Amb. to Polish government-in-exile in London 1943–1945; Amb. in Lisbon 1945–1947; kt. 1943.

304 Pál Teleki (1879–1941), Hungarian aristocrat, geographer, and politician; PM of Hungary 1939–1941; committed suicide 1941.

305 House of Lords Debates, 12 February 1942, vol. 121, cols 799–846.

306 Japan invaded Hong Kong in December 1941.

307 On 10 December 1941 HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by the Japanese off the east coast of Malaya.

308 Lady Halifax.

309 Unknown.

310 Frederick William Stanley (1878–1942), soldier; younger brother of Lord Derby.

311 Widow of Frederick William Stanley.

312 Oliver Stanley.

313 Robert Molesworth Kindersley (1871–1954), merchant banker and organizer of the National Savings movement; kt. 1917, cr. Baron Kindersley 1941.

314 Derby was Lord Lt of Lancashire.

315 Derby concludes ‘My best love to Edie – What a trump she was’ in his own hand.

316 Sunday Times, 12 March 1944, p. 4.

317 Victor Alexander Augustus Henry Wellesley (1876–1954), civil servant and diplomat; Controller of Commercial and Consular Affairs, FO, 1916–1919; Head of Far East Dept, FO, 1919–1924; Assistant Under-Sec. FO, 1924–1925; Dep. Under-Sec. FO, 1925–1936; kt. 1926.

318 Lord Rothermere.

319 Eric Phipps.

320 The Foreign Service Act 1943 liberalized recruitment and for the first time created a single unified foreign service.

321 The source and origin.

322 Edward Turnour (1883–1962), Con. MP Horsham 1904–1918, Horsham and Worthing 1918–1945, Horsham 1945–1951; Under-Sec. for India 1922–1924, 1924–1929; Chanc. Duchy of Lancaster 1937–1939; Paymaster Gen. 1939; styled Viscount Turnour 1883–1907, suc. 6th Earl Winterton 1907, cr. Baron Turnour of Shillinglee 1952.

323 This typed text is followed by a handwritten postscript that is largely illegible, and next to which has been written ‘sent back’.

324 House of Lords Debates, 23 January 1946, vol. 138 cols 1038–1070.

325 Anne de Vere Chamberlain née Cole (1883–1967).

326 Robert John Graham Boothby (1900–1986), Con. MP Aberdeen and Kincardine 1924–1950, East Aberdeenshire 1950–1958; kt. 1953, cr. Baron Boothby 1958.

327 Franz Halder (1884–1972), German army officer; Chief of Army General Staff 1938–1942.

328 Edward Grey and Austen Chamberlain.

329 Thomas Lewis Horabin (1896–1956), MP North Cornwall 1939–1950 (Lib. to 1946, then Ind., from 1947 as Lab.).

330 Horabin, Thomas Lewis, Politics Made Plain: What the Next General Election Will Really be About (London, 1944)Google Scholar.