Churchill (Sir Winston Spencer) Draft typescript speech commencing "During the last fortnight the British Navy", 11pp. one side only, with revisions in Churchill's hand to 4pp., on paper blind-stamped "G.R." and with tag holes to upper corner, light surface soiling to initial and final pp., 1940; and a carbon copy of Churchill's speech delivered at the Congress of Europe in The Hague, 7 May, 1948, 4to (2)

⁂ A working draft of Churchill's War of the Unknown Warriors speech, delivered 14 July, 1940, on the BBC. This draft contains significant differences to the version that was ultimately delivered, including a middle portion about the Home Guard that was partially excised, with the violent language toned down.

Provenance: Sir John Peck, K.C.M.G. (1913-1995). Peck joined the Civil Service in 1936. Appointed Assistant Private Secretary to First Lord of the Admiralty. When Churchill became P.M. in May 1940, he was appointed as one of four Private Secretaries, and was the only one to serve him throughout the war. Following the loss of the General Election in 1945, he served Attlee briefly, and then transferred to the Foreign Office in 1946. Latterly he held a number of roles within the Civil Service before his final appointment as British Ambassador to Dublin 1970-73.