Issues 1-8 (complete run), chronicling the 1926 General Strike

Signed by Winston Churchill, Stanley Baldwin & J. C. C. Davidson

Large heavy book measures approx: 23.5″ x 18.5″

A very special copy containing a unique historically important document. In addition to being signed by Churchill, the work contains his original manuscript notice to the Press concerning the termination of the 1926 General Strike. Churchill handed this, the original notice, to the British Gazette in place of a typewritten copy.

The 1926 General Strike lasted 9 days, from 4th May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. Some 1.7 million workers went out, especially in transport and heavy industry. The government was prepared and enlisted middle-class volunteers to maintain essential services. There was little violence and the TUC gave up in defeat.

Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, (at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer) commented as editor of the government newspaper The British Gazette: “I do not agree that the TUC have as much right as the Government to publish their side of the case and to exhort their followers to continue action. It is a very much more difficult task to feed the nation than it is to wreck it”. Baldwin wrote, “The general strike is a challenge to the parliament and is the road to anarchy”.

In addition to Churchill’s signature this copy also bears the signatures of Stanley Baldwin & John Colin Campbell Davidson.
Baldwin, 1867-1947, Conservative Prime Minister 1923-1924, 1924-1929 & 1925-1937.
Davidson, 1889-1970, 1st Viscount Davidson GCVO CH CB PC, known before his elevation to the peerage as J. C. C. Davidson, was a British civil servant and Conservative Party politician, best known for his close alliance with Stanley Baldwin.

Book Description:
– Folio, eight double-sided broadsheets, signed by Winston S. Churchill, Stanley Baldwin and J. C. C. Davidson on front free endpaper

– Original manuscript ink notice written by Winston Churchill, captioned as “Original notice to the press of the General Strike May 12 1926. It was sent from 10 Downing Street to be reproduced on the Secretaries’ Typewriters and was handed by Mr. Churchill to the British Gazette in place of a typewritten copy”, mounted on rear free endpaper  (loosely inserted).

– Printed letter to Vice Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, signed by the members of staff from the Morning Post and original T.L.s May 12 1926 relaying a message from Sir Andrew Caird to the Morning Post regarding the printing of an advertisement in the British Gazette announcing the new issue of the Morning Post for one penny signed by the Morning Post’s editor H. A. Gwynne (loosely inserted).

– Original drawing by Leonard Raven-Hill (mounted on rear free endpaper).

– Two contemporary prints of Leonard Raven-Hill drawings.

– Handsome later red half-morocco, all edges gilt, spine gilt.

The ultimate collector’s copy of The British Gazette

Item #266