Details
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Autograph letter signed to Field Marshal H.H. Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener ('My dear Kitchener'), Admiralty, 11 August 1914, 2 pages, 8vo, bifolium. Provenance: Sotheby's, 20 July 1989, lot 271.
SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE ARMED FORCES. Writing in the first weeks of the First World War (Britain had declared war on 3 August), Churchill urges the severest possible exercise of military discipline: 'It would appear on the facts that this man shd be tried by Court Martial & if convicted shot. I am not certain of our powers at present in such cases ...', and the necessary consultations should be made: 'The subject shd be mentioned to the Prime Minister in this first case before the sentence is actually executed... Please quote Admiralty as concurring in any representations you may make'.
Kitchener had been appointed secretary for war only the previous week, on 5 August. His relations with Churchill, particularly over the Dardanelles project, were to be exceedingly difficult.
Writings of Sir Winston Churchill © Estate of Winston S. Churchill
SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE ARMED FORCES. Writing in the first weeks of the First World War (Britain had declared war on 3 August), Churchill urges the severest possible exercise of military discipline: 'It would appear on the facts that this man shd be tried by Court Martial & if convicted shot. I am not certain of our powers at present in such cases ...', and the necessary consultations should be made: 'The subject shd be mentioned to the Prime Minister in this first case before the sentence is actually executed... Please quote Admiralty as concurring in any representations you may make'.
Kitchener had been appointed secretary for war only the previous week, on 5 August. His relations with Churchill, particularly over the Dardanelles project, were to be exceedingly difficult.
Writings of Sir Winston Churchill © Estate of Winston S. Churchill
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