LLOYD GEORGE, David, 1st Earl of Dwyfor (1863-1945). Autograph letter signed to Walter Long (President of the Local Government Board), Whitehall Gardens, 27 September 1915, 4 pages, 8vo (pin-holes and filing-holes, not touching text). Provenance: Sotheby's sale, 20 July 1981, lot 139; the Spiro Family Collection. Disclosing his misgivings (as Minister of Munitions) about the present offensive (at Loos): 'I told the Cabinet the Ammunition was still inadequate for a big offensive & that the P.M. [Asquith] confronted me with a statement from French that he had plenty! Since then he has had at least 100,000 of High Explosive & a good deal more of shrapnel ... I have always held that from our point of view the offensive was premature'. The battle of Loos was a disaster and 20,000 men were lost.