Empire Lost: Britain, the Dominions and the Second World War

by Andrew Stewart

  71 Minute by Dixon, 13 March 1940, FO371/25222; ibid., minute by Dixon, 20 March 1940.

  72 Minute by Mason, 7 April 1940, FO371/25224; HCWM, 10/11 April 1940, DO121/7; J. W. Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record: Vol. 1, 1939-44 (Toronto, 1960), pp. 77, 107.

  73 Diary, 10 April 1940, Waterson Papers; Waterson had been an early beneficiary of Smuts' victory in September 1939 and his decision to take control of the External Affairs Department in Pretoria and purge the officials with a pronounced anti-British outlook who had dominated it pre-war. Another former minister turned diplomat, much as was the norm for Dominions who lacked a professional cadre of such officials, he was moved from Paris to London and it was made clear to the British government that the new man could be trusted; Evening News, n.d. (September 1939?), Waterson Papers; minute by Dixon, 6 March 1940, FO371/25224.

  74 Diary, 3 April 1940, Waterson Papers; HCWM, 22 April 1940, DO121/7; 'Note on Supreme War Council', 16/24 April 1940, DO35/998/7/13; WM(39)15, 14 September 1939, CAB65/1; Gilbert, Finest Hour, p. 250; Diary, 24 April 1940, Pearson Papers.

  75 HCWM, 1 May 1940, DO121/7; ibid. 4 May 1940; ibid., 6 May 1940.

  76 Eden to Halifax, 9 May 1940, DO35/1000/1/110.

  77 John Colville, The Fringes of Power: Vol. 1 (London, 1985), pp. 139-44; John Charmley, Churchill: The End of Glory (London, 1993), pp. 395-434; Robert Blake, 'How Churchill Became Prime Minister' in Blake and Roger Louis (eds), Churchill, pp. 257-74; Sir John Wheeler-Bennett (et al.), Action this Day: Working with Churchill (London, 1968), pp. 203-4; Diary, 8 May 1940, Waterson Papers.

  Notes to Chapter 4: Standing Alone

  1 Ronald Hyam, 'Churchill and the British Empire' in Blake and Roger Louis (eds), Churchill, pp. 167-86; Watt, Personalities and Policies, p. 162; Machtig had 'some most interesting stories' about Churchill's relationship with the Dominions but he could not be induced to share them, instead preferring to keep them to himself, even after Churchill's death, Dixon to Batterbee, 21 March 1968, Batterbee Papers, Box 20; Gilbert, Finest Hour, p. 81; Sir Evelyn Wrench, 'Churchill and the Empire' in Charles Eade (ed.), Churchill by His Contemporaries (London, 1953), p. 288.

  2 Alfred Emmott (Churchill's fellow MP at Oldham in the 1900 parliament) to Asquith, 20 May 1915, cited in Roy Jenkins, Churchill (London, 2001), p. 275.

  3 Leo Amery, My Political Life: Vol. 1, England Before the Storm (London, 1953), p. 196. Although they were friends of a sort, the two men often clashed. So much so the individual who can take much of the credit for creating the DO would later complain that the wartime prime minister, 'Congenitally Little England' as he once referred to him, 'never really possessed an "imperial" or "commonwealth" intellect'; Roger Louis, In the Name of God Go!, p. 89; Roger Louis, 'Churchill and Egypt' in Blake and Roger Louis (eds), Churchill, p. 486.

  4 Winston Churchill, 'The Mystery of Empire', The Sunday Dispatch, 17 March 1940 [N.B. written before the outbreak of war] Chartwell Papers (Churchill College), CHAR8/666.

  5 Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay: The United States and the Decolonization of the British Empire (London, 1978), p. 16; Churchill to Amery, 7 December 1924, DO121/1.

  6 Winston Churchill, 'The Statute of Westminster', (n.d.) Chartwell Papers, CHAR8/565.

  7 Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill (Vol. 5, 1922-39) (London, 1976), p. 584.

  8 Garner, The Commonwealth Office, pp. 13, 55, 153.

  9 Sir Ian Jacob cited in Lord Normanbrook (ed.), Action this Day: Working with Churchill (London, 1968), p. 204.

  10 'Winston Churchill', The Round Table (March 1965), p. 104.

  11 Diary, 3 November 1942, Waterson Papers.

  12 I. Stewart, The Struggle for Crete (London, 1966), p. 51.

  13 'Memoir written for the Mackenzie King colloquium at University of Waterloo 1975', MacDonald Papers, 109/7/48; Roland Quinault, 'Churchill and Australia 1899-1945', War and Society, (Vol. 6, No. 1; May 1988), pp. 41-9; Robert Menzies, 'Churchill and the Commonwealth' in Sir James Marchant (ed.), WSC: Servant of Crown and Commonwealth (London, 1954), p. 92.

  14 Typical were his comments to a Foreign Press Association lunch in March 1940 at the Savoy, when he had told his audience that the scope and significance of the Dominions' support had 'no parallel in history' and would prove decisive when it was fully developed; 'Dominions' Own Cause', The Times, 14 March 1940. The FO had been enthusiastic supporters of what was viewed as an opportunity to be seen to be more visibly supportive of the Dominions' effort. The DO were uncertain as to whether this would be such a good idea in light of the Canadian's recent obstructions and did their best to stall; it was perhaps fortunate therefore that the German attack against Norway and the change in government this precipitated should have forced a cancellation; Charles Peake (head of FO News Dept.) to Eden, 1 February 1940, Avon Papers, AP20/8/286; ibid., 'Handwritten note by Eden', n.d. (1962?), 27/1/62B; Notes by Archer, 29 May 1962; Chamberlain to Mackenzie King, 2 April 1940, DO121/66; ibid., Machtig to Eden, 2 April 1940; Stephenson to Eden and Machtig, 30 March 1940, DO35/998/7/1; ibid., Machtig to Eden, 2 April 1940; Mansergh, Problems of Wartime Cooperation, p. 40.

  15 Diary 17 April 1940, Waterson Papers; ibid., 17 April 1940; 'Conversation with Neville Henderson', 13 October 1939, Bruce Papers.

  16 'Eden leaves us for the WO. I'm sorry: it has been most interesting and agreeable working with him for eight months, seeing him every day. He is a delightful fellow and I should say certain to be PM one day. In about 10 years time he will make an ideal Conservative peacetime PM. He is able, receptive, liberal and I think quite incapable of any kind of intrigue or dirty work—the type of man an Englishman likes—but he is not ruthless or tough enough for war'; Diary 11 May 1940, Waterson Papers; Diary, 12 May 1940, Avon Papers.

  17 Oliver Stanley to Churchill, 13 May 1940, Chartwell Papers, CHAR20/11/62-64.

  18 Ben Pimlott (ed.), The Second World War Diary of Hugh Dalton, 1940-45 (London, 1986), pp. 190-1.

  19 Memoirs, May 1940-April 1943, p. 6, Sir John Martin Papers (Churchill College) MART.

  20 Minute by Garner, 18 September 1940, DO35/1012/40/1; this was an apparently common difficulty, during a September 1940 High Commissioner meeting he had gone to sleep 'peacefully' whilst the DW telegrams were being read; Diary 30 September 1940, Waterson Papers.

  21 HCWM, 17 May 1940, DO121/8; Diary 15 May 1940, Waterson Papers; ibid., Diary 17 May 1940; Diary 3 June 1940; Diary, 23 June 1940; HCWM, 25 June 1940, DO121/8; Diary, 15 May 1940, Massey Papers (University of Toronto); Dairy, 15 May 1940, Pearson Papers; Bruce to Menzies, 15 May 1940, in R. G. Neale (ed.), Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, Vol. 3,1940 (Canberra, 1979) (hereafter 'DAFP III').

  22 HCWM, 4 May 1940, DO121/8; Bentinck to Dixon, 1 May 1940, FO371/25218.

  23 Ibid., Parkinson to Cadogan, 7 May 1940; Cadogan to Bentinck, 7 May 1940.

  24 Parkinson to Batterbee, 16 May 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 7/3.

  25 Ibid., Cadogan to Bentinck, 9 May 1940; David Dilks (ed.), The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 1938-1945 (London, 1971), pp. 276-86.

  26 Minute by Bentinck, 13 May 1940, FO371/25222.

  27 Menzies to DO, 23 May 1940, DO35/1003/2/11/1/1B; Churchill to Dominion Prime Ministers, 23 May 1940, PREM4/43B/1; WCM(40)140, 26 May 1940, CAB65/13.

  28 Whiskard to DO, 27 May 1940, DO35/1003/2/11/1/1B; ibid., Batterbee to DO, 27 May 1940; Harding to DO, 27 May 1940; John Robertson and John McCarthy, Australian War Strategy 1939-1945 (Brisbane, 1985), pp. 75-80; Diary, 24 May 1940, Mackenzie King Papers; 'We Shall be Together', Time, 27 May 1940.

  29 Hill, Cabinet Decisions on Foreign Policy, pp. 156-63, 169-73; HCWM, 28 May 1940, DO121/8; 'Memorandum', May 1940, DO35/548E/22/9/3.

  30 Harding to Batterbee, 5 June 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 6/4.

  31 P. G. Edwards, 'R.G.Menzies Appeals to the United States, May-June 1940', Australian Outlook (No. 28; 1974), pp. 64-70; P. G. Edwards, 'S.M. Bruce, R.G. Menzies and Australia's War Aims and Peace Aims, 1939-1940', Historical Studies (Vol. 17, No. 66; 1976/77), pp. 1
0, 11.

  32 Eden to Inskip, 3 June 1940, DO35/1003/2/11/1/1B; ibid. WO to Archer, 30 May 1940; New Zealand troops were reported to have cheered when they were told of Italy's entry into the war as it 'put an end to a trying period of uncertainty'; 'Reaction in the Dominions', The Times, 13 June 1940.

  33 'Memorandum by the First Lord of the Admiralty on Australian and New Zealand Naval Defence', WP135(39), 23 November 1939, CAB67/3; WCM(39)92, 23 November 1939, CAB65/2.

  34 Dixon to Ronald (FO), 10 June 1940, DO35/1003/8/13; ibid. minute by Garner, 13 June 1940; minute by Stephenson, 14 June 1940; Mansergh, Problems of Wartime Cooperation, pp. 43-4.

  35 WCM(40)141, 27 May 1940, CAB65/13; Edwards, Bruce of Melbourne, pp. 286-99; Gilbert, Finest Hour, p. 435.

  36 Telegram to Dominions, 12 June 1940, DO35/1003/2/11/1/1B; Telegram for Dominion Prime Ministers only, 14 June 1940; P. M. H. Bell, A Certain Eventuality (London, 1974), p. 31-54; HCWM, 12 June 1940, DO121/8; WCM(40)165, 13 June 1940, CAB65/7; ibid., WCM(40)165, 13 June 1940; HCWM, 13 June 1940, DO121/8; Chiefs of Staff Report, June 1940, WP168(40), CAB66/7; Chiefs of Staff Report, June 1940, WP201(40), CAB66/8; Dairy, 3 June 1940, Waterson Papers.

  37 Robert Menzies, Afternoon Light (London, 1967), pp. 17-19; Whiskard to Eden, 22 February 1940, DO121/11; Menzies to DO, 16 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/3/3; ibid., FO to DO, 19 June 1940; Menzies to Bruce, 17 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/3/4; ibid., Churchill to Menzies, 23 June 1940; Menzies to DO, 18 June 1940, DO35/1003/1/3/7; ibid., DO to Whiskard, 21 June 1940.

  38 Batterbee to DO, 15 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/4/1; Governor-General to Caldecote, 15 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/4/2; ibid., Machtig to Phillips, 22 June 1940; Batterbee to DO, 18 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/4/4. Wellington's support was welcomed within the FO: 'On the night of 15 June [1940], heart-warming messages reached 10 Downing Street from Australia and New Zealand. Both offered their unconditional support. "If HM Government in the United Kingdom decide to fight on" said the telegram from Wellington, "we pledge this Dominion to remain with them to the end, and we are confident this policy is unchangeable in the Dominion ... whatever the decision ... in these most difficult circumstances, it will be understood, accepted and supported by us to the end". Churchill replied at 3.30am: "I am deeply touched by your message, which is only in keeping with all that the Mother Country has ever received in peace or war from New Zealand"', David Dilks (ed.), The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, pp. 302-3.

  39 Caldecote to Batterbee, 26 July 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 6/1; Mason to Garner, 19 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/4/2; ibid., Garner to Stephenson, 20 June 1940; Machtig to Caldecote, 21 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/4/4; Anne Orde, The Eclipse of Great Britain, The United States and British Imperial Decline, 1895-1956 (London, 1996), pp. 130-1.

  40 Harding to DO, 19 June 1940, DO35/1004/11/5/3.

  41 Smuts to Churchill, 12 July 1940, DO35/1003/11/1/36; ibid., Churchill to Smuts, 13 July 1940; A. J. Marder, From the Dardanelles to Oran (London, 1974), pp. 206-88; Bell, A Certain Eventuality, pp. 38, 152-6; Warren Tute, The Deadly Stroke (London, 1973), pp. 36-62; Churchill, Their Finest Hour, p. 573.

  42 Winston S. Churchill (ed.), Never Give In!: The Best Of Winston Churchill's Speeches (Pimlico, 2004), 'This Was Their Finest Hour', 18 June 1940, p. 227.

  43 Garner, The Commonwealth Office, p. 201.

  44 Minute by Liesching, 17 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/1/4.

  45 David Day, Menzies and Churchill at War (New York, 1988), pp. 25-7; Churchill, Finest Hour, p. 214.

  46 Batterbee to Whiskard, 6 July 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 7/5; ibid., Whiskard to Batterbee, 22 July 1940.

  47 Ibid., Batterbee to Whiskard, 6 July 1940; HCWM, 6-18 July 1940, DO121/9.

  48 Harding to DO, 19 June 1940, DO35/1004/11/5/3.

  49 Halifax to Massey, 23 June 1940, DO121/8.

  50 Diary, 23 June 1940, Waterson Papers; HCWM, 25 June 1940, DO121/8.

  51 Diary, 28 June 1940, Waterson Papers.

  52 Ibid., Waterson to Smuts, 26 July 1940.

  53 Ibid., Diary, 26 July 1940.

  54 WCM(40)214, 29 July 1940, CAB65/14.

  55 HCWM, 31 July 1940, DO121/9.

  56 'Note of a Meeting', 31 July 1940, DO35/1000/1/124; Robertson and McCarthy, Australian War Strategy, pp. 146-9.

  57 'Progress of the War', 20 August 1940, House of Lord Official Report (Vol. 67), pp. 272-3.

  58 HCWM, 8 August 1940, DO121/9; The Memoirs of Lord Ismay (London, 1960), p. 192.

  59 HCWM, 23 August 1940, DO121/9; ibid. 26 August 1940; ibid., 29 August 1940.

  60 Eden to Churchill, 18 September 1940, PREM3/63/13; ibid. Eden to Churchill, 20 September 1940.

  61 Gilbert, Finest Hour, pp. 747-52, 787-90, 804-10; Irving, Churchill's War, pp. 385-6, 420-4; Churchill, Finest Hour, pp. 390-4, 569-72; HCWM, 24 September 1940, DO121/9; WCM(40)259, 26 September 1940, CAB65/16.

  62 Churchill, Finest Hour, pp. 389-90; minute by Holmes, 1 October 1940, DO35/1003/11/1/74.

  63 Bruce to Menzies, 26 September 1940, DAFP III; ibid., Menzies to Churchill, 29 September 1940; 'Minute', September 1940, Lord Bruce's War Files, AA1969/275/1; HCWM, 26 September 1940, DO121/9; Churchill to Menzies, 2 October 1940, DO35/1003/11/1/74; ibid., 'Note by Bruce of talk with Churchill', 2 October 1940; ibid., Bruce to Menzies, 2 October 1940; ibid., minute by Holmes, 1 October 1940; Diary, 3 October 1940, Waterson Papers.

  64 Ibid., Diary, 25 September 1940.

  65 HCWM, 1 October 1940, DO121/9; Menzies to Churchill, 4 October 1940, DAFP III; Whiskard to DO, 1 October 1940, DO35/1003/11/1/74.

  66 Churchill to Menzies, 6 October 1940, PREM3/63/13.

  67 Garner, The Commonwealth Office, p. 199; Machtig to Batterbee, 28 August 1940, DO35/1000/1/24; ibid., Liesching to Batterbee, 3 September 1940; Machtig to Batterbee, 28 August 1940; Diary, 2 September 1940, Avon Papers; Machtig to Batterbee, 28 August 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 7/2.

  68 Caldecote to Batterbee, 26 July 1940, Batterbee Papers, Box 6/1; Churchill to Caldecote, 15 August 1940, Chartwell Papers, CHAR20/13/8.

  69 Ibid., Churchill to Caldecote, 2 October 1940; he would now be the Lord Chancellor's effective deputy, serving as the second most senior judge in the country after Lord Simon.

  70 Diary, 31 October 1940, Lord Woolton Papers (Bodleian Library, Oxford), M. S. Woolton.

  71 Duncan to Lady Selbourne, 8 October 1940, Duncan Papers.

  72 A. R. Peters, Anthony Eden at the Foreign Office, 1931-1938 (New York, 1986), pp. 258-60; Lord Todd, 'Robert Arthur James Gascoyne Cecil, Fifth Marquess of Salisbury, 1893-1972', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (Vol. 19; Dec. 1973), pp. 621-7.

  73 Amery to Smuts, 16 October 1940, cited in Jean Van der Poel (ed.), Smuts Papers, Vol. 6 (Cambridge, 1973), p. 256; Pimlott, Diary of Hugh Dalton, p. 53; 'Neville [Chamberlain] was in a rage yesterday and in the morning whilst he was going over questions he delivered himself of an angry tirade against the "Glamour Boys". More particularly, Bobbety Cranborne who is the most dangerous of the lot. "Beware" he said "of rampant idealists. All Cecils are that"'; 5 May 1939, cited in Robert Rhodes James, Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon (London, 1967), p. 244.

  74 In being appointed as leader of the House of Lords he took an office which both his father and grandfather had held before him. An article in Commonwealth and Empire Review some years later commented not just on this unique family record but also the manner in which he resembled his most celebrated ancestor, Sir Robert Cecil; 'Commonwealth Consultations', Commonwealth and Empire Review (March-May 1945), pp. 37-8.

  75 John Colville, Winston Churchill and His Inner Circle (New York, 1981), p. 223; if there was the potential for family animosity, from an early age, Churchill had nonetheless established what would prove to be a lasting friendship with Lord Hugh Cecil, 'the most intimate friend he ever had' and his best man at his wedding; Rene Kraus, The Men around Churchill (New York, 1941), pp. 72-4; Colville, The Fringes of Power: Vol. 1, p. 382.

  76 Churchill, The Gathering Storm, p. 222.

  77 Colvil
le, Inner Circle, p. 227.

  78 Churchill to Randolph, 18 April 1944, Chartwell Papers, CHAR1/381/21-31.

  79 Churchill to Halifax, 28 July 1940, Chartwell Papers, CHAR20/13/8.

  80 Punch, 17 July 1940.

  Notes to Chapter 5: Coalition United

  1 Garner, The Commonwealth Office, pp. 193-4; Mansergh, Problems of Wartime Cooperation, pp. 45-6.

  2 Ronald Tree, When the Moon was High (London, 1975) pp. 54-5.

  3 Garner, The Commonwealth Office, pp. 163, 176-9.

  4 Stirling to Department of External Affairs, Canberra, 5 October 1940 in W. J. Hudson and H. J. W. Stokes (eds), Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, 1937-1949: Vol. 4, July 1940-June 1941 (Canberra, 1980), p. 206 (hereafter 'DAFP IV').

  5 Cranborne to Waterson, 17 October 1940, Waterson Papers.

  6 Ibid., Diary, 3 October 1940; Diary, 4 November 1940; Diary, 3 October 1940, Massey Papers; Bruce to Menzies, 3 October 1940, Bruce Papers.

  7 Cranborne to Halifax, 24 October 1940, FO371/25224.

  8 Skelton to Wrong, 2 March 1939, Pearson Papers.

  9 Note by Costley-White, May 1940, DO35/998/7/11.

  10 Menzies to Bruce, 17 June 1940, DO35/1003/11/3/4; ibid., Churchill to Menzies, 23 June 1940.

  11 Day, Menzies and Churchill at War, pp. 30-4.

  12 Whiskard to DO, 20 September 1939, DO121/46.

  13 Whiskard to DO, 23 October 1940, DO35/998/7/11.

  14 Sir Frederic Eggleston to Mackay, 8 October 1940, Eggleston Papers (National Library of Australia), MS423/1/143.

  15 DO to Dominion Governments, 22 April 1940, DO35/998/7/1; Garner to Parkinson, 16 May 1940, DO35/998/7/9; DO to PM, 20 May 1940, PREM4/43A/11; Peck (PM's Office) to Costley-White, 27 May 1940, DO35/998/7/9; ibid., Machtig to Secretary of State, 31 May 1940; ibid., DO to Peck, 6 June 1940; Machtig to Cranborne, 24 October 1940, DO35/998/7/11.

  16 Note prepared by Costley-White, May 1940, DO35/998/7/11.

  17 Ibid., memorandum by Stephenson, 26 October 1940; ibid., memorandum by Cranborne (for War Cabinet), 28 October 1940.

  18 Josiah Wedgewood MP to Churchill, 25 October 1940, Chartwell Papers, CHAR20/8/122. This he had been advised to strongly reject on the grounds that '[the Dominions] would get swelled head; we are the Power House and pander to them enough already'.