Major General Nelson General Officer Commanding (1 results)

First and only edition. This is a remarkably rich and extensive archive of official documents relating to preparation for the State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, Saturday, 30th January, 1965. While we have handled numerous planning documents from the days leading up to Churchill's elaborate State Funeral, we have not previously encountered anything quite so extensive in the way of official planning documents. All of the documents and mementos reside within an enormous, canvas-bound, two-ring binder comprising an incredibly detailed document "Copy No. 323" of the indexed and tabbed "Special District Order By Major-General E. J. B. Nelson, General Officer Commanding London District and Major-General Commanding The Household Brigade". This enormous document measures 13.5 x 8.75 inches, is nearly 1.5 inches thick, and features 16 separate, purple-tabbed sections, these sections teeming with details about every aspect of the public ceremonies, and terminating in 15 maps.The separate but related documents laid in are also extensive. These include: Amendments 2-5 to the Special District Order; the official and confidential list of Operation Hope Not Telephone Numbers; a confidential summary document for the Operation Hope Not; a State Funeral Warning Order and accompanying large, folding, tabular detail of "Troops Taking Part in the Procession".An ink-stamp at the head of the Operation Hope Not Telephone Numbers document states "HEADQUARTERS 19 INF BDE GP". Our presumption is that this indicates that this binder and the documents therein belonged to a senior military officer participating in the State Funeral.Perhaps most poignant, also laid in is an original black crepe sewn and lined arm band for participation in the State Funeral ceremonies ostensibly the one worn during the Funeral by the participating military officer to whom these documents belonged.Of course, the document is primary source history of one of the twentieth century's most elaborate memorial services for one of its greatest public figures. Beyond historical significance, the overall effect of this mammoth trove of documents is to convey, by sheer volume of detail, the mammoth organizational scope of official public mourning for Winston Churchill.On Sunday, 24 January 1965, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90. By the time of his death, he had become "a living national memorial" of the time he had lived and the Nation, Empire, and free world he had served. His death completed his transformation into a national icon. The day after Churchill died, on25 January, the Queen sent a message to Parliament announcing: "Confident in the support of Parliament for the due acknowledgement of our debt of gratitude and in thanksgiving for the life and example of a national hero" and concluded "I have directed that Sir Winston's body shall lie in State in Westminster Hall and that thereafter the funeral service shall be held in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul." This was in accord with longstanding plans; twelve years before, in 1953, at the direction of Queen Elizabeth II, planning for Churchill's eventual state funeral had begun. The elaborate plans came to be called Operation Hope Not.Churchill's full state funeral at the Cathedral of St. Paul in London was attended by the Queen herself, other members of the royal family, the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, and representatives of 112 countries.Churchill was interred in St. Martin's churchyard, Bladon, Oxfordshire. It was the first time in a century that a British monarch attended a commoner's funeral. The outpouring of national and international sorrow and regard - from friends and foes, sympathizers and opponents alike - was both remarkable and effusive. Before the service in St. Paul's Cathedral, Churchill's coffin had passed through the countryside on a train. The Oxford don, Dr. A. L. Rowse, recorded "The Western sky filled with the lurid glow of winter sunset; the sun setting on the British Empire.".