Burn Everything" - A remarkable archive accumulated by Charles Barker, Chief Clerk to British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill throughout the Second World War, including a wartime presentation copy of The World Crisis, Churchill's history of the First World War, inscribed and dated by Churchill as a 1942 Christmas gift, as well as 70 individual items, including additional books, personal correspondence, photographs, and various mementos and ephemera, such as noteworthy invitations, tickets, and passes

London and various: Macmillan & Co. Ltd. and various other agencies, entities, and individuals, 1941-1979. This remarkable archive belonged to Charles Barker and centers on his service as Chief Clerk to British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill from 1940-1945, throughout Churchill's Second World War premiership. At the heart of the archive is a magnificent presentation copy of Churchill’s history of the First World War, a wartime edition presented to Barker as a gift for Christmas, 1942, featuring not only Churchill’s dated inscription, but also a typed and dated 10 Downing Street presentation slip. This item is but one of more than 70 individual items in the archive, ranging from books to correspondence and envelopes to photographs, to various mementos, including noteworthy invitations, tickets, and passes. Each of these items is interesting. Many are treasures in their own right.

Provenance

This archive came from the collection of British army veteran and noted Churchillian Major Alan Taylor-Smith (1928-2019) of Westerham, Kent, proximate to Churchill’s beloved country home, Chartwell. Not merely a collector, Smith also had his own research and notes on the recipient, as well as how this material was acquired, which are included with the archive.

Charles Barker

British civil servant Charles Barker worked directly for Churchill for the entirety of Churchill’s wartime premiership, from May 1940 to July 1945. During the War, Barker “kept both the papers and the private secretaries in order… cheered up the doleful and was cynically destructive of pomposity. Life at 10 Downing Street would have been less efficient and less enjoyable without him.” (Colville, Winston Churchill and His Inner Circle, p.80) Barker was an essential part of the small cadre comprising Churchill’s Private Office staff, who “worked round the clock to assemble the incoming papers and telegrams, to prepare the minutes for dispatch, to answer letters and queries, and to ensure that his instructions were circulated and followed up.” (Gilbert, Vol. VI) Barker was awarded an M.B.E. in the 1946 New Year Honours, of course on Churchill’s recommendation; the December 1945 notification from “Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood” is among the items in this archive.

Burn Everything

Among the first duties Churchill assigned to Barker was to regularly empty all the War Rooms and 10 Downing Street waste baskets then burn everything that might be deemed secret. This was not a janitorial duty, but a matter of national security. Fortunately, Barker exercised his license to arson with judicious discretion. “Charles decided to keep everything from the Cabinet waste paper baskets that was not Secret but interesting. He took it home… and put into a leather suit case…” Taylor-Smith reports “I bought this filled suitcase in an auction in Battle, East Sussex after Barker died.” Certainly, not all of the treasures contained in that suitcase reside in this archive, but more than 70 individual items do.

Archive Contents

Books: In addition to Barker’s inscribed presentation copy of The World Crisis, this archive contains Barker’s six-volume, first edition set of The Second World War, featuring facsimile autograph compliments slips, a printed compliments card, and Charles Barker’s name.

Correspondence: 16 letters addressed to Barker spanning 1945 to 1968. 10 of these letters retain their original envelopes. The majority of the correspondence is from fellow Private Office staff. Also included are 12 additional envelopes without correspondence.

Photographs: 25 Photographs, of which 15 are wartime photographs, 14 feature Churchill, 10 are original press or military photographs with original captions and/or wet stamps, and 6 feature Barker.

Mementos: 12 items, including Barker’s two original passes to the 1944 Quebec Conference attended by Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mackenzie King, and Barker’s personal invitation to Churchill’s state funeral.

Please inquire for a far more extensive and detailed account of this archive’s significance, provenance, and contents.