Sold – Churchill’s Family Shares in Rationing During WW II, Just As Any Family
Clementine Churchill is grateful for some American matches sent to her Admiral Charles Cooke, one of the chief American naval planners of the war.
U.S. Navy Admiral Charles M. Cooke was the principal planning officer for Admiral Ernest J. King, who was both Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations in the Pacific. Cooke played such a vital planning role in the U.S. Navy that he accompanied President Roosevelt to...
U.S. Navy Admiral Charles M. Cooke was the principal planning officer for Admiral Ernest J. King, who was both Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations in the Pacific. Cooke played such a vital planning role in the U.S. Navy that he accompanied President Roosevelt to every major international conference during World War II, including those at Casablanca, Cairo and Tehran. There he met and worked with Churchill, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, and other British leaders. He also became acquainted with Mrs. Clementine Churchill, who accompanied her husband to most of these conferences.
Many things in wartime Great Britain were rationed during World War II, and one of them was matches. Mrs. Churchill obviously mentioned to Cooke at Tehran in late 1943 that she was always short on matches, and he apparently promised to send some from American stocks. Typed Letter Signed on 10 Downing Street letterhead, London, April 18, 1944, to Admiral C.M. Cooke. “How charming of you to remember to send me matches – and such amusing ones, and in such quantities! The deficiency has been constant, but is now for a long period overcome by your gift. Thank you so much. I do hope I maybe fortunate enough to see you again one day soon.” A deeply fascinating letter in that it shows that the family of the Prime Minister shared in the shortages and privations of the war, just as any other family in Britain.
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