Churchill’s Wartime Despatch Box

The black leather is embossed in gilt with the royal cypher of H.M. King George VI. Below it are the words ‘PRIME MINISTER’ and the number ‘II’. This is the exterior of a despatch box used by Sir Winston Churchill, a piece of history sold through Christie's for 139,700 GBP.

It is documented as having been used by Churchill around 1940, the year he came to power as Prime Minister of Great Britain. He took office on May 10, following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, at the head of a coalition government.

The timing was critical. The Second World War was at a bleak turning point, with massive enemy advances leading to the fall of France and the evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk. Britain was left to stand alone against the Axis Powers. It was against this grim backdrop that this box would have arrived daily, carrying the business of a nation at war.

A Silent Witness to 1940

The box itself measures 16 ½ inches wide and 5 ¼ inches high, with a brass carrying handle at one end. Inside, the maker’s mark is embossed in blue ink: ‘JOHN PECK & SON/NELSON SQRE. BLACKFRIARS…’. It is a physical object that bore witness to decisions of immense consequence.

Its contents would have included vital papers relating to the war, along with cabinet, foreign, and commonwealth documents that required Churchill’s immediate attention. The papers it held contained the details of a fight for the preservation of the free world.

From a Private Collection

After the war, the despatch box was preserved within the collection of the British Foreign Office, suggesting its historical importance was understood from early on. Around 1970, it was given to its current owner at the request of Margaret Hornsby-Smith, Baroness Hornsby-Smith.

The box is part of a remarkable group of items from a single collection, all with direct provenance to Churchill. The group also includes a humidor given to him by Franklin D. Roosevelt, a 1915 despatch box from his time as Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, and a tin deed box from the same early period in his career.

Only one other Prime Ministerial despatch box is known to have been offered at auction. That box, from the collection of The Baroness Thatcher, was sold by Christie’s in London on December 15, 2015. It achieved a price of £242,500, setting the world record for any despatch box at auction.

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