Messieur Asquith Requests

Two historically significant letters were found in the castle in the 1960's in the hallway just to the north of the Great Hall. To save the items from a building that was disintegrating, the letters were removed. On the first of June this year, the letters were returned to the castle after a rather lengthy detour in the US.

I am so grateful that the letters were kept safe for so long, and I am pleased to be able to share them on my blog.

The first letter was written on the 30th March 1915 by the Prime Minister of the day, Herbert Henry Asquith, to the 1st Baron Lyell of Kinnordy asking him to become the Lord High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland.

I have transcribed for your reading pleasure:

Confidential.

                   10,  Downing Street,

                     Whitehall. S.W.

                 30th March,1915.

Sir,

    I have the honour of proposing,

with His Majesty's approval, that you

should be appointed Lord High Commission-

er to the Church of Scotland.

           I am 

                 Yours faithfully

                H.H.Asquith

The Lord Lyell.

The second letter is Lyell's reply, which is an emphatic but polite "no". He cites his wife's illness as the reason, but reading between the lines he didn't want to be bothered. As a Liberal member of parliament, he was raised to the peerage in 1914 and how many more roles can a chap take on?

Again, I have transcribed for your convenience, but the handwriting is surprisingly legible. What is graphologically interesting is that Leonard uses a ligature to connect the last three words "propose for me". This suggests that he finished the letter very quickly, and was impatient to be done with the matter.

            48,EATON PLACE,

                        S.W.


Dear Mr Asquith,

      I am much honoured 

by your proposal that I

should be High Commissioner

to the Church of Scotland ;

and much regret that I

find it will be quite

impossible for me to

fill the position satisfactorily

   Lady Lyell is unfortunately

very ill and has been so

for the last three months
There is very little

probability of her being

fit to take part in any

social functions this

summer.

    In these circumstances 

I hope you will understand

that I cannot accept the

honour that you so kindly

propose for me.

There are some grounds for confusion whether the correspondent is Leonard Lyell (1st Baron Lyell) or his son Charles Henry Lyell, especially as Charles Lyell was Asquith's private secretary between 1908 and 1915. The letter is simply addressed to Rt Hon. Lord Lyell. Both Leonard and Charles were members of parliament so both were "honourable". You need to be a member of the privy council to be "right honourable" but my research on membership of this august body fails me here. However, Charles never inherited the Baron title as he predeceased his father (1918 c.f. 1926), and Barons are addressed as Lord.

So to summarise, Asquith was offering the Commissionership to the father of his private secretary in the best British tradition of nepotism.

Herbert Henry Asquith

Leonard Lyell

I rather like the look of Leonard, he looks a sensitive but responsible and thorough type. I have not done a great deal of research, but he was careful to archive his uncle's correspondence. Leonard Lyell's uncle was Sir Charles Lyell, the founder of modern geology and an early supporter and friend of Charles Darwin.

It is a shoe-in that Charles Henry Lyell (born 18th May 1875) was named after his great-uncle Sir Charles Lyell (died 22nd February 1875), as there is just three months between the death of the latter and birth of the former.

Leonard's son Charles Henry Lyell died of Spanish flu working in the US as a military attaché, just before the end of WWI. Asquith was forced to resign in 1916 presumably as a result of the disaster of WWI.

I already know H. H. Asquith very well, as he is buried in the churchyard in the small Thames-side village of Sutton Courtenay where I own a house. It's a small world! Asquith lived in "The Wharf" where the emergency cabinet meeting that declared war took place. I never tire of stating that WWI started in my village. :-)

Here is an image of Leonard Lyell's Belgravia address where the letter arrived: 48 Eaton Place. This is valued at £3.5 million.

48 Eaton Place, Belgravia

Fans of the old TV series "Upstairs Downstairs", a hugely successful precursor of "Downton Abbey", may recognise the address. The drama was set at 165 Eaton Place, but actually filmed at 65 Eaton Place - with a painted on "1" to give the owner some anonymity. Featuring in a drama, is a sure sign that the street was and is extremely des-res.

It is unclear whether No. 48 extends to the right of the front door or to the left. However, as No. 44 and No. 46 are mirror images of each other, then No. 48, by a process of deduction, extends to the left.

H. H. Asquith's son was Anthony Asquith, the famous film director. Asquith's great grand-daughter is Helena Bonham Carter, who bought back one of the family homes in the village.

And coincidentally, a letter from Charles Darwin was found tucked into the bottom left hand corner of a painting by Landseer on the north wall of the Great Hall at Balintore Castle. What I wouldn't give to get hold of this letter. The Landseer would be quite nice too. :-)