| Description | Letters from Samuel Hoare [Hoare, Samuel John Gurney (1880-1959) 1st Viscount Templewood, statesman], British Embassy, Madrid and other addresses to Neville Chamberlain.
These letters include some reporting on his work as Ambassador to Spain, and the difficulties experienced in this post in attempting to prevent Spain from joining the war with Germany, and in maintaining some British influence in Spain.
The file contains the following items:
/98: Letter regarding: Hoare's worries about the war and regarding him feeling 'cut off from all sources of information'; his wish to be in the Government, him feeling his exclusion from the Government is damaging his reputation; and asking Chamberlain to press Winston Churchill into giving Hoare the position of Secretary of State for India. 14 May (annotated 'among 1940 letters' - this is confirmed by the content of the letter).
/99: Letter regarding: Hoare's new position as British Ambassador to Spain and his experiences of living in Madrid 'like living in a besieged city'; his predecessor as Ambassador appearing 'to have got thoroughly across most of the influential Spaniards' and as a result 'the influence of the Embassy has therefore faded out to almost nothing'; the organization of the Embassy being 'about as bad as it can be'; and his lack of faith in the 'departmental Foreign Office'. 6 June.
/100: Letter regarding: the arrival of the Germans on the Pyrennees having made Hoare's work 'far more difficult than ever'; the unpreparedness of the Spainish defence forces to resist the Germans; Germany appearing to be 'playing the game of appearing to be Spain's greatest friend'; the position of the British Embassy being 'extremely uncomfortable' with various incidents believed to be organized by the Germans; Hoare working to improve personal relations with influential Spaniards; and Franco [Spanish dictator] being 'anxious to keep out the war'. 1 July.
/101: Letter regarding: Hoare's position as Ambassador being 'on a knife's edge' having 'become thinner and sharper than ever' with various false reports being given in Spain; success and enjoyment of the personal side of being Ambassador with Hoare being 'on good terms with most of the important Ministers'; him retaining his 'very strong view that Franco does not want to get into the war'; the Embassy trying to help Chamberlain's friend 'Mr Abbati' [this appears to be a mistake, it seems to refer to Alfred Greenwood, friend of Chamberlain's from the Bahamas and father of June Abbati, Chamberlain's goddaughter] to escape from France to Portugal; birds in Spain. 26 July.
/102: Letter regarding: Hoare's sympathy for Chamberlain who was having an operation; the Spanish-Portuguese Treaty of Friendship; foreign diplomats in Madrid coming to believe that 'the air and submarine attacks have brought British life to a standstill and that war weariness was showing itself in the country' as a result of the influence of German propaganda. 30 July.
/103: Letter regarding: Chamberlain's health; Hoare being 'now in the most difficult chapter that I have yet struck' at the Embassy having been 'counter-attacked at every point by constant German offensives'; German attempts at preventing any economic arrangements between Britain and Spain; problems caused by Hugh Dalton [Minister of Economic Warfare] whom Hoare feels 'is determined to let the Franco Government have little or nothing' (of supplies) which Hoare thinks is frustrating the policy of keeping Spain out of the war. 9 September.
/104: Letter regarding Hoare's meeting with Viscount Trenchard at which Trenchard said he would not accept a place on the Air Council or any official post in the Air Ministry, said that he could not modify his views on air strategy but would not 'press them in any controversial way', and that he wished that it was not publicly stated that he had been offered a place in the Air Council and had refused it. Annotated 'with 1940 letters' by Anne Chamberlain, the content of the letter suggests it dates to late March or early April. |