Wanstead and Woodford Freedom Award
A. J. Hawkey (fl.1945)
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
27 Sep 1945
Materials
Place of origin
Wanstead and Woodford
Order this imageCollection
Chartwell, Kent
NT 1101045
Summary
Wanstead and Woodford Freedom Award. Two illuminated addresses to the Rt. Hon W.S.C. and Mrs. Churchill, each in a blue leather gilt-tooled folder, set in a blue leather covered box, with a tooled 'book' spine. Each one signed by A.J Hawkey as Mayor and dated 27th September 1945. Formerly part of the Heirloom Collection.
Full description
Churchill was MP for Woodford 1945-64 and for Epping (which incorporated both Woodford & Wanstead) 1924-45. Churchill accepted the Freedom of the newly created Borough at Bancroft’s School on 21 October 1945. It was his first public appearance after a cold and sore throat which had prevented him from attending Parliament for more than a week, and was one of his first public appearances after losing the 1945 General Election. The Times on 22 October 1945 (‘Pang’ at Election Verdict) reported that, “Mr Winston Churchill, M.P. and Mrs. Churchill were given the freedom of Wanstead and Woodford at a ceremony on Saturday in the great hall of Bancroft School, Woodford Green, attended by about 700 people. Mr. Churchill, after signing the roll and receiving an illuminated scroll, said it was a pleasure to him to know that after over 20 years association with the division, a period of many political vicissitudes and marked by the perilous war years, they were better friends than ever before. ‘My wife and I rejoice,’ added Mr. Churchill, ‘that after these experiences you are still animated by such kindly feelings to us.’ … The Mayor then gave the freedom to Mrs. Churchill, who, he said, had been a true and trusted friend of all in the division. Mrs. Churchill, in acknowledgment said this was to her, ‘a significant and most honourable day’.” In his acceptance speech he further told his constituents “that it was not without a pang that I found myself dismissed at the General Election from the honourable task of guiding our country”. He had hoped “that the position I had gained in the world, the experience and knowledge which I had acquired, and the links which had been forged in the fires of war with other lands and leaders might have been of service in this critical time of transition and in the fateful work of trying to revive the life and glory of Europe within the circle of assured world peace.” [Gilbert Vol. VIII p.160] The Churchill Archive contains: Speech notes for WSC's speech (20 October 1945, Woodford [Essex]) on receiving the freedom of the Borough of Wanstead and Woodford on subjects including: his long association with Essex and his disappointment at not being re-elected. Also includes an invitation card for the event. This object was loaned to the World’s Fair in 1965.
Makers and roles
A. J. Hawkey (fl.1945), signatory