| Summary: | This class comprises correspondence and papers relating to Churchill's wartime premiership. It includes: private office correspondence; personal telegrams; printed copies of personal minutes, telegrams and reports; correspondence relating to appointments and patronage; some family correspondence (for which see also CHAR 1); and some engagements cards and diaries. No distinction has been attempted between the offices of Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. The former title has been deemed to include the latter. The Private Office correspondence is an original series of correspondence relating to the whole business of Government, which was regarded by the Office as in some sense personal, although distinct from the correspondence of the Personal Office (for which see CHAR 2). The personal telegrams, which survive for 1941 onwards, are the Prime Minister's own copies of individual incoming and outgoing telegrams and often include drafts and annotations. Various printed reports and despatches relating to the war period have been assigned to this class at the end. These reports were produced and acquired by WSC at various times and for various purposes. Some may well have been obtained at a later date for use by WSC in his war memoirs. Other wartime material dating from the period of Churchill's premiership can be found in CHAR 1 (personal papers), CHAR 2 (general political papers), CHAR 7 (constituency papers), CHAR 8 (literary papers), CHAR 9 (speeches), CHAR 23 (War Cabinet papers).
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