Explore
Letter
Letter from 10 Downing St, F.L. Stephenson, to Secretary, Foresters Club, Ennis, 15 April, 1918.
Letter from F. L. Stephenson at 10 Downing Street to the Secretary of The Ennis Foresters Club, dated 15th April 1918. On medium white off-white paper. Top left hand corner contains stamp-punched coat of arms of British Royal Family with the words PRIME MINISTER above enclosed within a spherical border, right of this and also stamp-punched is the address “10, Downing Street, Whitehall, G.W.1. The letter reads (typed): “Dear Sir,/I am desired by the/Prime Minister to acknowledge/the receipt of your telegram/of the 13th April./Yours faithfully”, the letter is signed by hand “F.L. Stevenson/J.B.(?)”. The intended recipient’s address is typed in the right hand corner as follows “The Secretary, The Ennis Foresters Club.”
This letter was sent to the secretary of the Foresters Club in Ennis on 15 April 1918 and acknowledges a telegram sent by the Foresters to the British Prime Minister of the time, Lloyd George. The letter was sent by his personal secretary, F.L. Stevenson. The Irish Conscription Bill was passed in the House of Commons on the 16th April 1918, the day after this acknowledgement was sent. Under the Bill, conscription could be introduced in Ireland by proclamation. There was widespread opposition to the Bill in Ireland at the time and it is likely that the telegram in question referred to this very controversial measure being introduced.
F L Stevenson would later become Frances Lloyd George, Countess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, CBE (née Stevenson; 7 October 1888 – 5 December 1972). At the time she sent the letter to Ennis, she was the mistress, personal secretary, confidante and second wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
Collection: Foresters
Category: Communication Equipment