JOHN PECK & SON, NELSON SQUARE, BLACKFRIARS, LONDON
Manufacturers to H.M. Stationery Office
A Full Sized Blue Canvas Covered Despatch Box, the lid stamped with the George V insignia and 'MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS OF WAR'*, and numbered 4. It retains its original rear brass swing handle and Bramah lock stamped PECK&SON, which has been restored and the correct key suppled. The original cream lined interior is stamped in the lid with the maker's name & address.
Measurements: 46 x 30.5 x 15 cm
PROVENANCE
Provenance: By family descent until sold By Neales of Nottingham at The Attic Sale Kedleston Hall, The Derbyshire home of the Curzon Family, Wednesday 13th March 2002. Lord Curzon of Kedleston was a member of the War Cabinet before becoming Foreign Secretary in 1919.
*The Minister of Munitions of War was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort.
David Lloyd George gained a heroic reputation with his energetic work as Minister of Munitions, from 1915 to 1916, setting the stage for his political rise. When the Shell Crisis of 1915 dismayed public opinion, with the news that the Army was running short of artillery ammunition, demands arose for a strong leader to take charge of munitions production. A new coalition ministry was formed in May 1915 and Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions, in a new department created to solve the munitions shortage.
