WARTIME PHOTO EDEN (Sir Anthony, Earl of Avon, 1897-1977, Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary (December 1940 – July 1945)

Fine large photo as Prime Minister, signed and inscribed "To Louis Spears with all good wishes from Anthony Eden" with the date, showing him full length walking briskly down the street with his gas mask over his shoulder and his despatch box in his other hand, 11½" x 9", no place but London,

Eden's cheerful smile belies the year, 1942, in which the German and Japanese advance was at its height. Eden was involved in long and complex negotiations with Stalin, whom he recognized as a tyrant but agreed with Churchill was needed as an ally. He also took on the responsibility of Leader of the House.
Sir Louis Spears (1886-1974), brought up in France, was a liaison officer with the French at the beginning of WWI. On 23rd August 1914 he saved the British Expeditionary Force from destruction from its flank by warning that his French general was retreating. Later, he was one of the group of MPs, that included Churchill and who had all fought in WWI, who opposed Chamberlain's 'appeasement' of Germany. In May 1940, not long before the Fall of France, he flew from Bordeaux with de Gaulle and worked closely with him at home, in Africa and the Middle East.
In January 1942, Eden gave Spears his hardest task, as the first British Minister to Syria and Lebanon, territories mandated to France after WWI and the breakup of the Turkish Empire. The colonial officials in the Levant had gone along with the Vichy government in the hope of keeping the territories for France, and de Gaulle was equally firm on the latter point. Spears, however, supported by Churchill, had in June 1941 implemented an agreement with the Free French that the inhabitants be given independence after the war, and, due to the friction that caused, Churchill recalled him in December 1944.

Item Date:  1942

Stock No:  37891