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Collection Number: 11040-z

Collection Title: Samuel Musgrove Howes Papers, 1936-1987

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size About 50 items
Abstract Samuel Musgrove Howes was chauffeur to Sir Winston Churchill from 1928 to 1936. The collection includes correspondence, pictures, a scrapbook, and clippings of Samuel Musgrove Howes. Items all relate to Churchill and his family, and include three letters from Churchill and six from Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill.
Creator Howes, Samuel Musgrove, 1907-1988.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Samuel Musgrove Howes Papers #11040-z, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Barry R. Howes of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 1988 (Acc. 88077) and July 1988 (Acc. 88080).
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Gina Overcash, September 1988

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support, in part, from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Samuel Musgrove Howes was born in West Ham, London, in 1907. He was educated (by Trade Scholarship) at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation, Poplar, 1921-1923. He apprenticed as a motor mechanic at a Ford Service Depot, Nottingham, 1923-1926.

Howes began work as a chauffeur in 1926, obtaining a First Class Chauffeur's Certificate from the Royal Automobile Club in 1928. He served as Sir Winston Churchill's chauffeur from 1928 to 1936. In 1932, he married the Churchills' parlour maid, Olive. After Howes worked as an engineer in Great Britain, he and his wife moved to Canada in 1955 and to California in 1957. He retired as Group Engineer at the Solar Aircraft Company in San Diego, Ca., in 1970.

Howes died in California in 1988. He maintained correspondence with Churchill; Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill; and Churchill's daughter, Mary Soames, throughout his life.

[Adapted from Winston S. Churchill, Martin Gilbert. Companion Volume 5, Part 3, p. 502.]

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes correspondence, pictures, a scrapbook, and clippings of Samuel Musgrove Howes, chauffeur to Sir Winston Churchill from 1928 to 1936. Items all relate to Churchill and his family, and include three letters from Churchill and six from Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1936-1987 and undated.

35 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Letters to Samuel M. Howes and recommendations for him, mainly from or about the Churchill family. Howes maintained contact with Sir Winston and Lady Clementine Churchill until their deaths. He also corresponded with their youngest daughter, Mary Churchill Soames. Undated items are primarily Christmas cards from either Mary, Lady Soames; there is also one from Lady Clementine shortly before her death in 1977. In 1981, Martin Gilbert, Churchill's biographer, asked Howes for recollections about Churchill and both Gilbert's letters and Howes's response, in the form of photocopies of Gilbert's book, are located in the first folder.

Folder 1

1936-1987

Folder 2

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Other Items.

15 items.

Howes's resume; copies of memorial services and funeral programs for Winston Churchill, Clementine Churchill, and Sarah Churchill; blank postcards of Chartwell, Churchill's house in Kent, and of Churchill; and a genealogical poster of Churchill's family. There are also a few clippings on three pages of an album of Howes's.

Folder 3

Other Items

Folder 4

Clippings

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Scrapbook, 1960s-1980s.

1 item.

Scrapbook containing magazine and newspaper clippings about Churchill and his family. The scrapbook has been removed from its binder, but pages are in original order.

Folder 5

Folder not used

Oversize Volume SV-11040/1

1960s-1980s, 30 pp. Scrapbook of Howes.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Photographs, undated.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

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