(CHAMBERLAIN, Neville.) A 1940 World War II Typed Letter Signed to Sir Clement Hindley.
A Typed Letter Signed by Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister to Sir Clement Hindley, dated 20th January 1940, 3 pp. on the Prime Minister’s 10 Downing Street stationery, addressed and signed to the recipient by Chamberlain, Institution of Civil Engineers receipt stamp at upper margin of first page; near fine. Accompanied with a Typed Letter Signed, ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain]’, 21 December 1939, also on 10 Downing Street stationery, acknowledging Sir Clement Hindley’s letter and stating that the ‘Prime Minister is having the matter considered’, 1 page, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister, 21 December 1939, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to A. Nevil. Rucker, 21 December 1939, all the sheets pinned together by a butterfly clip to upper left corner; near fine.
Chamberlain’s letter was written in response to Sir Clement Hindley, who had written on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers in his capacity as President of the Institution. Hindley’s letter offers the Institution’s opinion regarding the importance of the preparation that should be made in war-time, as far as possible, for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
Chamberlain’s letter to Hindley reads as follows:
“Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st December in which you urge, on behalf of the council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the importance of preparing, as far as possible in war-time, for public works which will be needed when peace comes. I have given the matter careful consideration in consultation with my colleagues, who are responsible for the Departments mainly concerned, and I can certainly assure you that they appreciate, as I do, the importance of the question you raise.
The large programme of road improvement, which the Government had in hand at the outbreak of the war, had necessarily to be drastically modified; but it contained many schemes which are likely to be of high economic value whatever redistribution of population or industry may result from the war. On many of these, preparatory work (including in some cases the services of consultants) has reached such a stage that is clearly the right policy to continue it, so that we shall have a substantial programme of construction work which can be put in hand, so soon as conditions justify it.
I fear, however, that a general policy of preparing plans for public works in advance on the lines suggested in your Memorandum is not one which the Government could under present conditions press upon public and local bodies. The outbreak of war has created many problems and many tasks which are fully engaging the energies of these bodies, and it is unlikely that they would be in a position, at present, to find time to concentrate on the preparation of the plans for works other than those of urgent and immediate necessity. Moreover, there is no doubt that the war will of itself bring many new problems and the extent to which public and local bodies will be able to proceed with works of a peace-time character immediately after the war will depend on the financial and other conditions then prevailing. You will, I am sure, agree with me that it is as yet too early to envisage what these problems and these conditions are likely to be.
For these reasons I feel that we must defer any general preparation of plans for post-war works until we are in a position better to gauge the likely course of the war and the problems to be faced thereafter. You may rest assured however, that the matter will not be lost to sight.
Yours sincerely
Neville Chamberlain.”
The Typed Letter Signed from ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain] reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 21st, with which you enclosed a letter addressed to the Prime Minister suggesting that preparation should be made as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
The Prime Minister is having the matter considered.
Yours very truly,
A. Nevil Rucker”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister reads as follows:
“21 December 1939.
To The Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain, F.R.S., Prime Minister.
Sir,
The council of this Institution have given consideration to the problems which must be faced on the termination of the war arising from the suspension of public utility schemes of an engineering kind, which in ordinary peace time would be carried out by public and local bodies, or by companies with statutory powers. The general cessation of constructional engineering work not essential to the prosecution of the War has necessitated the abandonment of many contemplated undertakings requiring Parliamentary or Ministerial sanction for expenditure, as for example new water supplies, sewerage and land drainage schemes, road and bridge construction, sea protection works, etc., which cannot, however, be indefinitely postponed if the health and well-being of the community is not to be adversely affected.
We urge that consideration should be given to the desirability of preparing in advance schemes for public works and projects, the efficient and economical realisation of which depend upon the soundness of their original conception and design and on the executive skill of those appointed to carry out the works.
It is submitted that the conditions obtaining after the Great War showed grounds for urging that consideration be given at the present time to the inception of public utility schemes of an engineering kind so that the preliminary work of preparing the schemes, including surveys, the purchase of lands, the obtaining of necessary powers, the drawing up of designs and specifications, may proceed thus ensuring that work may be begun as soon as it is required.
If work such as is outlined above were to be carried out in advance it would save a delay varying from say six months to two years in starting the actual construction of the works and the employment of labour thereon when the time arrives to proceed.
I have the honour to be Sir,
Yours faithfully,
President.”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s letter to A. Nevil Rucker reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
A.N. Rucker, Esq., C.B.E.,
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
S.W.1.
I enclose a letter which I have addressed to the Prime Minister at the request of the Council of The Institution of Civil Engineers. I shall be very grateful if you can bring to his notice the point which we wish to urge, namely, the importance of preparing as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed so urgently when peace comes.
The works which we have in mind are mainly the concern of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and possibly the Board of Trade. We feel, however, that the matter is of such wide national importance that we have ventured to bring it to the notice of the Prime Minister himself.
President.”
A summary of Hindley’s life is provided in his obituary:
“Sir Clement Daniel Maggs Hindley (1874-1944) spent much of his life working in Bengal for the East Indian Railway Company eventually becoming their general manager. He also served as India's first Chief Commissioner of Railways bringing about the nationalisation of the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsular railways, the reorganisation of the Railway Department and establishing the Railway Staff College at Dehradun. His work for the railways was recognised with a knighthood and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and as a Commander of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government.
Hindley returned to Britain in 1928 becoming the first chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, as well as a member of the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the board of the National Physical Laboratory. He also served as chairman of the first research committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers and later as the institution's president. Hindley worked extensively with the Ministry of Works and the Air Raid Precautions service during the Second World War, particularly on civil defence and reconstruction matters.
Hindley was a keen member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and in 1935 was made chairman of the new research committee before serving as vice president of the institution for the 1938-9 session and as president for 1939-40.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War Hindley's position as president of the ICE made him useful to the war effort and he was employed as a works advisor to the London civil defence region committee and as chairman of the Air Raid Precautions committee to limit damage to structures and engineering works for the Home Office.
In 1940 he appointed as chair of the committee to consider post war reconstruction for the Ministry of Works and Buildings.
By 1944 Hindley was also the chairman of the Codes of Practice Committee for Civil Engineering and Building for the Minister of Works and of the Civil Engineering Industries Holidays With Pay Scheme, an industry wide board regulating paid holidays for construction workers.”
(1944 Institution of Civil Engineers: Obituaries.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A Typed Letter Signed by Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister to Sir Clement Hindley, dated 20th January 1940, 3 pp. on the Prime Minister’s 10 Downing Street stationery, addressed and signed to the recipient by Chamberlain, Institution of Civil Engineers receipt stamp at upper margin of first page; near fine. Accompanied with a Typed Letter Signed, ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain]’, 21 December 1939, also on 10 Downing Street stationery, acknowledging Sir Clement Hindley’s letter and stating that the ‘Prime Minister is having the matter considered’, 1 page, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister, 21 December 1939, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to A. Nevil. Rucker, 21 December 1939, all the sheets pinned together by a butterfly clip to upper left corner; near fine.
Chamberlain’s letter was written in response to Sir Clement Hindley, who had written on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers in his capacity as President of the Institution. Hindley’s letter offers the Institution’s opinion regarding the importance of the preparation that should be made in war-time, as far as possible, for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
Chamberlain’s letter to Hindley reads as follows:
“Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st December in which you urge, on behalf of the council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the importance of preparing, as far as possible in war-time, for public works which will be needed when peace comes. I have given the matter careful consideration in consultation with my colleagues, who are responsible for the Departments mainly concerned, and I can certainly assure you that they appreciate, as I do, the importance of the question you raise.
The large programme of road improvement, which the Government had in hand at the outbreak of the war, had necessarily to be drastically modified; but it contained many schemes which are likely to be of high economic value whatever redistribution of population or industry may result from the war. On many of these, preparatory work (including in some cases the services of consultants) has reached such a stage that is clearly the right policy to continue it, so that we shall have a substantial programme of construction work which can be put in hand, so soon as conditions justify it.
I fear, however, that a general policy of preparing plans for public works in advance on the lines suggested in your Memorandum is not one which the Government could under present conditions press upon public and local bodies. The outbreak of war has created many problems and many tasks which are fully engaging the energies of these bodies, and it is unlikely that they would be in a position, at present, to find time to concentrate on the preparation of the plans for works other than those of urgent and immediate necessity. Moreover, there is no doubt that the war will of itself bring many new problems and the extent to which public and local bodies will be able to proceed with works of a peace-time character immediately after the war will depend on the financial and other conditions then prevailing. You will, I am sure, agree with me that it is as yet too early to envisage what these problems and these conditions are likely to be.
For these reasons I feel that we must defer any general preparation of plans for post-war works until we are in a position better to gauge the likely course of the war and the problems to be faced thereafter. You may rest assured however, that the matter will not be lost to sight.
Yours sincerely
Neville Chamberlain.”
The Typed Letter Signed from ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain] reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 21st, with which you enclosed a letter addressed to the Prime Minister suggesting that preparation should be made as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
The Prime Minister is having the matter considered.
Yours very truly,
A. Nevil Rucker”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister reads as follows:
“21 December 1939.
To The Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain, F.R.S., Prime Minister.
Sir,
The council of this Institution have given consideration to the problems which must be faced on the termination of the war arising from the suspension of public utility schemes of an engineering kind, which in ordinary peace time would be carried out by public and local bodies, or by companies with statutory powers. The general cessation of constructional engineering work not essential to the prosecution of the War has necessitated the abandonment of many contemplated undertakings requiring Parliamentary or Ministerial sanction for expenditure, as for example new water supplies, sewerage and land drainage schemes, road and bridge construction, sea protection works, etc., which cannot, however, be indefinitely postponed if the health and well-being of the community is not to be adversely affected.
We urge that consideration should be given to the desirability of preparing in advance schemes for public works and projects, the efficient and economical realisation of which depend upon the soundness of their original conception and design and on the executive skill of those appointed to carry out the works.
It is submitted that the conditions obtaining after the Great War showed grounds for urging that consideration be given at the present time to the inception of public utility schemes of an engineering kind so that the preliminary work of preparing the schemes, including surveys, the purchase of lands, the obtaining of necessary powers, the drawing up of designs and specifications, may proceed thus ensuring that work may be begun as soon as it is required.
If work such as is outlined above were to be carried out in advance it would save a delay varying from say six months to two years in starting the actual construction of the works and the employment of labour thereon when the time arrives to proceed.
I have the honour to be Sir,
Yours faithfully,
President.”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s letter to A. Nevil Rucker reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
A.N. Rucker, Esq., C.B.E.,
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
S.W.1.
I enclose a letter which I have addressed to the Prime Minister at the request of the Council of The Institution of Civil Engineers. I shall be very grateful if you can bring to his notice the point which we wish to urge, namely, the importance of preparing as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed so urgently when peace comes.
The works which we have in mind are mainly the concern of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and possibly the Board of Trade. We feel, however, that the matter is of such wide national importance that we have ventured to bring it to the notice of the Prime Minister himself.
President.”
A summary of Hindley’s life is provided in his obituary:
“Sir Clement Daniel Maggs Hindley (1874-1944) spent much of his life working in Bengal for the East Indian Railway Company eventually becoming their general manager. He also served as India's first Chief Commissioner of Railways bringing about the nationalisation of the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsular railways, the reorganisation of the Railway Department and establishing the Railway Staff College at Dehradun. His work for the railways was recognised with a knighthood and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and as a Commander of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government.
Hindley returned to Britain in 1928 becoming the first chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, as well as a member of the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the board of the National Physical Laboratory. He also served as chairman of the first research committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers and later as the institution's president. Hindley worked extensively with the Ministry of Works and the Air Raid Precautions service during the Second World War, particularly on civil defence and reconstruction matters.
Hindley was a keen member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and in 1935 was made chairman of the new research committee before serving as vice president of the institution for the 1938-9 session and as president for 1939-40.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War Hindley's position as president of the ICE made him useful to the war effort and he was employed as a works advisor to the London civil defence region committee and as chairman of the Air Raid Precautions committee to limit damage to structures and engineering works for the Home Office.
In 1940 he appointed as chair of the committee to consider post war reconstruction for the Ministry of Works and Buildings.
By 1944 Hindley was also the chairman of the Codes of Practice Committee for Civil Engineering and Building for the Minister of Works and of the Civil Engineering Industries Holidays With Pay Scheme, an industry wide board regulating paid holidays for construction workers.”
(1944 Institution of Civil Engineers: Obituaries.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A Typed Letter Signed by Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister to Sir Clement Hindley, dated 20th January 1940, 3 pp. on the Prime Minister’s 10 Downing Street stationery, addressed and signed to the recipient by Chamberlain, Institution of Civil Engineers receipt stamp at upper margin of first page; near fine. Accompanied with a Typed Letter Signed, ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain]’, 21 December 1939, also on 10 Downing Street stationery, acknowledging Sir Clement Hindley’s letter and stating that the ‘Prime Minister is having the matter considered’, 1 page, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister, 21 December 1939, a carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to A. Nevil. Rucker, 21 December 1939, all the sheets pinned together by a butterfly clip to upper left corner; near fine.
Chamberlain’s letter was written in response to Sir Clement Hindley, who had written on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers in his capacity as President of the Institution. Hindley’s letter offers the Institution’s opinion regarding the importance of the preparation that should be made in war-time, as far as possible, for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
Chamberlain’s letter to Hindley reads as follows:
“Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st December in which you urge, on behalf of the council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the importance of preparing, as far as possible in war-time, for public works which will be needed when peace comes. I have given the matter careful consideration in consultation with my colleagues, who are responsible for the Departments mainly concerned, and I can certainly assure you that they appreciate, as I do, the importance of the question you raise.
The large programme of road improvement, which the Government had in hand at the outbreak of the war, had necessarily to be drastically modified; but it contained many schemes which are likely to be of high economic value whatever redistribution of population or industry may result from the war. On many of these, preparatory work (including in some cases the services of consultants) has reached such a stage that is clearly the right policy to continue it, so that we shall have a substantial programme of construction work which can be put in hand, so soon as conditions justify it.
I fear, however, that a general policy of preparing plans for public works in advance on the lines suggested in your Memorandum is not one which the Government could under present conditions press upon public and local bodies. The outbreak of war has created many problems and many tasks which are fully engaging the energies of these bodies, and it is unlikely that they would be in a position, at present, to find time to concentrate on the preparation of the plans for works other than those of urgent and immediate necessity. Moreover, there is no doubt that the war will of itself bring many new problems and the extent to which public and local bodies will be able to proceed with works of a peace-time character immediately after the war will depend on the financial and other conditions then prevailing. You will, I am sure, agree with me that it is as yet too early to envisage what these problems and these conditions are likely to be.
For these reasons I feel that we must defer any general preparation of plans for post-war works until we are in a position better to gauge the likely course of the war and the problems to be faced thereafter. You may rest assured however, that the matter will not be lost to sight.
Yours sincerely
Neville Chamberlain.”
The Typed Letter Signed from ‘A. Nevil Rucker [Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain] reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
Dear Sir Clement Hindley,
I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 21st, with which you enclosed a letter addressed to the Prime Minister suggesting that preparation should be made as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed when peace comes.
The Prime Minister is having the matter considered.
Yours very truly,
A. Nevil Rucker”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s original letter to the Prime Minister reads as follows:
“21 December 1939.
To The Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain, F.R.S., Prime Minister.
Sir,
The council of this Institution have given consideration to the problems which must be faced on the termination of the war arising from the suspension of public utility schemes of an engineering kind, which in ordinary peace time would be carried out by public and local bodies, or by companies with statutory powers. The general cessation of constructional engineering work not essential to the prosecution of the War has necessitated the abandonment of many contemplated undertakings requiring Parliamentary or Ministerial sanction for expenditure, as for example new water supplies, sewerage and land drainage schemes, road and bridge construction, sea protection works, etc., which cannot, however, be indefinitely postponed if the health and well-being of the community is not to be adversely affected.
We urge that consideration should be given to the desirability of preparing in advance schemes for public works and projects, the efficient and economical realisation of which depend upon the soundness of their original conception and design and on the executive skill of those appointed to carry out the works.
It is submitted that the conditions obtaining after the Great War showed grounds for urging that consideration be given at the present time to the inception of public utility schemes of an engineering kind so that the preliminary work of preparing the schemes, including surveys, the purchase of lands, the obtaining of necessary powers, the drawing up of designs and specifications, may proceed thus ensuring that work may be begun as soon as it is required.
If work such as is outlined above were to be carried out in advance it would save a delay varying from say six months to two years in starting the actual construction of the works and the employment of labour thereon when the time arrives to proceed.
I have the honour to be Sir,
Yours faithfully,
President.”
The carbon copy of Hindley’s letter to A. Nevil Rucker reads as follows:
“21st December, 1939.
A.N. Rucker, Esq., C.B.E.,
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
S.W.1.
I enclose a letter which I have addressed to the Prime Minister at the request of the Council of The Institution of Civil Engineers. I shall be very grateful if you can bring to his notice the point which we wish to urge, namely, the importance of preparing as far as possible in war-time for public works which will be needed so urgently when peace comes.
The works which we have in mind are mainly the concern of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and possibly the Board of Trade. We feel, however, that the matter is of such wide national importance that we have ventured to bring it to the notice of the Prime Minister himself.
President.”
A summary of Hindley’s life is provided in his obituary:
“Sir Clement Daniel Maggs Hindley (1874-1944) spent much of his life working in Bengal for the East Indian Railway Company eventually becoming their general manager. He also served as India's first Chief Commissioner of Railways bringing about the nationalisation of the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsular railways, the reorganisation of the Railway Department and establishing the Railway Staff College at Dehradun. His work for the railways was recognised with a knighthood and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and as a Commander of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government.
Hindley returned to Britain in 1928 becoming the first chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, as well as a member of the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the board of the National Physical Laboratory. He also served as chairman of the first research committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers and later as the institution's president. Hindley worked extensively with the Ministry of Works and the Air Raid Precautions service during the Second World War, particularly on civil defence and reconstruction matters.
Hindley was a keen member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and in 1935 was made chairman of the new research committee before serving as vice president of the institution for the 1938-9 session and as president for 1939-40.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War Hindley's position as president of the ICE made him useful to the war effort and he was employed as a works advisor to the London civil defence region committee and as chairman of the Air Raid Precautions committee to limit damage to structures and engineering works for the Home Office.
In 1940 he appointed as chair of the committee to consider post war reconstruction for the Ministry of Works and Buildings.
By 1944 Hindley was also the chairman of the Codes of Practice Committee for Civil Engineering and Building for the Minister of Works and of the Civil Engineering Industries Holidays With Pay Scheme, an industry wide board regulating paid holidays for construction workers.”
(1944 Institution of Civil Engineers: Obituaries.)
Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.