Janus: The Papers of Reginald McKenna

Churchill/MCKN contains:
<-- See earlier
2	Public: Education Board
3	Public: Admiralty
4	Public: Home Office
5	Public: Exchequer
6	General: Fisher Correspondence
7	General: Later Career
8	Family correspondence
9	Personal and general correspondence
10	Elections
11	Photographs and cuttings
12	Diaries and journals of Pamela McKenna

More information

Please feel free to contact the repository.

The Papers of Reginald McKenna

Title	Family correspondence
Reference	MCKN 8
Covering Dates	1908–1994
Extent and Medium	4 archive boxes

Content and context

Includes: correspondence between McKenna and Pamela McKenna; correspondence between Pamela McKenna and her mother, Lady Jekyll; letters from Lady Jekyll to her grandsons, Michael and David McKenna; the correspondence of Michael and David McKenna, with papers on Michael's death; correspondence with Pamela McKenna's sister Barbara and her husband, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, while they were stationed in Egypt during the Second World War.

Further information

Letters from various McKenna family members also appear in MCKN 9.

Churchill/MCKN 8 contains:

Letters from Pamela McKenna to her mother, Agnes, Lady Jekyll. Subjects include: various social engagements; family affairs; trips on the Admiralty yacht Enchantress.
1 file.

c 1908

Letters from Pamela McKenna to McKenna. Subjects include: Winston Churchill's proposal to Venetia Stanley [later Venetia Montagu]; news from Admiral 1st Lord Fisher, including his belief that "Napoleon B" [Richard Haldane] might want to leave the War Office and become First Lord of the Admiralty instead; press attacks against McKenna; the 1910 General Election; the early childhood of Michael McKenna and David McKenna; the death of her brother-in-law, Francis Mc'Laren.
3 files.

Mar 1908-Oct 1917

Letters from McKenna to Pamela McKenna. Subjects include: their engagement; the death of Mark Horner; Sir John Fisher's departure from the position of 1st Sea Lord; staying at Windsor Castle [Berkshire], including a talk with the King Manuel II of Portugal on the waste of money which would result from Portugal building dreadnoughts; the inability of Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] to control the Cabinet, particularly Winston Churchill; his campaign in the 1910 General Election; the attitude of David Lloyd George [Chancellor of the Exchequer] towards the naval estimates and compulsory military training; a request from King Edward VII to made Lord Charles Beresford an Admiral of the Fleet; an inspection of the first of the new dreadnought type, HMS Orion; McKenna's criticism of Churchill's over-use of rhetoric in his speeches; the furnishing of their house in Smith Square [London]; the condition of Emmeline Pankhurst while in prison; Lloyd George's Revenue Bill; the need for a new Government department to take charge of conscription; talks with Sir Edward Holden [Chairman of the London City and Midland Bank, Limited, later the Midland Bank] on Holden's wish that McKenna should succeed him; settling in at the Bank.
2 files.

c Feb 1908-Aug 1919

Letters from McKenna to Pamela McKenna. Subjects include: social engagements; work at the Midland Bank; comments on David Lloyd George [Prime Minister] including his wish for a reconciliation with McKenna, the reversal of his policy on Russia, his estrangement from Winston Churchill and his other allies and his policy on Ireland; McKenna's decision to refuse Stanley Baldwin's offer of the Chancellorship; visits to Canada and the United States (1927); discussions with Sir Edwin Lutyens on building Halnaker House [Sussex]. Also includes: letters from McKenna to Michael McKenna and David McKenna on subjects including rowing; a suggestion for an article in tribute to McKenna's contribution to economics.
2 files.

Jan 1920-Dec 1943

Letters from Pamela McKenna to her sons. Letters from Pamela McKenna to David McKenna and Michael McKenna.
1 file.

c 1918-c 1925

Letters from Agnes, Lady Jekyll. Letters from Pamela McKenna's mother to her, David McKenna and Michael McKenna, with one letter from Sir Herbert Jekyll.
1 file.

Feb 1920-Jun 1929

Correspondence of Michael McKenna. Includes: obituaries, orders of service etc for Michael McKenna's funeral and services in tribute to him; collected extracts from his letters to a friend; correspondence between Michael and his family and friends, and others including Alfonso Merry de Val [Spanish Ambassador to Britain], M R James [Provost of Eton] and Andrew Gow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge; lecture notes and examination papers.
1 file.

Oct 1918-Nov 1932

Correspondence of David McKenna. Letters between David McKenna, his wife Lady Cecilia McKenna [earlier Lady Cecilia Keppel], his parents, other family and friends, with correspondents including: Thomas Goff [Military Attache to 1st Lord Athlone, Governor-General of Canada] (7); 1st Lord Moyne [Deputy Minister of State, Cairo, Egypt] on sending parcels to David McKenna while he was stationed in Iraq, Stephen McKenna (4); and others offering condolences on the death of Pamela McKenna. Also includes photographs of Michael and David McKenna as schoolboys.
2 files.

c 1919-Feb 1945

Later correspondence of David McKenna. Letters to McKenna, chiefly on his family history, and requests to quote from his parents' papers, with correspondents including Michael Brock on quoting from Pamela McKenna's letters in his edition of Herbert Asquith's letters to Venetia Stanley, and Sir [Edward] Austin Robinson (3). . Also includes: a copy of a letter from 1st Lord Crewe [Secretary of State for the Colonies, earlier Robert Crewe-Milnes] to Reginald McKenna on an offer of a Dreadnought from New Zealand, 1909; extract from the diary of [?] Charles Strutt on staying with the McKennas in 1931 and the love of both brothers for his sister.
1 file.

Oct 1962-Nov 1994

Correspondence with the Freybergs. Letters between McKenna and Pamela McKenna, and Pamela's sister Barbara, Lady Freyberg [earlier Barbara Jekyll and Barbara McLaren] and Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg [General Officer Commanding New Zealand Forces] on subjects including: finding a posting for David McKenna; Freyberg's view of the war and satisfaction at Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister; operations in the Western Desert against Italian forces; McKenna's view on the moral aspect of the war, compared with earlier conflicts; the loss of Crete; a battle against the 21st Panzer Division and 90th Light Division near Mersa Matruh [Egypt]; McKenna's illness and death; Pamela McKenna's death. Also includes: letters from Paul Freyberg and David McKenna; press report on the opening of the entertainment headquarters for New Zealand troops.
2 files.

May 1939-Feb 1963