Sir John Anderson. Autographed Letter Signed, written to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, on letterhead of Government House, Darjeeling (India).

(ISRAEL / PALESTINE).

25th October

Darjeeling

1937

Response to the Prime Minister who offered Sir John Anderson the position of High Commissioner of Palestine.

Written in the midst of the Arab Revolt in which nationalist Arabs in Mandatory Palestine rose up against British colonial rule, concerning which the current High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, was regarded as lax in his dealings. In Anderson’s negative response to the Prime Minister, entitled “Secret & Personal,” he explains in detail that he is quite fatigued from current government service as Governor of Bengal and will require a “prolonged period of recuperation… (and) adequate rest.” British civil servant and politician Sir John Anderson (1882-1958) is best known for his service in the Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the “Home Front Prime Minister.” Britain’s ubiquitous air-raid defense facility known as “Anderson shelters” are named after him.