Item 118 - Letter from Miles Malleson to Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence

1 single sheet

‘The Attic’, 43 Bernard Street, Russell Square, W.C.—His plays have been seized by the Government. He hopes some protest can be made if they are destroyed.

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Transcript

‘The Attic’, 43 Bernard Street, Russell Square, W.C.
Oct: 27/16.

Dear Mrs Pethwick Lawrence

Thank you so very much indeed for your letter about the plays. It is good to know that people like you think that they might be of some use.

But alas—yesterday the War Office or Home Office (I do not know yet by whose authority) descended upon Hendersons the publishers and seized every copy. They have forbidden its distribution or sale. And there for the present the matter stands! Needless to day I am not particularly concerned for myself whether they prosecute for the sin of having written them—but I do hope, if they destroy them, that some protest can be made. Here we are at a most critical period in history—at the very cross-roads—& we have to face all the extraordinary difficulties & dangers of the years of crisis without freedom of speech or expression one to another. Some friends in the Commons are making enquiries for me—& the Council for Civil Liberties have been told.

I shall look forward to meeting you soon. I will write if I may in a few days to fix an afternoon when I know what the next move in this suppression is to be. Again—thanks for your letter

Yours sincerely,
Miles Malleson

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2020.