Selected by Kate O’Brien, Archives Services Manager

Request for help by former sailor, John Leish

What

Letter from John Leish, former Royal Navy sailor, 21 November 1924, requesting financial assistance. Sent to General Sir Ian Hamilton, President of the London Metropolitan Area, British Legion.

Why

This looks like the writing of a soul in torment. Of the hundreds of requests for help received by Hamilton in the course of his British Legion work, this is one of the saddest, with its straggling handwriting and punctuation-free stream of consciousness.

Ref: Hamilton 11/5/3

www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma/collection/h/ha30-001