Papers of Capt Thomas Henry Wintringham (1898-1949)

Introduction

• Biographical history
• Provenance
• Scope and content
• Arrangement
• Conditions of access and use
• Related material

Brief List

• WINTRINGHAM 1/1 Spanish Civil War: Papers, photographs and ephemera
• WINTRINGHAM 1/2 Spanish Civil War: Correspondence
• WINTRINGHAM 2 Home Guard
• WINTRINGHAM 3/1 Common Wealth Party: General
• WINTRINGHAM 3/2 Common Wealth Party: Election campaigns
• WINTRINGHAM 3/3 Common Wealth Party: Policy
• WINTRINGHAM 3/4 Common Wealth Party: Meetings and conferences
• WINTRINGHAM 3/5 Common Wealth Party: Publications
• WINTRINGHAM 3/6 Common Wealth Party: Correspondence
• WINTRINGHAM 3/7 Common Wealth Party: Photographs
• WINTRINGHAM 4 Papers relating to Tom Wintringham (excluding Spanish Civil War, Home Guard and Common Wealth)
• WINTRINGHAM 5 Published and unpublished books by Tom Wintringham
• WINTRINGHAM 6 Articles by Tom Wintringham
• WINTRINGHAM 7 Radio scripts, short stories, book reviews, radio criticism, essays and notes by Tom Wintringham
• WINTRINGHAM 8 Articles by Katherine Wise Bowler
• WINTRINGHAM 9 Tom Wintringham’s correspondence
• WINTRINGHAM 10 Kitty Wintringham’s correspondence
• WINTRINGHAM 11 Photographs
• WINTRINGHAM 12 Poems
• WINTRINGHAM 13 Printed material

Papers of Capt Thomas Henry Wintringham (1898-1949)

INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Born 15 May 1898 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire to John Fildes Wintringham (1866–1940) and Eliza ‘Muv’ Mapson Wintringham (née Workman) (1868–1937). Educated at Gresham's School, Holt, 1910-1916. Awarded scholarship to study modern history at Balliol College, Oxford, 1915, but postponed his position to serve as a mechanic and motorcycle dispatch rider, Royal Flying Corps, Jun 1916-[Feb] 1919. Arrested for mutiny [Jun] 1918, but the charge was subsequently reduced to ‘absence without pass’. Whilst serving in the Royal Flying Corps he had a serious motorcycle accident, 11 Nov 1918, and was sent to convalesce in hospital in Newton Abbott, Devon. Wintringham completed a shortened five-term BA in Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford, 1918-1920, where he became heavily interested in Communism and met Christina Roberts who became his girlfriend and remained a close friend for the rest of his life. He visited Moscow, 1920, joined Communist Party Great Britain (CPGB), Feb 1923 and became assistant editor of Workers’ Weekly, 1923-1925. Married Elizabeth Emma Arkwright, 31 Aug 1923. He studied for the bar, but his legal career was ended when he was imprisoned for sedition, Nov 1925-Apr 1926. Following his release Wintringham became editor of Workers' Life (new name for the Workers Weekly), May 1926-Jan 1930 and later editor of newly launched Daily Worker, Jan 1930-[1936]. His first son, Robin was born, 13 Nov 1927 but died at six months old. His second son Oliver Joseph ‘O.J.’, was born 18 Mar 1929.

Wintringham established himself as a writer and the leading left-wing commentator of his day on military strategy through writing a great number of articles, essays, pamphlets and poems for various publications. He was founder editor of the Left Review, 1936, and military correspondent of the Daily Worker, 1936. His daughter Leslie ‘Lesh’ was born 1931, to Millie (who had her name to Wintringham by deed poll).

During this period he also gained notoriety in the CPGB for his womanising, especially his relationship with Millie, with whom he lived, despite not having separated from his wife Elizabeth, and had a daughter.

Wintringham joined the British Bn, International Brigade, to fight in the Spanish Civil War, Aug 1936-Aug 1937. He was machine-gun instructor for 11 and 12 Battalions, Nov 1936, and in temporary command of the British Bn, 15 International Brigade, 1937; he led his men in the Battle of Jamara, Feb 1937, and was wounded in the leg. Recovered by Jun 1937, Wintringham became an instructor at the Officer’s Training School in Albacete and rejoined 15 Bde as a staff officer. Injured for a second time while fighting in Aragon, 25 Aug 1937, he was initially sent to hospital in Benicasim and returned to England, Nov 1937.

On 6 Sep 1936, in Spain, Wintringham met and fell in love with Katherine ‘Kitty’ Wise Bowler, an American journalist. Bowler nursed Wintringham through his first injury and stayed with him until she was expelled from Spain by the Comitern, 2 Jul 1937. When he returned to England Wintringham finally separated from his wife Elizabeth. The CPGB disapproved of his relationship with Bowler but Wintringham refused to finish it, and was subsequently expelled from the Communist Party, Jul 1938. Wintringham divorced Elizabeth, Feb 1940 and married Bowler, 25 Jan 1941.

Wintringham set up the Osterley Park Training School to provide instruction to the Home Guard, Jun 1940-[Jun] 1941, the training course was eventually adopted by the War Office as the basis for nationwide Home Guard training. In July 1942, Wintringham helped to found the Common Wealth Party, an independent socialist Party led by Sir Richard Acland. Wintringham ran in the 1943 by-election as the Common Wealth Party candidate for North-Midlothian and the 1945 General Election as candidate in Aldershot. Kitty Wintringham also ran as the Common Wealth Party candidate for North-Midlothian in the 1945 General Election - neither won a seat. Following the Labour victory of 1945 Wintringham abandoned the Common Wealth Party and became a member of the Labour Party. After World War Two Wintringham continued writing and on 26 Jan 1947 his third son Ben was born. Wintringham died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack, 16 Aug 1949.

Publications:

• The Coming World War (Wishart Books, London, 1935), revised edition (Lawrence and Wishart, 1936).
• Mutiny. Being a survey of mutinies from Spartacus to Invergordon (Stanley Nott, London, 1936).
• How to Reform the Army (Fact, London, 1939).
• English Captain. Reminiscences of service in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (Faber & Faber, London, 1939), second edition (Penguin, 1941).
• Armies of Freemen (G Routledge & Sons, London, 1940).
• New Ways of War (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth and New York, 1940).
• Deadlock war (Faber & Faber, London, 1940).
• Blitzkrieg by Ferdinand Otto Miksche, translated and with introduction by Tom Wintringham (Faber & Faber, London, 1941).
• The Politics of Victory (G Routledge & Sons, London, 1941).
• Freedom is our weapon. A policy for army reform (Kegan Paul & Co, London, 1941).
• Guerrilla Warfare by Albert Yank Levy, ghosted and with an introduction by Tom Wintringham (Penguin, 1941).
• Peoples' War (Penguin, Harmondsworth and New York, 1942).
• Weapons and Tactics (Faber & Faber, London, 1943), reprinted with Col John Nicholas Blashford-Snell, (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973).
• We’re going on!: the collected poems of Tom Wintringham, edited by Hugh Purcell (Smokestack, Middlesbrough, 2006).

The papers of Tom Wintringham were placed in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives by the family in two accessions, 1998 and 2004.

Papers of Tom Wintringham and his second wife Katherine ‘Kitty’ Wintringham (née Bowler), 1891-1982. Papers of Tom Wintringham relating to the Home Guard include correspondence, articles, radio broadcasts, press cuttings, photograph, report, lecture transcripts and training exercises. Papers relating to the Common Wealth Party including correspondence, photographs, minutes, publications, papers on Common Wealth Party policy, formation, resignations, libel charges, election campaigns and conferences. Other papers relating to Tom Wintringham including papers from his time at Balliol College, Oxford, 1918-1920; Wintringham’s visit to Moscow, 1920; various inventions by Wintringham, 1929-1949; the Communist Party, 1933-1944; British economic crisis, 1947, and obituaries and biographical articles. Wintringham’s correspondence includes his school days, First World War, prison, Spanish Civil War, Home Guard, Common Wealth Party and general personal and professional correspondence; Kitty’s correspondence includes Spanish Civil War, the Common Wealth Party and general personal and professional correspondence. Photographs notably cover the Spanish Civil War, Home Guard, Common Wealth Party, Tom and Kitty Wintringham, their children, friends and family. Writings by Wintringham include draft and published articles (chiefly for the Picture Post, the Tribune, the Daily Herald and the Daily Mirror ), drafts of published and unpublished books, scripts, reviews, notes, short stories and essays. Draft articles by Kitty. Poems by Wintringham and others on topics including World War One and the Spanish Civil War, 1910-1950 and printed material, 1923-1950.

Papers are arranged in sections as follows: Spanish Civil War, Home Guard, Common Wealth Party, other papers relating to Tom Wintringham (excluding Spanish Civil War, Home Guard and Common Wealth), books by Wintringham, articles and other writings by Wintringham, articles by Katherine ‘Kitty’ Bowler, Wintringham’s correspondence, Kitty Wintringham’s correspondence, photographs, poems and printed material.

Photographs and correspondence for the Spanish Civil War, the Home Guard and Common Wealth have not been placed in ‘Photographs’ and ‘Correspondence’ but have remained in their respective sections.

Access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of a letter of introduction.

Copyright

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Language

English, with a small amount of material in Spanish, German, French, Russian and Arabic.

RELATED MATERIAL

Related units of description

The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives holds the following archives relating to Tom Wintringham: correspondence between Capt Tom Wintringham and Sir Basil Liddell Hart, 1938-1943 (LIDDELL: 1/758 and 9/22/7); article 'The War Office' by Wintringham in The Political Quarterly , Jun 1942 (LIDDELL: 13/17); Review by Liddell Hart of Deadlock war (Faber and Faber, London, 1940) by Wintringham, in The Listener, 2 Apr 1940 (LIDDELL: 10/1940/14) and papers of Lt Col Ferdinand Otto Miksche, (MIKSCHE) with whom Wintringham wrote Blitzkreig, including correspondence with Wintringham.

The centre also holds the following publications by Wintringham in the Liddell Hart Library: The Coming World War; English Captain; Weapons and Tactics; Freedom is our Weapon; New Ways of War; Deadlock War; Blitzkrieg, and How to Reform the Army.

Associated material

Letters from Wintringham, 1931-1941 are held in Manchester University: Labour History Archive and Study Centre. Papers of the Common Wealth Party, 1942-1969, are held in Sussex University Library Special Collections.

Related publications

The collection was extensively consulted by Hugh Purcell for his biography of Tom Wintringham, The Last English Revolutionary: Tom Wintringham, 1898-1949. (Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2004).

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