Biographical Note
British
Captain Humphrey Cotton Minchin served as editor
for The Legion book, which was commissioned by the Prince of Wales as a way to
raise funds for the Royal British Legion, a charity organization that donates
to current soldiers and veterans, as suggested by King George V. Not much is
known about the editor. Some of the writing contributors include Rudyard
Kipling, Edmund Blunden, Hilaire Belloc, Sir Henry Newbolt, and Sir Winston S.
Churchill, who also wrote The Jungle Book (1894),
Undertones of War (1928), The Path to Rome (1902), Vitai
Lampada (1897), The World Crisis (1923-31),
respectively. There are fifty artistic contributors, which include: Jacob
Epstien, who also sculpted St Michael's Victory over the
Devil (1958), Muirhead Bone, who also sketched A
View in Flanders behind the Lines, Showing Locre and the Tops of Dug-Outs on
the Scherpenber (1915), Paul Nash who also painted The Ypres Salient at Night (1917-18), and Sir William
Orpen who also painted Zonnebeke (1918). The
contributors to The Legion were some of the most talented British subjects in
their field, who composed new and special works of art or literature to be
compiled into The Legion.
Scope and Content Note
The Archives of The Legion book materials are housed in 4 boxes. The
contents are divided up into the following categories: (1) Letters from
Writers, (2) Letters from Artists, (3) Miscellaneous Letters, (4) Miscellaneous
Documents, and (5) Various Artwork.
There are approximately 110 items in the section
Letters from Writers. Most of these letters
are written in reference to the author being asked to contribute to The Legion
work, or discussing his/her contribution. The majority of letters are written
to Captain H. Cotton Minchin. There are also some letters to Sir Lionel Halsey,
and an undisclosed Sir. Authors include
Hilaire Beloc, George Moore, A.A. Milne, Virginia Woolf, and others.
Like the previous category, the Letters
from Artists category contains letters written by artists mostly written
in reference to an artist being asked to contribute work to The Legion book.
Most of the letters are written to either answer the request or discuss the
details of artist’s contribution. There are approximately 116 items in this
section, all written to
Capt. H. Cotton Minchin.
The Miscellaneous Letters section
contains letters from Lord Jellicoe, a few other known authors, and many
authors whose name is illegible. Like the previous two sections, these
materials are written mostly to Capt. H. Cotton Minchin. There are
approximately 70 letters that cover a variety of different topics.
Approximately 41 items are in the Miscellaneous Documents category. These materials
include letters from various authors, including
Capt. H. Cotton Minchin, as well as other
documents relating to a mixture of different topics. Many of the letter
author’s names are illegible or are not found on the letter.
The Artwork section contains
numerous illustrations for The Legion book, contributed by various authors. Not
all of the works have the artist’s name on it, and some of the signatures are
illegible. In this category there are proof sheets for the book, as well as
multiple copies of some items. The section also contains some pieces of artwork
that were done by artists either not listed in the Letters from Artists section or were not listed on
the list of contributing artists, including Pablo Picasso, who was not listed
among the book’s artistic contributors.