Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Samuel Musgrove Howes Papers #11040-z, Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Barry R. Howes of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 1988 (Acc. 88077) and July 1988 (Acc. 88080).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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• Chauffeurs--England.
• Churchill, Clementine, Lady, 1885-1977.
• Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965.
• Howes, Samuel Musgrove, 1907-1988.
• Scrapbooks--England.

Samuel Musgrove Howes was born in West Ham, London, in 1907. He was educated (by Trade Scholarship) at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation, Poplar, 1921-1923. He apprenticed as a motor mechanic at a Ford Service Depot, Nottingham, 1923-1926.

Howes began work as a chauffeur in 1926, obtaining a First Class Chauffeur's Certificate from the Royal Automobile Club in 1928. He served as Sir Winston Churchill's chauffeur from 1928 to 1936. In 1932, he married the Churchills' parlour maid, Olive. After Howes worked as an engineer in Great Britain, he and his wife moved to Canada in 1955 and to California in 1957. He retired as Group Engineer at the Solar Aircraft Company in San Diego, Ca., in 1970.

Howes died in California in 1988. He maintained correspondence with Churchill; Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill; and Churchill's daughter, Mary Soames, throughout his life.

[Adapted from Winston S. Churchill, Martin Gilbert. Companion Volume 5, Part 3, p. 502.]

The collection includes correspondence, pictures, a scrapbook, and clippings of Samuel Musgrove Howes, chauffeur to Sir Winston Churchill from 1928 to 1936. Items all relate to Churchill and his family, and include three letters from Churchill and six from Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill.