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            <title type="main">Letter from Sir Wilfrid Spender to his wife Lady Lillian Spender, [January 1916]</title>
            <title type="sub">Letters 1916-1923</title>
            <author>Wilfrid Bliss Spender</author>
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            <p>This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in <date>2017</date>. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.</p>
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            <publisher>Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities</publisher>
            <pubPlace>Vienna, AT</pubPlace>
            <date>2026</date>
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               <p>Letter from Wilfred Spender to his wife Lady Lillian Spender  née Dean, (1880-1968).  Sir Wifrid Spender (1876 -1960)  expresses concern over officials other than the censor reading the opinions he has expressed about the government. Wilfred also informs his wife about the difficulties he is having working with his General. 

This letter is part of a series of correspondence from Sir Wilfrid Bliss Spender to his wife Lady Lillian Spender. The letters date mainly from 1915 to 1918, when Sir Wilfrid was serving in France. The letters concern politics, the Irish question, personal life, and Wilfrid's experience of the Great War.

Spender was a member of the British Army until 1913 when controversy surrounding his signature of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant resulted in his resignation. Spender was called up for military service in 1914 and from 1915 served in the 36th (Ulster) Division. Throughout the war, Spender remained in contact with the Ulster Unionist leadership, and consistently opposed Home Rule and the six-county solution.

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              <persName key="#letters1916_person-None">Lillian Spender</persName>
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               <item n="death">1960</item>
               <item n="tag">World War I (1914-1918)</item>
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               <item n="topic">World War I (1914-1918)</item>
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             My PR   The enclosed is addressed to <lb/>dear folks on 2<hi rend="superscript">nd</hi> thoughts, tho' <lb/>not at first so intended.   I thought your letter would be <lb/>from the flat , &amp; wonder if you <lb/>have been getting mine sent there! <lb/>Please see the <seg type="unclear">Porter</seg>, as I don't <lb/>want an official — other than <lb/>the Mill censor to read what <lb/>I may have written about the <lb/>Govt!    Genl very difficult to move <lb/>in some things. A big scheme <lb/>I am doing which is wanted in <lb/>a hurry but which the Genl <lb/>whose decision I must have on <lb/>certain points unless I assume
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            command of the Div ! says <lb/>he prefers to do  this  when the <lb/>weather gets more settled !    There'll be a row, &amp; I can't <lb/>see the Genl to do this or  R  to <lb/>push him  along  a bit. In is own <lb/>ideas there is no holding of him <lb/>&amp; it is difficult to keep pace but <lb/>in matters from above he is <lb/>quite a different man !   R is getting gloomier. I thought <lb/>I could get him to speak out <lb/>but he changed his mind. I think <lb/>perhaps it is as well. I really <lb/>am sorry , &amp; we shall probably get <lb/>a beast in his place.    Bruce is doing quite well <lb/>&amp; I like him — a steady workhorse <lb/>with a little more Mill experience <lb/>a useful man — but I miss R. <lb/>When do you go to the flat???   WBS 
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