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Correspondence from Louis Wilkinson to Karl Germer
17 St. Leonard's Terrace, London, S.W.3. England. Sloane 5811
19th February, 1948.
Dear Mr. Germer,
Your letters of February 9th and 13th are both duly received, and I thank you for them. I have been waiting to write to you in the hope that I might have something definite to report as regards the Official Receiver. Also I have been away, and that has rather interfered with my correspondence. But you will perhaps have already heard from Lady Harris' [Frieda Harris] lawyer. I have been trying to get in touch with her since my return, but I think she must be out of London as I have telephoned her several times and there has been no reply.
The Official Receiver wrote to me after considerable delay, completely ignoring your offer to the old creditors, and again raising objection to your claim upon A.C.'s estate, making various technical points which, having no legal knowledge, I was unable to follow. I therefore telephoned to Lady Harris, in view of your consent to engage her lawyer, if necessary, and she gave me his name and address. I then telephoned to him and he asked me to send him copies of your two letters that I had sent to the Receiver (one accompanied by details of cable communications between yourself and A.C.) and the Official Receiver's reply. I did so—this was when I was on the point of leaving London) and I have heard no more, so I hope you have had a direct communication. I explained to the lawyer the situation, with details in telephoning to him.
I certainly feel that, now that
the Official Receiver has ignored your offer, it may very
reasonably be withdrawn and I said so to the lawyer. What
you tell me in your letter of Feb. 9th puts a different
complexion on the matter.
No, it does not strike me that, in the copy of your letter to Mr. John Symonds which you enclosed, you are treating the matter of the copyright to lightly. I have every confidence in Mr. J. Symonds' integrity, and my definite impression was that A.C. had the same. He is extremely anxious to write as good a biography as he can. And is working very hard at it. This would be, as I am sure you will agree, in accordance with A.C.'s wishes. This brings me to the point raised in your letter of February 13th. I can very well understand your wish that everything designated for the Order in the Will should be sent to America as quickly as possible. The difficulty is that only the things stored at Whiteley's and the personal belongings, such as the ring, etc., to which the Receiver has waived any claim, can be sent without the executors here laying themselves open to prosecution. The Receiver knows from the Will that there are books and papers, for which he invited an offer from you—an offer which cannot, of course, be made until (1) you have a list of them and (2) until the Receiver's claim is allowed (if it is). If you would like to have the Whiteley-stored books and papers sent, together with the ring and stele, I will ask Mr. J. Symonds to have this done as soon as possible. I gathered that he feels that it will be best to send everything together when the way is clear, but I am sure he would meet your wishes in this.
The books and papers were examined by Mr. J. Symonds because it seemed necessary that everything not of value to the Order and not indicated by the terms of the Will should be weeded out. There are, for instance, a good many books of no value or interest, such as detective stories—A.C. did not, I feel, mean to include these under the expression "my books"—and there are receipts, prescription, etc. Also, Mr. J. Symonds was anxious to avail himself of any material that would be of use to him for his biography, and perhaps he did not feel that this should be done at the high pressure which would have been necessary to avoid delay if everything could have been sent out to you immediately. But, under the circumstances, delay was anyway inevitable. I feel confident that Mr. J. Symonds will do all that he can to get everything despatched to you as soon as the coast is clear. Of course no one can have the slightest doubt as to the provisions of the Will, or any doubt that they must be carried out exactly as soon as this can be done. As to the personal diaries, you may, I think, feel that the discretion of Mr. J. Symonds can be trusted. I will ask him to give you an approximate idea of the weight of all the material as you suggest.
Many thanks for seeing that copies of the press-cuttings were mailed to my daughter, Mrs. V. Kirchner.
I hope to be able to send you both the abridgement made by me of the Commentary and my Introductory Essay. Copies of these have been stored with papers of mine that are locked up in the keeping of a friend who lives in Chiswick, and, owing to his absence, I have not been able to get at them lately. But copies may also have been in A.C.'s possession and may already have been listed by Mr. J. Symonds. I will ask him when I next see him, which will write to them again on the matter.
I would have communicated directly with Lady Harris' lawyers when I found no letter from them on my return; but I cannot find their name and address. In the hurry of my departure I am afraid these somehow disappeared. However, it will be of course quite easy to get them again from Lady Harris. They may have thought it unnecessary to communicate with me as they are her lawyers and not mine.
I note that you have very considerately arranged that a sum of £100 be paid to me. I will let you know as soon as I receive it.
I do not know Gerald Yorke at all well; but from what I do know of him I should be inclined to endorse what you say about his ability and good will.
With kind regards, and very much regretting that things should be moving so slowly and that they should be impeded by difficulties,
Yours sincerely,
Louis Wilkinson
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