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A trusted tradeswoman with sensible rates covering Southampton, New Forest & Waterside areas CONTACT HANNAH 07585 778136 W: www.hannahs-electrics.co.uk • E: hannahelectrics@gmail.com Like us on Facebook How Hitler Inadvertently Helped Fund a New Forest Spitfire by Marc Heighway Marc hosts monthly local history talks, visit: nfhwa.org/events for details I’ve researched many interesting human stories connected to the New Forest’s Second World War history, but one of the most intriguing and ironic tales involves Hitler inadvertently contributing to the funding of a Spit re that represented our local area. e incredible story starts in May of 1940, when Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircra Production, established the Spit re Fund. e initiative encouraged businesses, communities, and citizens from all walks of life to contribute, donate, and fundraise as much money as possible to help pay for the production of Spit res to counter the Lu wa e. Beaverbrook said the cost to produce a Spit re was £5,000 (£355,000 in 2025). e actual cost was closer to £12,000 (£860,000 in 2025). But he deliberately priced a Spit re at £5,000 as he was anxious to not price it out of reach for the people fundraising. People from all over the country started raising money, and the New Forest area was no di erent. Posters including slogans such as “A Spit re a day keeps the Nazis away”, and “Support the District Spit re Fighter Fund” started to appear on the walls of village halls, post o ces, shops, and pubs. e New Forest Spit re Fund was managed by Pearl Pleydell-Bouverie. She had been Lady Montagu of Appeal to Reason by Adolf Hitler”. e lea ets contained a written speech by Hitler where he appealed to the British people to accept peace terms. e lea ets were intended to sway public opinion in Britain, but the e ort was largely dismissed by the British government as well as the public, who saw it as a cynical ploy rather than a genuine o er of peace. Most people who picked the lea ets o the ground treated them with the disdain they deserved and threw them away. However, by August 1940, an enterprising woman living in Beaulieu had a rather ingenious idea. Mrs Louise Rachel Shennan came into the possession of a large pile of Hitler’s propaganda lea ets and decided to sell them back to people in the New Forest as souvenirs. She priced them at half a crown each with all the proceeds going into the fundraising pot. She told a newspaper how the lea ets were “selling like hot cakes”, with some undoubtedly being sold back to people who had previously binned their lea ets. Once the New Forest villages combined all fundraising e orts, £5,000 was reached which was enough to buy a new RAF Spit re in September 1940. e Spit re was aptly named the ‘ e New Forest’. Such was the enthusiasm for the project that another £5,000 was raised two months later, meaning the New Forest Spit re Fund could nance a second aircra . e next one was called ‘ e King Rufus’. Sadly, neither Spit re would last long in service. Once built, e New Forest was damaged in combat just two Beaulieu up until 1929, the year her husband 2nd Baron Montagu died. Despite her husband’s death, she was still responsible for running the Beaulieu Estate. She became the organiser and treasurer and responsible for collecting donations. Although certain foods, supplies, and money were in short supply, it didn’t stop New Forest and Waterside people coming up with ingenious ways to raise money or simply putting their hands in their pockets to get £5,000 together for a Spit re. Fundraising efforts included aluminium recycling, jumble sales, football matches, tennis tournaments, card games, dances, exhibitions, concerts, and house to house collections. And it was at this point at which the rather ironic and initial thread of the story connecting Hitler to the New Forest Spit re Fund takes place… In July 1940, the Lu wa e started dropping propaganda lea ets over England titled “A Last Woman with a Last Appeal to Reason Hitler leaflet Continued on page 23
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