A SIGNED letter from Winston Churchill praising the indomitable wartime spirit of Glasgow has emerged for the first time at auction.

 

Churchill wrote the letter to the Lord Provost of Glasgow from 10 Downing Street on January 28, 1941, thanking him for the reception he and Mrs Churchill had received in the city.

The Prime Minister, who famously visited the city with US envoy Harry Hopkins, reveals he came away "fortified by the assurance that, if the full force of the enemy's attack should be turned on Glasgow, as upon so many cities in the South, her citizens will endure and surmount it".

The typed sheet of headed paper will be sold at Bonhams in London on June 24, when it is estimated to fetch £1000-1500.

Churchill wrote the letter to Lord Provost Patrick Dollan after one of his most significant wartime visits to Glasgow, in January 1941.

He famously met with US President Roosevelt's special envoy Harry Hopkins at the North British Hotel in the city's George Square.

Britain was fighting alone against Germany and Hopkins had been sent to assess the determination of the British people to continue the fight, and the likely effectiveness of American help.

In an emotional after-dinner speech, Hopkins promised that he would do all in his power to ensure the support of the United States in the struggle against Hitler.

The previously unpublished letter, which has been kept until now in a private Scottish collection, it is expected to attract global interest.