Author:
Bertrand Edward Dawson, Lord Dawson of Penn (1864-1945), President, Royal College of Physicians; attended dying King George V [G. Street & Co., 6 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3, advertising agency]
Publication details:
Mounted on letterheads of G. Street & Co., Ltd., 6, Gracechurch Street, EC3. London: April and May 1931.
An interesting collection, casting light on media attitudes to the British Royal family and news management in the interwar years. Dawson was clearly mindful of publicity. As his entry in the Oxford DNB explains: 'It was Dawson who composed on a menu card the celebrated lines, ‘the King's life is moving peacefully towards its close’, having modified this from what he described as "a very commonplace" final bulletin used for Edward VII.' Penn's attendance during the King's final illness was controversial: it was later revealed that he hastened his end with morphine and cocaine.