Longleat Releases Newly Discovered Letter Marking VE Day

“We opened the Victory case of Champagne which I have been keeping for this occasion and made a great hole in it.

"All the same I cannot realise that the fighting in Europe is really over. It has been the most utter and complete defeat.”

The extract is from a letter recently discovered in Longleat’s archives, released to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, today. 

VE Day – 8 May 1945 - saw the surrender of German forces at the end of World War II and was marked across the country including on the Wiltshire estate which also played its part to support the war effort.

Longleat archivist Emma Challinor said: “Our current Lord Bath’s great-grandfather, the 5th Marquess, was sharing Longleat House at the time with the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, Bath; it had moved there in its entirety for the duration of the war.
“The whole school gathered around a bonfire in the park to celebrate, later sending the 5th Marquess a poem to commemorate the event, which began: ‘Symbols of hope and aspiration high, The leaping flames challenged the darkening sky. Victory filled our hearts and minds that night ...’

“Lady Emma, daughter of the 5th Marquess, had been working with the Women’s Voluntary Service in Reading throughout the war, and she wrote to him and described the many ranges of emotions experienced by young and old on that momentous day.”

In addition to hosting the pupils from Bath, the estate had an American Military Hospital based in the park, near where the rhinos live today. It was designed to accommodate 750 patients and personnel. Near the current main entrance to the estate, there was also a major RAF base with buildings storing equipment and munitions.

The trains on Longleat Railway, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, will herald the start of the national two-minute silence on today at midday. 

One of Longleat’s flagship events, Icons of the Sky, this year will also commemorate the VE Day anniversary with flights including the Supermarine Spitfire.

Extract from the letter by Lady Emma, dated 12 May 1945. Lady Emma is the great aunt of Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath.

“I had to go to the office on VE Day, which I thought a bit hard, but I dined with Helen Smith that evening and they lit a bonfire for the children at dusk. They, the children never stopped running round and round the bonfire for ¾ of an hour waving flags. Even the youngest aged 5 ½. The energy of it was incredible, and a source of envy to your middle aged daughter.

"I go to London tomorrow to attend the service at St Pauls, which should be most impressive…. I will tell you all about it when I see you. We opened the Victory case of Champagne which I have been keeping for this occasion and made a great hole in it. All the same I cannot realise that the fighting in Europe is really over. It has been the most utter and complete defeat.”