Letter of H.G. Wells to Edith Harrison.

Letter of Herbert G. Wells to Edith Harrison whose son Ronald Dennis Harrison was one of the first groups of Royal Air Force cadets sent for training initially at the Spartan School in Tulsa in 1941. Dennis was the first casualty of this programme when his plane crashed on 11th July 1941 at Collinsville near Tulsa. In the letter H.G. Wells sends his condolences to Edith Harrison and provides his views on the war and its causes, and also his philosophical views on sacrifice and death.

The letter is accompanied by a transcript, a biographical note about the donor's family and a printout of a scanned photograph of Ronald Dennis Harrison.

H. G. Wells was a novelist and social commentator. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, and educated locally. From the age of 13 he worked unsuccessfully as a draper's assistant and chemist's assistant, before becoming a pupil teacher at Midhurst Grammar School. In 1884 he began studying under Thomas Huxley at the Normal School (later the Royal College) of Science in South Kensington, but left without a degree. He finally gained a University of London BSc in 1890. Wells became a teacher and freelance journalist before branching out into novels and short stories. He was married twice and had several other liaisons with women, including the writer Rebecca West (afterwards Dame Cicily Andrews). Today he is best known for his science fiction works, including The Time Machine (1895) and The War of the Worlds (1898). During his lifetime he was also known as a non-fiction writer and a committed socialist.

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