Description:

George David 1863 - 1945 WWI David Lloyd George large top secret leather dispatch lock box with travel handle.

WWI wood framed dispatch lock box with black leather covering, 18" x 12" x 6" high. Owned by David Lloyd George. Beveled top, with the embossed name of David Lloyd George in rubbed gilt as "The Right Hon D. Lloyd George M.P." Handles to front and top. Leather scuffed and rubbed. Box is locked with the keys missing.

Dispatch boxes were wooden boxes used as a lectern from which frontbench members of Parliament deliver speeches to their parliamentary chamber. They were used for members to carry bills and other documents into the chamber. This box was personally owned by David Lloyd George, who was a key figure in Great Britain during WWI. He heralded the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government (1916-22), during and immediately after the First World War. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers.

A dispatch box goes back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and originally referred to an important message it once contained for the Queen. Today a dispatch box refers both to those sometimes known as red boxes or ministerial boxes, which are used by the Sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Her ministers in the British government to securely transport sensitive documents and those used in the lower houses of the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia.

They were issued to every government minister in the UK government, each personalized with the title of both the owner and recipient. For example, the budget box is labelled as belonging to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. According to the Government: "Ministers are permitted to use ordinary lockable briefcases to transport information which has been classified 'Confidential' or below. For information with a higher security level (such as 'Secret') they are required to use dispatch boxes, which offer a higher level of security.

This fantastic clandestine box from WWI remains locked, as the keys do not accompany the lot. An excellent artifact of a bygone era.

More recently boxes owned and used by famous political figures from British history have been sold at auction. These boxes represent some of the most important possessions of former prime ministers. Margaret Thatcher's ministerial dispatch box was sold at auction by Christie's in 2015 for £242,500. Winston Churchill's red box was sold by Sotheby's in 2014 for £158,500, or 25 times the estimated price.

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$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000