Available onlineJennie and Nye
(page 3 of 3)| Image : | Jennie Lee speaking at Nye Bevan's Memorial Service |
| Date: | 1960 |
| Image : | Letter to Jennie Lee from Winston Churchill |
| Date: | 1960 |
Nye died on the 6 July 1960 at Asheridge Farm.
Within the archive collection there are 47 folders full of get-well cards and well-wishes for Nye and condolence cards for Jennie after his death. Among them is this letter from Winston Churchill who, despite being politically opposed to Nye, states that he “admired his commanding qualities”. Nye had clearly touched the lives of many people during his life.
The photograph on this page shows Jennie at Nye’s memorial service which was held near Tredegar in Wales a week after his death. A second memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey in London. Jennie was devastated by Nye’s death. A few days after the London memorial service, she checked herself into a clinic in Edinburgh.
In another letter written before Jennie went to the clinic, she wrote:
“This may be a silly idea, but I grow more tired all the time so must break it somehow… [I need] complete privacy until I am less nervous.”
In 1980 Jennie published her book ‘My Life with Nye’ describing him in the final paragraph:
“…as great a delight to his family and friends as he was a scourge to those he believed were responsible for inflicting unnecessary poverty on their fellow men and for driving a demented world to the brink of nuclear war.”
