A SHEET of blotting paper used on the Armistice document that ended the First World War and featuring the signature of the Scot who was Britain's senior representative at the momentous occasion is expected to fetch up to £30,000 at auction.
The sheet bears imprints of the signatures of Scottish Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss and also the French Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies, Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
Admiral Wemyss, the First Sea Lord, and Marshal Foch, signed the Armistice on behalf of the Allies in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, northern France, at 5am on Monday 11 November 1918.
The paper used to blot the ink on their signatures was kept by Captain John Marriott, Naval Assistant to Admiral Wemyss during the negotiations.
The sheet, along with an inscription from Weymss attesting to its authenticity, will be sold at Bonhams First World War Centenary Sale in London on October 1.
Also included are letters from Marriott to his Scottish wife Margaret -- daughter of the pioneering Scottish oceanographer Sir John Murray -- written while the negotiations were underway.
Marriott, clearly aware that he was witnessing a moment of history, wrote on November 9, "Here we are out in the middle of a lovely forest on a beautiful day. The Boche is in a similar train about 200' off & we await the reply to our armistice terms which have gone to Germany.
"We had 2 meetings y'day & I have never seen a more miserable lot of men, I feel they know the game is up and are terrified of Bolshevism.
"They say they are very hungry in the Country & badly in need of everything.
"War is a Godless business and I do so hope we shall finish it all by Monday.
"We shall be here possibly till then but one never knows anyhow, after this business we are off home again.
"It is a historic meeting this without a doubt & I shall never forget it, please God we pull it off & as far as I can see I think we shall..."
In a separate document Marriott sets out a full account of the historic events and recalls the moment when he was instructed to phone Buckingham Palace.
He writes: "...At 5am. orders were issued to cease hostilities at 11am afloat, ashore and in the air.
"I was told by Admiral Wemyss to ring up BUCKINGHAM PALACE and inform HIS MAJESTY; the line was dreadful and I must have been cut off about 30 times but finally got Charles Cust and informed him.
"I also told 10 Downing Street. We then had a glass of port and went for a walk in the Forest which was wonderfully soothing after our busy night..."
Matthew Haley, head of Bonhams Book Department, said today/yesterday [WED]: "The sheet of blotting paper is a fascinating piece of history in its own right but just as valuable I think are the letters and recollections of Captain Marriott who wrote with great awareness about the momentous events unfolding around him."
Admiral of the Fleet Rosslyn Erskine Wemyss, 1st Baron Wester Wemyss, was the senior British representative at the signing of the armistice that ended active hostilities in the war.
After attending theParis Peace Conference as Britain's naval representative, Wemyss resigned in November 1919.
Wemyss was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 1 November 1919 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Wester Wemyss, of Wemyss in Fife on 18 November 1919.
He later lived in Cannes where he died in his garden on 24 May 1933. He was buried at Wemyss Castle, his ancestral home.
Marshal Ferdinand Foch was a French soldier, military theorist, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Allies in the spring of 1918.
On 11 November 1918 Foch accepted the German request for an armistice. Foch advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose a threat to France ever again. After the Treaty of Versailles, because Germany was allowed to remain a united country, Foch declared "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years".
His words proved prophetic: the Second World War started twenty years and 65 days later.
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