“We had time, before she sailed, for half an hour’s chat, both of us probably realising that it might well be our last meeting”
“My stockpile of tobacco gave me the currency that I needed to buy pencils and other materials”
“Providentially when the air raid warning had been sounded, most, if not all of the night watchers were in the basement for a game of billiards”
A beautifully illustrated new book, For the Fifty, pays tribute to the 50 men from the predecessor firms of PwC who died during the Second World War.
Produced in association with Leeds Beckett University (LBU), the book includes biographies of many of those who served between 1939-45, as well as chapters on routine at the office during air raids and black-outs, research into the only woman mentioned on the Memorials and Rolls of Honour, and contributions from some of today’s partners, staff and alumni, who explain how the 1939-45 period still resonates through family connections.
Source material included documents, publications, memorials and photographs in the extensive PwC archive, with the students of LBU using their research and creative skills to add context and develop accompanying themes. This is the second collaboration between PwC and LBU, following 2018’s Mr Squirrell’s Boys, the story of nine staff members who died during the First World War.
For the Fifty has been produced free of charge, with a request that, via a QR code on the inside pages, readers make a donation to the PwC Foundation, which promotes social inclusion and sustainable development in the UK and supports four partner charities.
