Description
Object description
Papers covering his service as a Staff Captain with the British Military Mission to the Baltic in 1919 comprising ms and carbon ts notes (total 85pp) on the establishment of the Baltic States, 4 photographs and other documents, together with an exercise book containing ms diary entries (64pp) for 19 June – 11 December 1919 with details of his duties with the Quartermaster General branch of the Latvian Army and of operations involving both Bolshevik and German forces and also ms diary entries (16pp) for 21 July 1921 – 23 February 1922 covering his service in Turkey as a supervisor with the Gendarmerie carrying out tours of inspection in the Chanak province; ts memoirs (273pp) covering: his early life in Devon, brief details of his service in the Devonshire Regiment, with the 10th Battalion in England, on the Western Front and in Salonika, 1914 – 1915, his various staff appointments with the Regiment after being invalided home; service in Turkey, 1921 – 1923, with the Gendarmerie in Chanak and in Istambul, including details of incidents during the Chanak Crisis, civilian conditions and attitudes to the British; very briefly his military service with the Devonshire Regiment in England in the 1920s, at Staff College, Camberley on a course (1926 – 1928) and as an instructor (circa 1931 – 1934), at the War Office as GSO III Military Operations and at the Defence Conference, League of Nations; service in India (1934 - 1938) initially with the Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment, then as commanding officer of 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, with useful details of army and domestic life and descriptions of the North West Frontier; service with the War Office and as DQMG with BEF in France (December 1939 – May 1940) with useful insight into the problems faced by GHQ after the German invasion and a description of his eventual evacuation to England in a small boat after leaving the destroyer HMS KEITH, which was sunk off Dunkirk; as DQMG to Lieutenant General Sir Wilfrid Lindsell, then as DA & QMG, 2nd Corps in East Anglia and as chief military instructor Combined Operations Training Centre in Scotland (circa June 1940 - June 1942); his appointments in East Africa as commanding officer Eritrea Area and of the 2nd Brigade, Sudan Defence Force and President of the Eritrean Projects Board, with mention of civilian conditions and giving a detailed picture of operations, including patrols by the units under his command which included a camel mounted unit (circa June 1942 - May 1944); his appointments as commanding officer Southern Palestine area (May 1944 – 1946) with useful information concerning internal security problems, anti terrorist operations, extremist activities including the incident, which resulted in him being injured and evacuated to England for treatment and interesting references to Lord Gort and other High Commissioners as well as descriptions of his travels in the Middle East and of the staging of a 'British Day'; papers relating to Eritrea including reports on anti Shifta patrols and operations by Border Force in tribal areas, February – May 1944, two wartime publications by the British Military Administration, a letter from the 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (September 1943) and other correspondence; a manual for eligibility officers issued by the International Refugee Organisation (circa 1950); personal papers including photographs, 6 letters from a Latvian family, a letter from Earl Alexander (1962) and other correspondence (1920 – 1962); also 8 annotated maps of Eritrea, Palestine and Sudan.
Content description
Papers covering his service as a Staff Captain with the British Military Mission to the Baltic in 1919 comprising ms and carbon ts notes (total 85pp) on the establishment of the Baltic States, 4 photographs and other documents, together with an exercise book containing ms diary entries (64pp) for 19 June – 11 December 1919 with details of his duties with the Quartermaster General branch of the Latvian Army and of operations involving both Bolshevik and German forces and also ms diary entries (16pp) for 21 July 1921 – 23 February 1922 covering his service in Turkey as a supervisor with the Gendarmerie carrying out tours of inspection in the Chanak province; ts memoirs (273pp) covering: his early life in Devon, brief details of his service in the Devonshire Regiment, with the 10th Battalion in England, on the Western Front and in Salonika, 1914 – 1915, his various staff appointments with the Regiment after being invalided home; service in Turkey, 1921 – 1923, with the Gendarmerie in Chanak and in Istambul, including details of incidents during the Chanak Crisis, civilian conditions and attitudes to the British; very briefly his military service with the Devonshire Regiment in England in the 1920s, at Staff College, Camberley on a course (1926 – 1928) and as an instructor (circa 1931 – 1934), at the War Office as GSO III Military Operations and at the Defence Conference, League of Nations; service in India (1934 - 1938) initially with the Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment, then as commanding officer of 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, with useful details of army and domestic life and descriptions of the North West Frontier; service with the War Office and as DQMG with BEF in France (December 1939 – May 1940) with useful insight into the problems faced by GHQ after the German invasion and a description of his eventual evacuation to England in a small boat after leaving the destroyer HMS KEITH, which was sunk off Dunkirk; as DQMG to Lieutenant General Sir Wilfrid Lindsell, then as DA & QMG, 2nd Corps in East Anglia and as chief military instructor Combined Operations Training Centre in Scotland (circa June 1940 - June 1942); his appointments in East Africa as commanding officer Eritrea Area and of the 2nd Brigade, Sudan Defence Force and President of the Eritrean Projects Board, with mention of civilian conditions and giving a detailed picture of operations, including patrols by the units under his command which included a camel mounted unit (circa June 1942 - May 1944); his appointments as commanding officer Southern Palestine area (May 1944 – 1946) with useful information concerning internal security problems, anti terrorist operations, extremist activities including the incident, which resulted in him being injured and evacuated to England for treatment and interesting references to Lord Gort and other High Commissioners as well as descriptions of his travels in the Middle East and of the staging of a 'British Day'; papers relating to Eritrea including reports on anti Shifta patrols and operations by Border Force in tribal areas, February – May 1944, two wartime publications by the British Military Administration, a letter from the 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (September 1943) and other correspondence; a manual for eligibility officers issued by the International Refugee Organisation (circa 1950); personal papers including photographs, 6 letters from a Latvian family, a letter from Earl Alexander (1962) and other correspondence (1920 – 1962); also 8 annotated maps of Eritrea, Palestine and Sudan.
History note
Cataloguer AC