Description
Object description
British officer served with 267th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery in France, 1918; served with Royal Garrison Artillery in GB, 1919-1922; student at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London, GB, 1922-1924; served as instructor with Mechanical Traction Branch, Royal Military College of Science, Woolwich, London, GB, 1925-1929; student with 48th Advanced Class at Royal Military College of Science, Woolwich, London, GB, 1929-1932; served with 17th Medium Bty, Royal Artillery in India, 1932-1934; served with Tank Inspectorate Department, Woolwich Arsenal, London, GB, 1934-1936 and with Directorate of Munitions Production in GB, 1936-1938
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wimbledon, GB, 1898-1916: family; education; reasons for choice of military career and attending Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Aspects of period as officer with 267th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery in France, 1918: types of artillery tractors used; support vehicles; reaction to loss of horses to machine gun fire. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Garrison Artillery in GB, 1919-1922: posting to Larkhill Camp, 1919; description of Holt Artillery Tractor; attitude of pre-war officers towards mechanisation; memories of demonstration of Vickers tank, 1923; lack of contact with Royal Tank Corps. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London, GB, 1922-1924: transfer to 9th Pack Bty, Royal Artillery; reasons for volunteering for mechanisation course.
REEL 2 Continues: details of mechanisation course; use of practise vehicles; question of imbalance between theoretical and practical training. Recollections of period as instructor with Mechanical Traction Branch at Royal Military College of Science at Woolwich, London, GB, 1925-1929: background to appointment, 1925; re-organisation of syllabus; details of repair facilities; attempts to interest senior officers in mechanisation; types of vehicles used at college; character of Dragon Mark III Artillery Tractor and Birch Self-Propelled Gun; degree of enthusiasm for mechanisation amongst Royal Artillery students.
REEL 3 Continues: description of Dominion Premier shows, 1926; description of canon portee system; visit to French driving and maintenance school; assessment of French mechanisation efforts. Memories of attending 48th Advanced Class at Royal Military College of Science at Woolwich, London, GB, 1929-1932 including question of senior officers ignorance of mechanisation, 1932. Aspects of period as officer with 17th Medium Bty, Royal Artillery in India, 1932-1934: reception on arrival at unit; duties; lack of training with infantry.
REEL 4 Continues: operational problems with vehicles; character of unit; Indian Army attitude towards mechanisation; vehicle endurance tests. Recollections of period as officer with Tank Inspection Department, Woolwich Arsenal, London, GB, 1934-1936: posting to department; background to department's development; duties and demarcation in department; drawing up specifications for armour plate; liaison with armour plate manufacturers; shortages of armour plate manufacturers; testing plate and rivets; testing Ordnance QF 2 Pounder Gun.
REEL 5 Continues: trials for specifications for armour plate; question of degree of knowledge about foreign developments; liaison procedures with manufacturers; assessment of capabilities of various companies; inspection and complaints procedure for service vehicles; question of concentration on light tank production; division of responsibility for tank design between Directors of Mechanisation and Artillery.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period with Directorate of Munitions Production in GB, 1936-1938: character of government direction; duties; government resistance to arms expenditure; influence of Sir Harold Brown; technical and administration delays in munitions production during rearmament production; problems of casting armoured components; industry's resistance to convert to arms and munition production; background to civilian employment with Hadfields Ltd from 1938.