Royal Navy
Organization
Found in 37 Collections and/or Records:
File
Literary: correspondence with consultants and others on WSC's war memoirs ("The Second World War", mainly volumes 1 to 4), A-B., Sep 1945 - Jun 1950
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/18A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: William Deakin (9); [George Gordon] Allen (16); Sir John Slessor on information on the Coastal Command in 1943; Thomas Allen, publisher, on Canadian editions of the memoirs (5); 1st Lord Altrincham [earlier Sir Edward Grigg] on Sir Edward Spears reviewing "Their Finest Hour" (volume 2); "Max", 1st Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Sir Max Aitken]; Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall (2); Ernest Passant, Director of Research, Librarian and Keeper of the Papers, Foreign Office...
Dates:
Sep 1945 - Jun 1950
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: Sunday Dispatch articles by WSC: 3., Dec 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/649
Scope and Contents
Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "The Most Thrilling Days I Have Ever Lived" on his experiences as First Lord of the Admiralty, on board the Enchantress, visiting the British Naval Fleet, his threat to resign, and the decision to order the Fleet to its war stations; "With the Kaiser on Parade" on his experiences as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, viewing the manoeuvres of the German Army in 1906, WSC's impressions of its strength, and his meeting with Young Turks in...
Dates:
Dec 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Literary: Sunday Dispatch articles by WSC: 4., 01 Jun 1941 - 06 Jul 1941
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/693
Scope and Contents
Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "The Battle of Jutland", giving details of the battle and [Lord] Jellicoe's role; "Why we did not hang the Kaiser" on [David] Lloyd George's desire to put Kaiser Wilhelm II on trial in the aftermath of World War I, the ultimate responsibility for acts of war, and Wilhelm's refuge in the Netherlands; "'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins" [rewritten as a short story] (2 parts); "June 28" on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his...
Dates:
01 Jun 1941 - 06 Jul 1941
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Official: War and Air: correspondence, mainly on demobilisation and the reorganisation of the Air Ministry., 01 Feb 1919 - 28 Feb 1919
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 16/4
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: King Manuel II on the "future of Portugal"; General Sir William Robertson [General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the Forces in Great Britain] (3); 1st Lord Milner [Secretary of State for the Colonies] on appointing neither Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard or General Sir John Cowans as Governor of Nigeria (2); Andrew Bonar Law [Lord Privy Seal] passing on a copy of a letter from Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Lawson on a decline in his pay and position; Philip Kerr [later...
Dates:
01 Feb 1919 - 28 Feb 1919
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War and Air: correspondence, much on the Russian campaign., 01 Apr 1919 - 30 Apr 1919
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 16/6
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: General Sir Ian Hamilton refuting press allegations; Walter Roch on the Dardanelles [Turkey] Inquiry; Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig [Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders] (2); General Sir Henry Wilson [Chief of Imperial General Staff] on matters discussed at the Paris [France] Peace Conference (7); 1st Lord Milner [Secretary of State for the Colonies]; Colonel James Blair [Chief, British Military Mission in Siberia]; 1st Lord Haldane...
Dates:
01 Apr 1919 - 30 Apr 1919
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: weekly resumes., 01 Aug 1940 - 03 Oct 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 23/6
Scope and Contents
Printed reviews of the naval, military and air situation, including: home waters; the Mediterranean; attacks on shipping; enemy shipping; minelaying; minesweeping; Germany; the Middle East; Africa; air defence; air attacks on Germany and Italy; enemy intelligence; the Balkans; home security; economic warfare; Italy; the North Sea; the United States; the Soviet Union.
Dates:
01 Aug 1940 - 03 Oct 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: weekly resumes., 14 Nov 1940 - 26 Dec 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 23/8
Scope and Contents
Printed reviews of the naval, military and air situation, including: home waters; the Mediterranean; enemy intelligence; shipping losses; enemy shipping; minelaying and minesweeping; Germany; the Balkans; the Middle East; air attacks on enemy territory; air attacks on Britain; Italy; Africa; air intelligence; home security.
Dates:
14 Nov 1940 - 26 Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence., 08 Jan 1938 - [1940]
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/336
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence issues include: 5th Lord Munster [earlier Geoffry FitzClarence] (2); Robert Cary on developments in Japanese naval armaments and the implications for Singapore; Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister, on WSC's notes on aircraft types (2); Sir Henry Strakosch (3); F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] on Strakosch's figures for the air raids on Barcelona [Spain]; [Eric] John Hodsoll [Inspector-General], Home Office ARP Department, on the state of the ARP programme,...
Dates:
08 Jan 1938 - [1940]
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence., 06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/371A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence issues include: Sir Thomas Inskip [Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, later 1st Lord Caldecote]; Harry Sellar, Private Secretary to Inskip (2); Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, on subjects including the arming of the Guards Battalions; Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, on showing WSC [air construction graphs]; 1st Lord Swinton [former Secretary of State for Air, earlier Philip Cunliffe-Lister and Philip Lloyd-Greame] on the formation...
Dates:
06 Nov 1936 - 20 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence and papers., 09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/302
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficiency of the RAF; Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt [former Vice-President of the Tank Board] (2); Sir William Beveridge [Director of London School of Economics and Political Science]; Oswald Frewen on working with German and Italian sailors, German fanaticism, Italian aid to Franco and how the policies of Neville Chamberlain [Prime Minister] encourage Germany and Italy; Leo Amery; Basil Liddell Hart; Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson...
Dates:
09 Jan 1937 - 23 Feb 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/266A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Basil Liddell Hart [Military Correspondent to the Times] on the troop system used in India; "Harold R" [1st Lord Rothermere, earlier Sir Harold Harmsworth] on subjects including 1st Lord Weir's position in defence [as Adviser to the Air Ministry], the likely stop to any battleship programme, pilot training, the likelihood of a quick German victory against Britain and France, German contempt for the British Government, and the Government's refusal to discuss the...
Dates:
12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open, (folio 93 opened as a 'sanitised' photocopy, original closed on advice of Cabinet Office).
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 09 Feb 1920 - 28 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/267
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Frederick Beaumont-Nesbitt [Military Attache, Paris, France] on WSC's visit to see French military manoeuvres at Aix-en-Provence and the Maginot Line (2); "George L" [1st Lord Lloyd of Dolobran]; Alan Herbert, introducing Major-General Sir Percy Hobart [Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, and Commander, Tank Brigade] (2); Desmond Morton on subjects including meeting the representative of the Spanish Nationalists, the Marques del Moral, Communist atrocities in Spain, the...
Dates:
09 Feb 1920 - 28 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Memoranda etc., 14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/268
Scope and Contents
Includes: memorandum by Desmond Morton on subjects including German propaganda on French military aviation and the Soviet army, and notes [added to file in January 1996] on a speech by the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence [Sir Thomas Inskip, later 1st Lord Caldecote], rebutting Inskip's claims for military production; memorandum by Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficient state of the RAF, and its need for expansion; press cuttings from the Figaro, with an article on the Anglo-French crisis...
Dates:
14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Minister for Co-ordination of Defence: Correspondence with., 14 May 1936 - 23 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/269
Scope and Contents
Correspondence between Sir Thomas Inskip [later 1st Lord Caldecote], Minister for Co-ordination of Defence and WSC on subjects including: the Fleet Air Arm; progress in the 1922 Committee on realizing the inadequacy of air defences and general delays in the committee; the possibility of an airborne invasion; the usefulness of WSC's advice; the role of a Minister of Supply; the visit and report of Allen Clark, Joint Managing Director of Plessey Company Limited, to German munitions works;...
Dates:
14 May 1936 - 23 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: Defence - correspondence with Prime Minister Clement Attlee., Mar 1946 - Aug 1950
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/29A-B
Scope and Contents
Other correspondents include: Oliver Lyttelton [later 1st Lord Chandos]; Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon] (2); A V Alexander [later Lord Alexander of Hillsborough] on Czechoslovak railways; Francis Graham-Harrison, Laurence Pumphrey (2), and Paul Osmond, Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister; Laurence Helsby [Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister]; Antony Head (2); 1st Lord Cherwell [earlier F A Lindemann]; Clement Davies [Leader of the Liberal Party]. Also includes notes...
Dates:
Mar 1946 - Aug 1950
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: Defence: miscellaneous correspondence and papers., Feb 1947 - Sep 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/36
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: A V Alexander [later Lord Alexander of Hillsborough], Minister of Defence [until February 1950] (3); George Ward; Antony Head (3); Arthur Henderson [later Lord Rowley, Secretary of State for Air]; 1st Lord Cherwell [earlier F A Lindemann] (2); Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon]; David Hunt [Private Secretary to Prime Minister Clement Attlee] (2); Captain Alan Hillgarth [earlier Alan Evans] on Soviet forces in Europe and Soviet affairs (7); James Thomas [later 1st Lord...
Dates:
Feb 1947 - Sep 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm., 11 Feb 1936 - 21 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/272
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: 1st Lord Lloyd [of Dolobran, President of the Navy League] on WSC speaking to the League (2); Sir John Thornycroft [President and Director, J I Thornycroft and Company Limited] on his firm's designs for an aircraft carrier and anti-submarine craft and cuts in the shipbuilding industry (with a description of the anti-submarine craft); Maitland Boucher [former member of the Naval Air Division] on meeting WSC about the Fleet Air Arm (3); Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald...
Dates:
11 Feb 1936 - 21 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 19 Nov 1939
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 19/2A/102-107
Scope and Contents
Letter from WSC to Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] on replacing Sir Hugh Sinclair as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service with Captain [Gerald] Muirhead-Gould RN; also the need to improve Admiralty intelligence services, with note to Private Secretary on distribution. [carbon and draft].
Dates:
19 Nov 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open.
Item
(Untitled), 09 Nov 1939
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 19/2B/112-113
Scope and Contents
Letter from Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] to Sir Archibald Carter [Permanent Secretary of Admiralty] asking for nominations from WSC and [Admiral of the Fleet Sir] Dudley Pound [1st Sea Lord] for Admiral [Sir Hugh] Sinclair's replacement as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.
Dates:
09 Nov 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open.
Item
(Untitled), 04 Jan 1915
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 13/46/7-8
Scope and Contents
Letter from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet [Admiral Sir John Jellicoe] on the need to rest the fleets and flotillas to conserve strength, and stressing the great importance of capturing the island of Borkum [Germany] to provide an overseas base for British submarines. WSC also comments on using "priceless information" [intercepted and decoded German naval signals; these comments were deleted before the letter was sent]. [Hand-written copy, with typed...
Dates:
04 Jan 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/104/1
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, July 1943.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; the Chiefs of Staff; senior civil servants, including Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; "C" [Major General Sir Stewart Menzies, Head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service].Subjects covered by the minutes...
Dates:
01 Jul 1943 - 31 Jul 1943
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Apr 1942 - 30 Apr 1942
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/67/3
Scope and Contents
Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, April 1942.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff.Subjects covered by the minutes include: the Japanese threat to the Falkland Islands; discussion of operation "Ironclad" [code name for British occupation of Diego Suarez, Madagascar]; the British naval...
Dates:
01 Apr 1942 - 30 Apr 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 01 Nov 1939 - 30 Nov 1939
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 19/3/3
Scope and Contents
First Lord of the Admiralty's printed minutes, November 1939.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (sometimes annotated with additional printed information) to: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips]; [Permanent] Secretary [Sir Archibald Carter]; the Sea Lords, particularly [3rd Sea Lord and] Controller [Rear-Admiral Bruce Fraser] and 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound]; various naval directors; Professor [F A] Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] and Major...
Dates:
01 Nov 1939 - 30 Nov 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Item
(Untitled), [1914]
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 13/6B/252-258
Scope and Contents
Letter from Rear-Admiral David Beatty [Commander, 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron], on the situation in the North Sea and defences for the naval bases, suggesting that Rear- Admiral John de Robeck [Admiral of Patrols] should be put in charge of countering the submarine and mine menace, with more disciplined forces; he also suggests that if the Scapa Flow [Orkney, Scotland] anchorage were to be used again, steps should be taken to deal with the spies there, with the introduction of martial law....
Dates:
[1914]
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 19 May [1913]
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 13/6B/466-468
Scope and Contents
Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], to the Secretary, Admiralty [Sir (William) Graham Greene], the 1st Sea Lord [Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Lord Milford Haven], the Chief of Staff [Sir Henry Jackson] and the Director of the Intelligence Division [Captain (William) Reginald Hall], on the likelihood that German land pressure on the Netherlands would be irresistible in a war, and that the country would be "compelled to go with Germany openly or covertly". WSC states that...
Dates:
19 May [1913]
Conditions Governing Access:
Open