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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 and 17th Lord Derby [British Ambassador to France] (2) on territorial forces; General John Pershing [Commander-in-Chief of American Expeditionary Forces] on decorating United States commanders; Major-General David Campbell on re-enlisting NCOs; Sir Archibald Sinclair [later 1st Lord Thurso, Personal Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War] (5); David Lloyd George (2); J A Spender [Editor of the Westminster Gazette] apologising over an article; Lieutenant-General Sir Hubert Gough on an inquiry into the St Quentin [France] battle; [Georges] Clemenceau [Prime Minister of France]; Lord French [earlier Sir John French, later 1st Lord Ypres, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland] (2) and Colonel Vernon Kell [Military Intelligence, War Office] on subjects including a Criminal Investigation Department for Ireland (2); Walter Long [First Lord of the Admiralty] (4); Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Dawnay; Sir Frederick Ponsonby [later Lord Sysonby, Keeper of the Privy Purse] on medals; Sir Alfred Fripp, enclosing a 1904 copy letter from Alfred Keogh, on army medical matters; General Sir William Robertson [Commander-in-Chief, British Army on the Rhine] on altering the command; Sir George Arthur (3); Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss [later 1st Lord Wester Wemyss, 1st Sea Lord]; Hugh McCrea and Sir Reginald Brade [Secretary, War Office] on subjects including Brade's health; Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard [Chief of the Air Staff] on subjects including his health; Andrew Bonar Law [Lord Privy Seal] (2).Also includes copy telegrams and letters from WSC to some of those mentioned above and to Austen Chamberlain [Chancellor of the Exchequer], 1st Lord Stamfordham [earlier Sir Arthur Bigge, Private Secretary to King George V], Lieutenant-Colonel Bertram Romilly, General Sir Edmund Allenby [Commander-in-Chief Egyptian Expeditionary Force], 7th Lord Londonderry [earlier Lord Castlereagh], Brigadier-General Edmund Ironside [Commander-in-Chief, Allied troops, Archangel, Northern Russia], Edwin Montagu [Secretary of State for India], King George V, Lord Hugh Cecil [later Lord Quickswood], Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Andrew, Abe Bailey, 1st Lord Inverforth [earlier Andrew Weir, Minister of Munitions], 1st Lord Curzon [Lord President of Council], and Major-General John Seely [later 1st Lord Mottistone, Under-Secretary of State for Air].Subjects covered by the file include: founding an "Imperial Guards Regiment"; matters concerning the campaign in Russia, including sending a "relief force" to northern Russia, alleged Bolshevik atrocities, and the situation in western Siberia; peerages for senior commanders; Lieutenant-General Jan Smuts' [South African Minister of Defence] mission to central Europe; changes in the army high command and other appointments; army dress; the transport of troops and stores in France; recommending Romilly; matters concerning demobilisation, including demobilising Sir George Ritchie's son and army strength; the situation in Germany and the danger of it collapsing into Bolshevism; the possibility of Brade visiting India and the organisation of the Indian army; military training colleges; Irish affairs, including troop transport; the Ministry of Supply Bill; air force reorganisation and the Admiralty.

Dates

  • Creation: 01 Apr 1919 - 30 Apr 1919

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Extent

1 file(s) (1 bound file (191 folios))

Language of Materials

English