The Papers of Sir (George) Nevile (Maltby) Bland

Fonds

Reference Code: GBR/0014/BLND

Scope and Contents

The archive consists mainly of family correspondence. It is possible from his correspondence to trace Sir Nevile's life from his time at Cheam through his studies at Eton and King's College, Cambridge and his career in the Diplomatic service to his retirement and beyond. Although the collection mainly comprises family letters, within these some reference is made to Foreign Office matters. The family correspondence and other personal papers are contained in Sections 1 - 8 and are, with the exception of the miscellaneous section 8, in chronological order. Section 9 consists of letters, reports and other papers which specifically relate to Foreign Service business. The final contains speeches made by Sir Nevile.

Dates

Creation: 1888 - 1961

Biographical / Historical

6 Dec 1886: Born, youngest son of Francis Maltby Bland, DL, JP and Edith Richenda Bland [nee Barclay] Educated: Eton; King's College, Cambridge. (BA 1908, MA 1912) 1911: Entered Foreign Office 1919: Served on Peace Delegation in Paris; Private Secretary to Lord Hardinge of Penshurst. Married Portia Christabel Irene Ottley 1920: Private Secretary to Sir Eyre Crowe 1925: Private Secretary to Sir William Tyrrell 1927: CMG 1928: Private Secretary to Sir Ronald Lindsay 1930: Private Secretary to Sir Robert Vansittart; Commander of Order of Leopold 1930-35: Counsellor of Embassy, Brussels 1935-38: Counsellor in Foreign Office 1937: KCVO 1938-42: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands 1942-48: Ambassador to the Netherlands 1947: KCMG 1949-63: Chairman of Anglo-Netherlands Society 1950: Knight Grand Cross Order of Orange-Nassau 1952-61: King of Arms, Order of St Michael and St George 1952-67: Chairman of Children's Aid Society 1959-69: Chairman of Royal Surgical Aid Society July 1960: Special Ambassador to the President of the Malagasy Republic [Madagascar] 1960-70: Re-appointed to Foreign Service as Special Representative of the Secretary of State 19 Aug 1972: Died

Extent

26 archive box(es)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

There is evidence to suggest that Sir Nevile's wife, Portia, was responsible for keeping many of the papers - in a letter of 10th February 1936, Sir Nevile tells his father of her keeping "the family archive" (BLND 5/3). Where possible the original structure of the collection as it was deposited has been maintained, i.e. the papers remain in chronological order, however for ease of reference some division into sections and subsections has been made.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers of Sir Nevile Bland were deposited in the Churchill Archives Centre by his son Sir Simon Bland in May 1992. A further deposit (Accession 970) was deposited in October 1994.

General

The catalogue was originally compiled by Moira McKay in 1993. It was added to in December 2000 and converted and updated by Natalie Adams in December 2004. It was also added to in October 2005.