Armed forces
Subject
Subject Source: UK Archival Thesaurus
Found in 247 Collections and/or Records:
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Wing Commander Anderson., 22 Oct 1935 - 23 Dec 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/304
Scope and Contents
Includes notes, memoranda and correspondence from and by Wing Commander Charles Anderson [former Director of Training, Air Ministry] and commander of RAF Hucknall [Nottinghamshire] and Group Captain Lachlan MacLean, including: Anderson on the RAF's lack of inspiration and poor morale, new Home Commands organization and levels of debt among RAF officers; MacLean on subjects including the shortcomings of aircraft, aircraft production and maintenance, officer levels, air defence exercises,...
Dates:
22 Oct 1935 - 23 Dec 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Wing Commander Anderson., 13 Dec 1937 - 17 Dec 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/338
Scope and Contents
Includes notes, memoranda and correspondence by and from Wing Commander Charles Anderson, Commander of No 1 Armaments Training Camp, including: notes on the employment of RAF officers; summaries and analyses of flying accidents, 1937; map of RAF stations and air commands in Britain; Air Ministry press summary; group orders on inquiries into damage to aircraft; RAF intelligence summaries, 1938; Squadron Leader Richard Atcherley, Senior Air Staff Officer, RAF Training Command, on training;...
Dates:
13 Dec 1937 - 17 Dec 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Wing-Commander Anderson., 01 Mar 1939 - 13 Nov 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/372
Scope and Contents
Notes, memoranda and correspondence by and from Wing-Commander Charles Anderson [Commander No 1 Armament Training, Catfoss, Yorkshire], including: copy of Air Ministry Orders on short service commissions; notes on the strength of various squadrons; report by Air Commodore Hugh Champion de Crespigny, Air Officer Commanding No 25 (Armament) Group, on the armament training of No 144 (Bomber) Squadron, in bombing, gunnery and equipment; account of aircraft conditions for a bombing raid over...
Dates:
01 Mar 1939 - 13 Nov 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Correspondence., 01 Oct 1937 - 30 Dec 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/299
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Shane Leslie; Sir Hubert Young [Governor and Commander- in-Chief of Northern Rhodesia, later Zambia]; General Sir Ian Hamilton on claims by Margot, Lady Oxford and Asquith [earlier Margot Asquith] on the resignation of 1st Lord Haldane [as Lord Chancellor, 1915] (2); Marshal of the RAF 1st Lord Trenchard on meeting the German Official Air Mission; Bernard Freyberg; 1st Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Sir Max Aitken] on the Privy Councillorships of F E Smith [1st Lord...
Dates:
01 Oct 1937 - 30 Dec 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Correspondence., 01 Apr 1938 - 31 May 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/329
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: [Henry] Wickham Steed on subjects including Germany's campaign against Czechoslovakia [later Czech Republic and Slovakia], alleged tensions between the German Army and Nazi Party, and a speech by Baron Richard von Kuhlmann on Germany's economic position (2); Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Sandford [former British Consul in Addis Ababa, Abyssinia, later Ethiopia] on subjects including the position of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abyssinia, on the Anglo-Italian negotiations on...
Dates:
01 Apr 1938 - 31 May 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Correspondence, A-B., Jan 1929 - Oct 1934
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/572A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Edward Marsh on an expression used by WSC; Cyril Alington, Headmaster of Eton College, on the education of Randolph Churchill (2); [1st] Lord Beatty on subjects including criticism of an obituary of Admiral Franz Hipper (5); Julian Amery; Nancy, Lady Astor on a disagreement with WSC; John Astor; Wilfrid Bailey; Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister, on subjects including WSC's "Marlborough: His Life and Times", WSC's health, Free Trade, India and political affairs (14);...
Dates:
Jan 1929 - Oct 1934
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 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: Inventions and suggestions., Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/278
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence inventions and suggestions from the general public include: Richard Powell [Assistant Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty] (3); Desmond Morton [Director, Industrial Intelligence Centre]; Sir Christopher Bullock [Permanent Secretary], Air Ministry; Ralph Assheton [later 1st Lord Clitheroe]; Colonel George Turner [former Superintendent, Design Department, Royal Arsenal]; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thoroton on the advantages of Admiralty control of the...
Dates:
Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 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: Fleet Air Arm., 25 Jan 1937 - 28 Apr 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/305
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on the Fleet Air Arm include: Brigadier-General Percy Groves; Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, 3rd Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, on subjects including the need for the RAF to specialise (2); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes; Lord Louis Mountbatten [Admiralty, Naval Air Division] on the need for a unified service in defence of trade and recommending Captain Cosmo Graham as a source of information; Marshal of the RAF 1st Lord Trenchard on reasons for the Air...
Dates:
25 Jan 1937 - 28 Apr 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Minister for Co-ordination of Defence: Correspondence with., 21 Dec 1936 - 20 Apr 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/306
Scope and Contents
Correspondence between WSC and Sir Thomas Inskip [Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, later 1st Lord Caldecote] on subjects including: the case of British Timken Limited supplying armaments to Germany instead of Britain; general priority for Government armament orders in industry; the state of first-line air strength; changes in the RAF's expansion targets.Also includes: letter from Michael Dewar [Chairman, British Timken Limited] on supplying armaments to Germany, control of armaments...
Dates:
21 Dec 1936 - 20 Apr 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: Correspondence A-C., Jun 1950 - Oct 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/113A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Richard Acland on the "Churchill Arch" in the House of Commons; Commander Peter Agnew withdrawing his candidacy at Ormskirk [Lancashire]; Patrick Kinna (Foreign Office); representatives of the Conservative Research Department including [Richard] Michael Fraser [later Lord Fraser of Kilmorack] (4); Garry Allighan on his expulsion from the House of Commons; Cuthbert Alport; Leo Amery on Persian [Iranian] oil; 1st Lord Woolton [earlier Frederick Marquis, Chairman,...
Dates:
Jun 1950 - Oct 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: correspondence and papers, mainly from Field Marshal [1st Lord] Montgomery of Alamein [Chief of Imperial General Staff]., Feb 1948 - May 1950
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/31
Scope and Contents
Includes copies of: various notes and memoranda by Montgomery for the War Office or Chiefs of Staff Committee on the British Army, Western European defence, and his 1948 visits to France and Austria; addresses by him to the "Ecole Superieur de Guerre" and senior officers of the Brussels Treaty Powers, Fontainebleau [France].Other correspondents include: Leslie Hore-Belisha sending on notes of his conversation with the Spanish High Commissioner [to Morocco] General Valera and a translation of...
Dates:
Feb 1948 - May 1950
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: correspondence and papers on defence, atomic weapons and energy., Nov 1945 - Apr 1954
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/28
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Prime Minister Clement Attlee (6); Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon] on the strength of the army and RAF; [1st] Lord Cherwell [earlier F A Lindemann] (3); President Harry Truman (2); Walter Gifford, United States Ambassador to Great Britain. Also includes notes and copies of correspondence from WSC's secretaries "N S" [Jo Sturdee, later Lady Onslow], "J P" [Jane Portal, later Lady Williams of Elvel], "L M M" [Lettice Marston, later Lettice Shillingford], and "C G"...
Dates:
Nov 1945 - Apr 1954
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.
This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.
File
Public and Political: General: Political: correspondence and papers on Palestine., Aug 1946 - Oct 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/46A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Henry Hopkinson [later 1st Lord Colyton, Head of Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat and Joint Director, Conservative Research Department] (3); Paul Beards [Assistant Private Secretary to Prime Minister Clement Attlee]; Clement Attlee; John Addis [Junior Private Secretary to Attlee]; Major Henry Legge-Bourke; Patrick Buchan-Hepburn [later 1st Lord Hailes, Conservative Chief Whip] (2); Marcus Sieff (8); James de Rothschild; Duncan Sandys; Walter Elliot (2); Leo...
Dates:
Aug 1946 - Oct 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: Correspondence T-Z., Nov 1947 - Dec 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/72A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Iain MacLeod, Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat, on the position of graduate teachers (2); Emanuel Shinwell, Secretary of State for War, (2) and Arthur Henderson [later Lord Rowley], Secretary of State for Air, (2) on recruitment for service auxiliaries and reserves; James Thomas [later 1st Lord Cilcennin, Vice- Chairman of Conservative and Unionist Party] (2); Colin Thornton-Kemsley (2); Reginald Maudling; 6th Lord De L'Isle and Dudley [earlier William Sidney,...
Dates:
Nov 1947 - Dec 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: correspondence with the Conservative Research Department concerning the RAF., Feb 1950 - Feb 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/33
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Harold MacMillan [later 1st Lord Stockton]; Air Vice-Marshal Henry Thornton; [Arthur] Vere Harvey [later Lord Harvey of Prestbury]. Also includes notes and copies of correspondence from secretaries Jo Sturdee ("N S") [later Lady Onslow], Chips Gemmell, and Jane Portal [later Lady Williams of Elvel].Subjects include: aircraft carriers; anti-submarine warfare, including details of the Lockheed Neptune "sub-killer"; amphibious landings.Also includes: details of carriers...
Dates:
Feb 1950 - Feb 1951
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: Private and Personal: Correspondence T - Z., 29 Jan 1945 - 20 Dec 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/157A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Robert Tasker; General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, apologizing for missing WSC's visit to Metz [France]; Charles Taylor [MP for Eastbourne]; Myron Taylor; James Thomas [later 1st Lord Cilcennin, MP for Hereford and Vice-Chairman, Conservative and Unionist Party] (3); "Tommy", Charles Thompson [former Personal Assistant to WSC] on subjects including applying for a post at the Jockey Club, and books and photographs for WSC (9); 6th Lord Rosebery [earlier Lord...
Dates:
29 Jan 1945 - 20 Dec 1948
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
File
Speeches: House of Commons and Non-House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., Apr 1951 - 28 Sep 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 5/42A-C
Scope and Contents
Speech notes for WSC's speech (3 July, Grosvenor House Hotel [London]) at the English Speaking Union dinner for General Dwight Eisenhower, on the English Speaking Union as a foundation for peace and an advance towards a united Europe.Speech notes and typescript for WSC's speech (10 July, Royal College of Physicians [London]) entitled "Lord Moran" (for the presentation of his portrait to 1st Lord Moran [earlier Charles Wilson, former President, Royal College of Physicians]), on subjects...
Dates:
Apr 1951 - 28 Sep 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons and Non-House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., 06 Nov 1951 - 22 Dec 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 5/45A-C
Scope and Contents
Speech notes and extract from Hansard for WSC's speech (6 November, House of Commons) for the debate on the address, on subjects including: the political divisions in the country; the charge of war-mongering laid against the Conservatives, and the need for steady government; the restoration of university representation in Parliament; the repeal of the Iron and Steel Nationalization Act; future parliamentary business, including the defence debate; keeping the Minister of Education out of the...
Dates:
06 Nov 1951 - 22 Dec 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open