Scope and Contents Notes for WSC's speech covering subjects including: reflections on the differences between the present war and the First World War including weapons, casualty numbers and the increased importance of science and strategy; Britain's aptitude for the new forms of warfare; the decision to enforce a strict blockade on Germany, Italy and France and food supplies and distribution in Europe; review of the war situation; air warfare and the Battle of Britain including the threat of German bombing,...

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The papers include: Millis Jefferis's copies of M.D.1 correspondence; administration files on staffing and weapons development; research files on the development of individual weapons; Macrae's patent claims, which include original material on the development of the weapons concerned; Macrae's diaries from his time at M.D.1; some material from Macrae's memoirs, "Winston Churchill's Toyshop".

Scope and Contents Almost half of the collection is taken up with manuscript and typescript drafts of General Crawford's autobiography and this material is supplemented by his diaries running, with a few gaps, from 1930 to 1975. There are also smaller collections of papers and correspondence dealing in detail with General Crawford's important work during the Second World War on the production of tanks and other armoured vehicles and his continuing interest and involvement in this and similar fields after the...

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Copies of papers written by Wallis in the course of his aeronautical research.

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Admiralty memorandum on remarks by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz [Head of the German Admiralty] on the German Navy Law and amendments to the British naval construction programme. [Typescript].

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Minute by WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], on the naval building programme and the policy of 60 per cent superiority in Dreadnoughts over the next strongest power. [Typescript].

Scope and Contents Letter from WSC [(Admiralty)], to J L Garvin [Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette and the Observer], on Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, regretting that it had not been possible to promote him to Admiral of the Fleet, as he had "injured his profession and disgraced himself too much". WSC also comments on Garvin's treatment of WSC's policy in the Pall Mall Gazette, gives details of the naval building programme and superiority over Germany and comments on the Conservative threat of using force in...

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Minute from WSC [(Admiralty)], to the Accountant-General of the Navy [Alfred Eyles], 3rd Sea Lord [Vice-Admiral Charles Briggs], Financial Secretary to the Admiralty [Thomas Macnamara], and Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty [Sir Francis Hopwood, later 1st Lord Southborough], on the Naval Estimates for 1912 and 1913-14. [Carbon].

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Minute from WSC [(Admiralty)], to the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman] and 3rd Sea Lord [Vice-Admiral Charles Briggs], on the disadvantages of strip loading machine guns for naval use. [Carbon].

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Minute by WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], on implementation of a new system of refits. Noted to be circulated to the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman], 2nd Sea Lord [Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Lord Milford Haven], 3rd Sea Lord [Vice-Admiral Charles Briggs], Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty [Sir Francis Hopwood, later 1st Lord Southborough], Director of Naval Equipment [Captain Arthur Waymouth] and the Director of Dockyards [Sir James Marshall]. [Carbon].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], to the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman], 2nd Sea Lord [Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Lord Milford Haven] and 3rd Sea Lord [Vice-Admiral Charles Briggs], and the Chief of Staff, Admiralty [? Sir Henry Jackson], on the protection of Wireless Rooms in the ships of the First Fleet. WSC asks how many were unprotected, and if it were true that this defect existed in almost all battleships except the most modern ones. [Carbon].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the 3rd Sea Lord [Vice-Admiral Charles Briggs] and the Director of Naval Ordnance [Rear-Admiral Frederick Tudor, earlier Frederick Jones], on reports of faults with the cordite hoists of HMS Natal, asking if it was true that she could not fire 30 rounds quickly from any guns because the little rollers in the cordite hoists were broken off or jammed. [Carbon].

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Draft letter from WSC (Admiralty), to the Chancellor of the Exchequer [David Lloyd George], on the ship-building programme for 1912-13. [Typescript copy, with hand-written annotations by WSC].

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Letter from 1st Lord Stamfordham, [Private Secretary to King George V, earlier Sir Arthur Bigge], (Buckingham Palace [London]) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], returning WSC's submission of names for new battleships, as the King was "sure that there must be some mistake in the name of 'Oliver Cromwell' being suggested", as it had been proposed the year before and rejected, and his opinion on the matter had not changed.

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Minute from Rear-Admiral David Beatty [Naval Secretary to WSC] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty], on the comparative benefits of eight ships with four heavy guns against four ships with eight heavy guns.

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Letter from 1st Lord Stamfordham, [Private Secretary to King George V, earlier Arthur Bigge] (Buckingham Palace [London]) to WSC, [First Lord of the Admiralty], re-stating the King's opposition to naming a battleship after Oliver Cromwell, citing the opposition to the plan to erect a statue of Cromwell out of public funds in 1895, especially in Ireland.

Scope and Contents Letter from 1st Lord Stamfordham [Private Secretary to King George V, earlier Arthur Bigge], (York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk) to WSC, on the King's approval of the appointment of a new 1st Sea Lord and 2nd Sea Lord, [Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Lord Milford Haven and Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe), and his agreement to make the retiring 1st Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, a GCB [Knight Grand Cross of the Bath]. Stamfordham also passes on the King's congratulations on...

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Letter from Engineer Lieutenant Charles Hawkes, Joint Secretary, Royal Commission on Fuel and Engines, to Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher, enclosing a report on a meeting with William Reavell, on the manufacture of internal combustion engines in Europe. [See CHAR 13/16/79-83 for typescript copy].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Director of the Air Division, Admiralty [Captain Murray Sueter] on the results of the Aeroplane Conference on aircraft production. [Typescript copy on Colonial Office notepaper].

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Minute from WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] to the Secretary [Sir (William) Graham Greene] and 3rd Sea Lord [Rear-Admiral Archibald Moore], asking about delivery of 14-inch guns from Schwab [in the United States]. WSC states that if there was any doubt about them, the new monitor designs should be changed to take the existing 13.5-inch gun as an alternative. [Typescript copy on Colonial Office notepaper].

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Admiralty memorandum on the warship construction programme, 1914-16. [Typescript copy on Colonial Office notepaper].

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Admiralty statement on the cost of new programmes and expenditure on new construction (Votes 8 and 9) in the nine years of the Dreadnought era and of the Liberal Administration, 1905-14. [Printed for circulation to the Cabinet].

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Table showing comparative British and German naval building programmes, including Britain's 2-Power Standard.

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Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher [1st Sea Lord] to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the new battle cruisers, Repulse and Renown, reporting his meeting with the contractor. [Hand-written, with typed copy].

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Minute by WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on submarine provision, stating that he felt that it should be substantially increased. [Carbon].