Scope and Contents From the Series: The Admiralty papers contain correspondence, minutes, and War Cabinet papers created or accumulated as a result of WSC's activities as First Lord of the Admiralty, a position held from 23 October 1911 to 24 May 1915.The material contains correspondence with senior Admiralty figures, politicians including the Prime Minister, public and foreign figures on subjects including naval strategy and engagements, armament production, merchant shipping, and more general political considerations. It...

Scope and Contents From the Series: The Admiralty papers contain correspondence, minutes, and War Cabinet papers created or accumulated as a result of WSC's activities as First Lord of the Admiralty, a position held from 23 October 1911 to 24 May 1915.The material contains correspondence with senior Admiralty figures, politicians including the Prime Minister, public and foreign figures on subjects including naval strategy and engagements, armament production, merchant shipping, and more general political considerations. It...

Scope and Contents

Minutes of the AOC on subjects including: the committee's terms of reference to investigate the output of aircraft; discussion of existing air programmes; shipping output; Ministry of Munitions and increased demand.Typescript.

Scope and Contents Includes: memorandum by the First Lord of the Admiralty [Winston Churchill] on the formation of a naval War Staff; diary of a visit to Berlin by 1st Lord Haldane [Secretary of State for War] and his discussions with the German Chancellor [Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg], Kaiser Wilhelm II, Grand-Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz [Head of the German Admiralty] and with J Cambon [? French Ambassador to Germany] on the balance of power in Europe, the increase in the British and German fleets,...

Scope and Contents

Includes: memorandum by Winston Churchill on naval war policy, particularly the ineffectiveness of the distant blockade and the Navy's defensive approach, while submarines were attacking commercial shipping, and the advantages of inshore offensives from an overseas base close to Germany, such as the Frisian Islands, Borkum or Sylt; comparative tables for the Anglo-American and German fleets, supplied by Churchill.

Scope and Contents

Cuttings and cartoons of WSC suggesting 'naval holiday' for Britain and Germany; articles (some German and French) on relations between Britain, Germany and Austria-Hungary; photos of WSC inspecting seaplanes; cartoons and WSC’s speeches on Home Rule, Navy, Antwerp [Belgium], Dardanelles.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: Probably the most interesting items in the Haldane papers are the very detailed and informative journals Haldane kept during his tours of the power installations of Russia, Sweden and America in the nineteen thirties and of New Zealand in the nineteen fifties. The collection also contains many articles on electrical power by Haldane together with notes and drafts of talks and lectures. There is also very interesting correspondence with Sir John Cockcroft and Dr. Monty Finniston about atomic...

Scope and Contents Letter from Sir Roger Keyes [later 1st Lord Keyes] (HMS Warspite, Mediterranean Fleet, Off Thaso [Thasos, Greece] marked "private" to WSC on subjects including: WSC's role in leading the government during the miners' strike; observations about [1st Lord] Beatty and his position [as Admiral of the Fleet] recommending that Beatty should remain in his role to oversee any further naval reductions, Beatty's role at the Battle of Jutland ("he saved the honour of the British Navy"); WSC's account...

Scope and Contents Proofs, newspaper cuttings and research notes for various articles by WSC for the Daily Telegraph: "Fleets of Britain and America" on the naval building programmes of Great Britain and the United States; "Mr Churchill on the abuse of the dole" on WSC's opinions of the dole, the live register of unemployment and national insurance; a series of articles on "The Crucial Crises of the [First World] War" on the Battle of the Marne [France], Admiral [John] De Robeck and the minefields at the...

Scope and Contents

Annotated proofs and press cuttings of the following articles by WSC: "Great Men of Our Time": "Kitchener" on 1st Lord Kitchener of Khartoum [Sudan]; "Admiral Fisher" on 1st Lord Fisher; "King George V"; "Sir John French" on 1st Lord Ypres; "Douglas Haig" on 1st Lord Haig; "Asquith" on 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith [earlier Herbert Asquith].Also includes: "Truth about the Bacon Letters", a cutting of an article by Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon in answer to WSC's article on Fisher.

Scope and Contents Correspondents include: Albert, Bishop of Liverpool; H G Wells praising "The World Crisis" and WSC as a historian (2); [Lord] Curzon [of Kedleston]; [Charles, 9th] Duke of Marlborough about WSC's plans to write about John, 1st Duke of Marlborough; [1st Lord] Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet]; Ernle Chatfield [3rd Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy] about the weaponry of Battle Cruisers as demonstrated in action at Heligoland, Dogger Bank and Jutland; [James] Headlam-Morley [Historical Advisor...

Scope and Contents Correspondents include: 1st Lord Beatty, Admiral of the Fleet; James Headlam-Morley [Historical Advisor to the Foreign Office] (2); Kenneth Dewar of the Naval Staff Intelligence Division (5); 1st Lord D'Abernon [earlier Sir Edgar Vincent] (4) on statistics of German casualties (4); Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Sir Max Aitken] (3); Brigadier General James Edmonds of the Military Branch of the Historical Section (13); John Du Cane (3); Sir Maurice Hankey [Secretary to the Committee of Imperial...

Scope and Contents Includes annotated proofs, galley proofs and cuttings from Picture Post for: "What Britain's Policy Should Be", an interview with WSC in which he gives his views on British foreign policy over the preceding years and at that time, advocates co-operation with France, the United States and the Soviet Union against Germany, comments on the Spanish Civil War, the need to form a broader British government and civil defence; "How the War Began" on the build up to World War I, the assassination of...

Scope and Contents Includes galley proofs and press cuttings from the Sunday Chronicle for: "I Escape" on WSC's capture by the Boers and details of his subsequent escape; "The Blunder that Beat Germany" on the Battle of the Marne [France]; "The True Story of the Tank" on the development of the tank during World War I, its initial rejection, WSC's intervention, and its first use in action; "When Britain Nearly Starved" on the German submarine campaign during World War I, British anti-submarine warfare, and...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "War - from inside the Admiralty" on experiencing naval action at the Admiralty during World War I, and a detailed description of the battle of the Dogger Bank; "U-boats - How the Navy Beat Them" on the morality of submarine warfare, the development of the Q-boat, the U-boat campaign against supply from the United States, and its consequence, the entry of the US into the war; "War on the Western Front" on casualties among the French, Germans and...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "Escort" on transporting troops by sea and British naval policy at the beginning of World War I; "Spring Offensive" on WSC's experiences of the German offensive "Michael"; "40 Days of Hell" on the final German offensive of World War I and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's orders to stand firm; "Germany's Vital Bid to Beat Blockade" on the position of Romania during the War; "U-boats versus Q-boats" on British strategy against the German U-boat...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "The Man Who Scared the U-Boats" on the convoy system for merchant shipping during World War I; "The German Army Myth" on the first battles on the Western Front; "The French" on the Battle of Verdun [France]; "The Blackest Day of the German Army" on the use of tanks at the Battles of Cambrai and Amiens [both France]; "The Valiant Heart of Man" on the bravery of those who fought in World War I; "Plan for Victory" on British naval strategy at the start...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "My Fight for Sea Power" on the strengthening of the Royal Navy in the years immediately preceding the First World War, the development of the 15 inch gun, and working with Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher, 1st Sea Lord; "Into the Jaws of Death" on British submarine action in the Dardanelles [Turkey]; "Invasion" on the [first] Battle of the Marne [France]; "Battle of the Tanks" on the development of the tank, and its use at Paschendaele [Belgium]...

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...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for (some from a series, "A Great Novel Rewritten as a Short Story"): "'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte"; "'Adam Bede' by George Eliot"; "'Vice Versa' by Anstey [Thomas Guthrie]"; "The truth about the former German colonies" on Germany's claims to have its former colonies returned, giving an historical perspective with reference to [Prince Otto von] Bismarck, and WSC's views on German treatment of native peoples; "Mankind Must Keep Pace with Science"...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "Sea raiders" on the German ships "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" and their eventual destruction during World War I; "A speech that prevented war" on [David] Lloyd George's speech at the Mansion House [London] on the Agadir [Morocco] Crisis in 1911; "Why I believe in government for the people" on totalitarianism in Germany, ranking the citizen higher than the state, and comparing the constitutions of Britain and the United States; "A People...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "The British Working Man" on WSC's views on the rights and responsibilities of trade unions, strikes, the role of government in industrial disputes, and the birth of the Labour Party; "A Very Great Englishman" on 1st Lord Baden-Powell, his role at the siege of Mafeking [South Africa] and the founding of the Boy Scouts Movement; "The March of Progress" on scientific developments and their effect on mankind from the Stone Age to the mid-twentieth...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "The truth about the Dardanelles [Turkey]", WSC's account of the strategic thinking behind the campaign, and the support it received from the War Council and leading naval figures; "The peril of half-measures and compromise in war" on Lord Fisher's doubts and Lord Kitchener's role in the campaign; "17 sea mines which played a part in history" on the naval bombardment of the Dardanelles' forts, Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden going sick, and...

Scope and Contents Includes cuttings from Liberty for: "U-Boat Menace" on the war on the Western Front during World War I, the Dardanelles [Turkey] campaign, the German U-boat campaign, and the role of the Royal Navy in defeating it; "Tank Tactics" on the development of the tank, its initial rejection, WSC's intervention, and its use in action at the Battles of the Somme and Cambrai [France]; "Our Friendship with America" on misunderstandings with the United States, a history of Anglo-American conflicts,...

Scope and Contents Autobiographical account by George Allen written for his family covering his life and naval career, highlighting key events and turning points and analysing his response to them. Also includes details of people, colleagues and family members. Subjects, issues and people covered include: childhood and education; his mother, Beatrice Allen (née Wilkinson, known as Betty) and her circumstances and career; joining the Royal Navy aged 12, naval traditions, reforms to the navy by [Sir...