Item ASTON, GG 1/2 - Diary, 1909 and Jan-Feb 1911, relating to service on the General Staff, South Africa

Diary containing daily entries relating to Aston as Brig Gen, General Staff, South Africa including account of journeys between London and Pretoria; attendance at conference at Staff College, Camberley, an account of lunch with Rt Hon Richard Burdon Haldane, Rt Hon Edward Grey and Maj Gen Douglas Haig while working in London at the War Office; discussion on recruitment of Officers for South African forces, particularly among Rhodes scholars and other South Africans at Oxford or Cambridge Universities; account of discussion with FM Jan Christian Smuts and General James Barry Munnik Hertzog on the defence of South Africa, particularly naval provision and the potential use of submarines; attendance by Aston, Hertzog, Louis Botha and Smuts at a defence conference at the War Office including comments on discussions with Haig, Sir William Nicholson, Maj Gen Sir John Spencer Spencer Ewart, Lt Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey; Aston's views on the suitability of a mounted brigade for defending South Africa with regard to the difficulties of the terrain and Haig's agreement to modify cavalry training accordingly; debate over the organisation of the General Staff in South Africa; account of conversation with Hertzog and his possible opposition to continued British rule in South Africa; unpopularity of FM Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts, Baron Roberts of Kandahar with the Boers; view on the South Africa Act, Sep 1909; progress of work on Letters on Amphibious Wars (John Murray, London, 1911, 1920). 1 file