Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1907]-1953 (Creation)
- 1890-1902 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
11 boxes or 0.11 cubic metres
Scope and content
Papers relating to early career, including material on early aviation, 1911-1913, and texts of lectures given at the RAF Staff College, Andover, 1922-1926. Material relating to post as Air Officer Commanding, British Forces in Iraq, 1928-1935, including correspondence, memoranda and telegrams relating to operations in Iraq and Kuwait, 1928-1930, and negotiations for the Anglo-Iraq Treaty, 1930; news cuttings and notes relating to political and military affairs in Iraq, and the situation of the Assyrians and Kurds, 1930-1935. Papers created as Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Air Defence of Great Britain, 1933-1935, mainly relating to a Royal Review of the RAF at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Papers relating to post as Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Middle East, notably memoranda, cypher signals, letters and notes, 1931-1936, relating to RAF operations, mainly planning and preparation for the possibility of war between the League of Nations and Italy following the Italian invasion and annexation of Abyssinia; correspondence with ACM Sir Edward Leonard Ellington, Chief of Air Staff, 1935-1936; memoranda, telegrams, correspondence and newscuttings on operational matters relating to the Arab Rebellion against the British Mandate in Palestine, 1936; material collated by Brooke-Popham for lectures on the Middle East, 1930, 1936; correspondence, memoranda and minutes relating to the formation and working of an Executive Committee on Assyrian Settlement, 1943-1947. Papers relating to the creation and implementation of the Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada and South Africa, 1939-1945, including personal correspondence with Arthur William Street, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Air, 1940. Papers relating to post as Commander in Chief, Far East, notably telegrams and memoranda relating to the requirements of the RAF and Army in the Far East, 1940-1949; personal correspondence with Maj Gen Sir Hastings Lionel Ismay, Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence, 1940-1941; semi-official correspondence with Street, 1940-1941; material relating to the replacement of Brooke-Popham as Commander in Chief, Far East, Nov 1941; telegrams relating to reconnaissance sightings of Japanese convoys, the decision not to launch Operation MATADOR, the outbreak of war with Japan, and the sinking of RN battleships HMS PRINCE OF WALES and HMS REPULSE, Dec 1941; papers, correspondence and proofs relating to the publication of various despatches and reports concerning operations in Malaya, 1941-1947. Papers created whilst Inspector General of the Air Training Corps, 1942-1947, 1950-1952, mainly comprising inspection reports and material relating to the post-war organisation of the Air Training Corps. Booklets, memoranda, and reports collated by Brooke-Popham relating to RAF training, policy and operations, [1914]-1946. Material relating to research for and writing of articles, lectures and pamphlets, mainly relating to history, aviation or training, 1923-1952. Printed material, 1890-1953, mainly relating to aviation. Maps and photographs, 1917-[1945], including aerial photographs of the Western Front during World War One, 1917-1918.
System of arrangement
Arranged in sections as above.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1878; educated at Haileybury College, Hertfordshire, and Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Surrey; 2nd Lt, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, 1898; Capt, 1904; gained additional name of Popham, by Royal Warrant, 1904; attended Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1910; gained pilot's certificate, 1911; transferred to Air Bn, Royal Engineers, commanding 2 (The Aeroplane) Company, 1912; Commander, 3 (Fighter) Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, 1912; Brevet Maj, 1913; Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General to the Royal Flying Corps, at Headquarters, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), 1914-1916; Maj, 1915; formed 3 Wing (1 and 4 Sqns), Royal Flying Corps, 1915; Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General to the Royal Flying Corps, 1916; Controller of Aircraft Production, Air Ministry, 1918-1919; Air Cdre, 1919; Director of Research, Air Ministry, 1919-1921; Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Andover, Hampshire, 1921-1926; AVM, 1924; Air Officer Commanding Fighting Area, Air Defence of Great Britain, 1926-1928; Air Officer Commanding, British Forces in Iraq, 1928-1930, and High Commissioner and Commander in Chief of Iraq, Sep-Oct 1929; Commandant, Imperial Defence College, 1931-1933; AM, 1931; Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Air Defence of Great Britain, 1933-1935; Principal Air Aide de Camp to HM King George V, 1933-1937; Inspector General of the RAF, 1935; ACM, 1935; Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Middle East, 1935-1936; retired list, 1937; Governor and Commander in Chief of Kenya, 1937-1939; rejoined RAF as Head of Training Mission to Canada (where the Air Training Scheme was set up) and South Africa, 1939-1940; Air Commander in Chief, Far East, 1940-1941; retired list, 1942; Inspector General of the Air Training Corps until 1945; President of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute, 1944-1946; died 1953.
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by the family in 1966.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
- Arabic
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, with some items in Arabic
Finding aids
This collection level description and detailed catalogue.
Existence and location of originals
Rhodes House Library at Oxford University holds correspondence and papers relating to Brooke-Popham's post as Governor and Commander in Chief of Kenya, 1936-1953, which were removed from the main body of the collection following its deposit at LHCMA.
Related materials
Publication note
Operation Matador: Britain's war plans against the Japanese, 1918-1941, by Ong Chit Chung (Times Academic Press, 1997), uses material from the Brooke-Popham collection relating to his post as Commander in Chief, Far East, 1940-1941.
Note
Compiled Aug 1999
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Air transport
- Ancient civilizations
- Ancient history
- Anglo-Iraq Treaty
- Arab Revolt (1936-1939)
- Armed forces
- Assyrians
- Colonial conflicts
- Colonial countries
- Ethnic discrimination
- Ethnic groups
- Higher science education
- Historical periods
- History
- Humanitarian law
- Interethnic relations
- International conflicts
- International instruments
- International law
- International relations
- Kurds
- Maps
- Military aviation
- Military education
- Military engineering
- Military history
- Military operations
- Military organizations
- Military reviews
- Occupied territories
- Operation Matador (1941)
- Organizations
- Photographs
- Political movements
- Political systems
- Revolutionary movements
- Ships
- Social behaviour
- Social norms
- State security
- Transport
- Vehicles
- Visual materials
- War
- Warfare
- World War One (1914-1918)
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
- Pharmaceutic aids
- Specialty uses of chemicals
- Chemical actions and uses
Place access points
- Abyssinia
- Americas
- England, Hampshire, Andover
- North America, Canada
- Caribbean
- East Asia, China
- England, Cambridgeshire, Duxford
- East Africa, Ethiopia
- Middle East, Iraq
- Italy
- Middle East, Gulf States, Kuwait
- South East Asia, Malaysia
- England, Suffolk, Mildenhall
- Middle East, Palestine
- South East Asia, Singapore
- Southern Africa, South Africa
- England, London
People and Organisations
- Ellington, Sir Edward Leonard, 1877-1967, Knight, Marshal of the Royal Air Force (Subject)
- Ismay, Hastings Lionel, 1887-1965, 1st Baron Ismay of Wormington, General (Subject)
- Street, Sir Arthur William, 1892-1951, Knight, civil servant (Subject)
- British Army (Subject)
- HMS Prince of Wales (Subject)
- HMS Repulse (Subject)
- Japanese Army (Subject)
- RAF, Royal Air Force (Subject)
- Royal Flying Corps (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.