Papers relating to Sanders' life and military career, 1911-1966, including five letters of appreciation, 1911-1927, mostly relating to Sanders' work as Superintendent, Army Remount Service, No 3 Depot, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 1914-1920, notably typescript letter from Gen Sir Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief, British Armies in France, 3 Jun 1918; manuscript letter to Sanders from Lt Gen Adrian Carton de Wiart, from Rome, Italy, relating to his capture and imprisonment by Italian forces, 10 Aug 1941; painting of final mounted parade, 4/7 Royal Dragoon Guards, Edinburgh, 15 Aug 1938; edition of Wandsworth Borough News, with photograph and article on the 28 Bn, (Wandsworth), County of London, Home Guard, commanded by Sanders, 26 Sep 1941.

The collection covers Pyman's career from 1937 until 1963 when he suffered a severe stroke which forced his retirement in 1964. The earliest papers date from Pyman's work with the Royal Tank Cadre in converting the 17/21 Lancers from a cavalry to an armoured regiment. There are also papers from Pyman's period as an instructor at the Staff College in Quetta, India, 1939-1941. Pyman was involved in the World War Two campaigns by the 8 Army in the Western Desert, in 1941 as General Staff Officer with 7 Armoured Div, 30 Corps and in 1942-1943 as Commander of the 3 Royal Tank Regiment, 10 Armoured Div, 30 Corps. The papers consist mostly of Pyman's assessments of lessons learned from the ongoing campaigns particularly with regard to tanks and armoured units. In 1944-1945 Pyman was Brigidier General Staff, 30 Corps, 2 Army in the Normandy landings and the invasion of Northern Europe, with particular responsibility for organisation and planning of the Rhine crossing and advance to the Baltic. This is reflected in the papers which largely consist of planning studies and reports for the operations involved, this section also contains maps used in the campaign. Pyman's next appointment was as Chief of General Staff, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia, 1945-1946 which is documented by a series of diaries which reflect the tasks faced by Pyman in this command including dealing with the build up of tension between newly liberated former colonies keen to assert their right for independence and the former colonial powers such as France and Netherlands. Pyman spent 1946-1949 as Chief of Staff, Middle East Land Forces and kept monthly diaries which form the bulk of this section of the collection. The diary entries and additional papers reflect the debate over policy in the Middle East in the British Government and Military command, they include detail on the British withdrawal from Greece, the problem of illegal Jewish immigrants and their internment in Cyprus, the end of the British mandate in Palestine and the the effect of this on relations between Britain with Egypt and the other Arab states and the subsequent Arab Israeli conflict. This section of the collection also contains correspondence between Pyman and Maj Gen Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey on personal matters and on the Middle East. There are also papers from Pyman's work at the Ministry of Supply as Director General of Fighting Vehicles, 1951-1953, Director of Weapons Development, War Office, 1955-1956 mostly brief diary entries and lecture texts. Pyman was also General Officer Commanding, British Army on the Rhine, 1953-1955 and General Officer Commanding, 1 British Corps, 1956-1958 and the papers relating to these commands consist mostly of lectures, reports and directives reflecting his interest in armoured divisions and training. There are some papers, mostly personal correspondence and press cuttings, from Pyman's final command as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The collection also contains correspondence relating to Pyman's role as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Armoured Corps and a series of letters covering the reorganisation of the Berks and Westminster Dragoons, of which he was Honorary Colonel. The rest of the collection consists of diaries, correspondence, speeches, writings including the draft copy and papers relating to his autobiography, some preparatory work on a history of the 2 Army and reference works. The collection also includes the Boer War diaries and other papers of Col James Redmond Patrick Gordon who commanded the 1 Cavalry Bde of the South African Field Force 1900-1901 which were given to Pyman by a friend.

Narrative diaries, nine manuscript volumes, as Maj commanding motorised cavalry sqn, 4/7 Dragoon Guards, Palestine, 1938-1939, with typescript nominal roll of officers, non-commissioned officers and men who served with 4/7 Royal Dragoon Guards Sqn in Palestine, 1938-1939. Also, two albums of related captioned photographs and one map of Syria and Palestine, scale 1: 1,140, 000 [1935].

Papers relating to his life and career, 1885-1941, including typescript volume entitled 'The story of the Egyptian campaign, 1885-1886', written in [1914]; two typescript volumes entitled 'My narrative of the South African War 1899-1902' and 'Second phase of the South African War' with sketch maps, notes and recommendations of awards for officers and men of 2 Mounted Infantry Corps, 1899-1900; reports, notes and correspondence, 1900-1912, relating to the future development of cavalry in the British Army, including typescript extracts from article by Maj Gen Sir Ian Monteith Hamilton on operations at Diamond Hill, Second Boer War, South Africa, Jun 1900, and correspondence with FM Rt Hon Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Pretoria and Waterford, Lt Gen Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, Maj Gen Edmund Henry Hyman Allenby, Maj Gen Sir Edward Thomas Henry Hutton, and Lt Col Hubert De la Poer Gough, 1903-1910; typescript notes on cavalry tactics, equipment and history, entitled 'Letters from an old cavalry officer to his son', 1909; two typescript volumes entitled 'My narrative of the Great German War', an account of his service in World War One in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, 1914-1918, including 29 photographs and typescript table showing number of 29 Div casualties between 1915 and 1917; manuscript article by De Lisle entitled 'General Sir Archibald Wavell GCB: the unknown leader', 1941; typescript unpublished novel entitled 'The great recovery', 1941, based on De Lisle's experiences in World War One, 1914-1918.

Papers relating to service with the 12 (Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers during World War One, notably relating the advance into Flanders, the first Battle of Ypres, and the advance to, and fighting around, Amiens, 1914-1935; the writing and publication of Charrington's book Where Cavalry Stands Today (Hugh Rees, London, 1927), 1927-1928; papers from a report by Charrington on the operations of the British Army in Eritrea and Abyssinia during 1941; correspondence, narratives, photographs and maps relating to Charrington's command of 1 Armoured Bde during operations in Greece and Crete, 1941, 1941-1962.

Papers relating to his life and career, 1842-1885, dated 1856-1885, principally comprising press cuttings, 1856, 1877, 1882, [1884] and obituaries, 1885. A ride to Khiva (Cassell and Co, London, 1876); On horseback through Asia Minor (Sampson Low and Co, London, 1877).

One promotional videotape relating to The Scinde Horse (14th Prince of Wales's Own Cavalry), Indian Army, with items entitled 'The Scinde Horse sesquintennial', dated 16 Oct 1988, and 'Defenders of the dawn', dated 17 Nov 1988.

Correspondence, dated 1968, 1970, 1974, principally comprising letters relating to his career, 1914-1942, the destruction of his military papers in 1942; a letter concerning the relationship between the retention of horsed cavalry and the quality and rate of development of armoured forces in the UK during the period 1914-1940, written in 1970.