Collection DODSON - DODSON, Sir Derek Sherborne Lindsell (1920-2003)

Key Information

Reference code

DODSON

Title

DODSON, Sir Derek Sherborne Lindsell (1920-2003)

Date(s)

  • 1935-1986 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

1 box or 0.01m3

Scope and content

Papers of Sir Derek Dodson, 1935-1986, relating to his service in Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Greece and Italy, comprising papers including message books, notes, reports and correspondence related to service in the Allied Military Mission to Greece, Sep 1943-Mar 1945; messages, notes, and diary relating to service with partisans in Italy, Apr-May 1945; photographs of Dodson; maps of Greece, Italy and France; report by the Salonika Bureau, 'The Macedonian Autonomy Movement in North West Greece: its setting and recent histor', Oct 1945.

System of arrangement

Original order.

General Information

Name of creator

(1920-2003)

Biographical history

Born 20 Jan 1920; educated at Flete House, Westgate-on-Sea, 1929-c 1933; Stowe School, 1934-c 1936; Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1938-c 1939; 2 Lt, Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1st Battalion, India, 1939-1940; Special Operations Executive (SOE), 1941-1945; Headquarters, Cairo, 1942; SOE missions to Greece, 1943-1945; led attack on Turin with Italian partisans, 26 Apr 1945; organised partisan operations on Chivasso and Carmagnola, Italy; awarded MC, 1945; Military Assistant to the British member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria, 1945-c 1946; General Staff Officer Grade 3, War Office, 1946-1947; entered the Foreign Service, Jan 1948; Vice-Consul, and Acting Consul-General, Salonika, Greece 1949-1950; Second and subsequently (Oct) First Secretary, British Embassy, Madrid, 1951; Personnel Department, Foreign Office, 1953; Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 1955; First Secretary and Head of Chancery, Prague, Nov 1958; acting Charge d'affaires, Prague, 1959-1962; Consul in Elisabethville, Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1962; awarded CMG, 1963; Foreign Office Central Department, 1963-1966; Counsellor and Deputy Ambassador, Greece, 1966-1969; Ambassador to Hungary 1970-1973; Ambassador to Brazil, Sep 1973-1977; appointed KCMG and awarded the Brazilian order of the Southern Cross, 1975; British ambassador in Ankara, Turkey, 1977-1980; retired 1980; Special Representative of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1981-1995; British member of the board of the Benguela Railway Company, 1984-1992; died 22 Nov 2003.

Descriptions of Greek resistance groups (Greek: andartes) related to this collection:

ΕΑΜ: The National Liberation Front (Greek: Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο, Ethniko Apeleftherōtiko Metōpo) led by Geōrgēs Siados (Greek: Γιώργης Σιάντος) was a Communist group affiliated with the KKE - the Communist Party of Greece (Greek: Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας , Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas). The military arm of EAM was ELAS, The National People's Liberation Army, (Greek: Εθνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherōtikos Stratos), led by Arēs Velouchiōtis (Greek: Άρης Βελουχιώτης) (real name: Athanasios (Thanasis) Klaras).

EDES: The National Republican Greek League, (Greek: Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος (ΕΔΕΣ),Ethnikos Dēmokratikos Ellēnikos Syndesmos), was an anti-Communist, Republican group, led by political leader Nikolaos Plastēras (Greek: Νικόλαος Πλαστήρας), and military leader Gen Napoleōn Zervas (Greek: Ναπολέων Ζέρβας).

EKKA: National and Social Liberation (Greek: Εθνική και Κοινωνική Απελευθέρωσις, Ethnikē kai Koinonikē Apeleftherōsis), led by Dēmētrios Psarros (Greek: Δημήτριος Ψαρρός) was a liberal, anti-Communist, Republican group.

Custodial history

Deposited in the Centre by the family, 15 Feb 2005.

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

  • English
  • French
  • Greek

Script of material

Language and script notes

English. Some Greek and French.

Finding aids

This collection level description and detailed catalogue.

Existence and location of originals

Off-campus collection

Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›

Related materials

Papers relating to Special Operations Executive (SOE) operations in Greece and the Balkans, 1942-1945, and the Allied Military Mission to the Greek guerrillas in German occupied Greece, 1942-1945, can be found in the papers of Col Hon Christopher Montague Woodhouse (Ref: Woodhouse); Brig Edmund Charles Wolf Myers (Ref: Myers); Brig Godfrey Pennington Hobbs (Ref: Hobbs); Lt Col Count Julian A Dobrski (Ref: Dobrski); Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead (Ref: Prentice/Wickstead); Maj Philip Frederick Nind (Ref: Nind); Capt Patrick Hutchinson Evans (Ref: Evans) and Capt Albert Henry Lingen (Ref: Lingen).The National Archives hold a substantial collection of material relating to SOE operations, most notably Political Warfare Executive correspondence (Ref: FO 898/25-28); papers relating to SOE activities, Middle East, Cairo, 1940-42 (Ref: FO 898/113-114); Quarterly Reports of Special Operations Executive, Oct 1943-Dec 1945 (Ref: PREM 3/408/1); Confidential Papers of Col William J Donovan, 1940-41 (Ref: PREM 4/25/5); and, Special Operations Executive: Balkan Files (Ref: HS 5).

Related descriptions

Alternative identifier(s)

Place access points

Genre access points

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.

Script(s)

Archivist's note

Entry Compiled by Sarah Drewery.

Accession area

Related genres