Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1805-1946 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
1 box or 0.01 cubic metre
Scope and content
Various military papers, mainly dating from the nineteenth century, including standing orders, despatches and a paper by Gen Sir Frederick Roberts on Russia, all probably collected by Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1805-1811, 1871-1885, 1918-1921. Correspondence and papers relating to Lt Gen Sir Robert Grant (see above), including material concerning his career, and correspondence from Gen Sir Henry Redvers Buller, 1900. Letters and papers of Charles John Cecil Grant, notably correspondence with Rosebery, mainly letters written whilst on active service on the Western Front, World War One, 1914-1927, French Gen Maxime Weygand, including comments on the Versailles Treaty and the death of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1919-1948, and Lt Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Bt, on military operations in Italy during World War Two, 1943-1944. Copies of diary entries and notes written by Charles John Cecil Grant whilst serving as a liaison officer to French Headquarters on the Western Front, World War One, Mar-Nov 1918.
System of arrangement
Arranged in sections as above.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gen Sir Charles John Cecil Grant; born 1877, son of Robert Grant; entered Coldstream Guards, 1897; Lt, 1898; served Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1902; Adjutant, 1902-1905; Capt, 1903; Bde Maj, Brigade of Guards, 1909-1912; General Staff Officer, Grade 3, War Office, 1912-1913; Maj, 1913; served World War One, 1914-1918; Bde Maj, 3 Infantry Bde, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), 1914; General Staff Officer, Grade 2, General Headquarters, 1914-1915; General Staff Officer, Grade 1, and temporary Lt Col, 12 Div, 1915-1917; Brevet Lt Col, 1916; General Staff Officer, 3 Army, 1917; temporary Brig Gen commanding 1 Infantry Bde, 1917-1918; Brig Gen, General Staff, attending General Headquarters French army, as a liaison officer between Gen Sir Henry HughesWilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1918-1919; Brevet Col, 1919; Lt Col commanding 3 Bn, Coldstream Guards, 1919-1921; temporary Col, General Staff, Egypt, 1921-1925; Col, 1922; commanding 137 (Staffordshire) Bde, Territorial Army, Northern Command, 1925-1927; commanding 8 Infantry Bde, Southern Command, 1927-1930; Maj Gen, 1930; General Officer Commanding 53 (Welsh) Div, Territorial Army, Western Command, 1930-1932; General Officer Commanding, London District, 1932-1934; Lt Gen, 1934; Gen, 1937; General Officer Commanding in Chief, Scottish Command, and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, 1937-1940; retired,1940; Col, The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry), 1930-1946; died 1950.
Lt Gen Sir Robert Grant, GCB; born 1837; father of Charles John Cecil Grant; educated Harrow and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; 2nd Lt Royal Engineers, 1854; Lt, 1854; transferred to Jamaica Command, West Indies, 1857-1858; Fort Adjutant at Belise, British Honduras, 1858-1859; Aide de Camp to Lt Gen Sir William Fenwick Williams, Commanding Officer of British Forces, British NorthAmerica, 1859-1865; 2nd Capt, 1860; passed Staff College, 1861; Capt, 1867; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Royal Engineers, Army Headquarters, 1871-1876; Maj, 1872; Commander, Royal Engineers, Aldershot Command, 1877-1880; Lt Col, 1878; Commander Royal Engineers, Plymouth Sub-district, Devon, 1880-1881; Commander, Royal Engineers, Woolwich District, 1881-1883; Col, 1882; Commander, Royal Engineers, Northern British District, 1884-1885; Commander, Royal Engineers, First Sudan Expedition, 1885; Deputy Adjutant General, Royal Engineers, Army Headquarters, 1886-1891; temporary Maj Gen, 1889; temporary Lt Gen and Maj Gen, 1891;Inspector General of Fortifications, 1891-1898; Lt Gen, 1897; Commissioner of Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 1903; died 1904.
Repository
Custodial history
The collection was originally part of the Pitchford Manuscripts, mainly created by the Ottleyfamily of Pitchford Hall, Shropshire, to which Victoria Alexandrina Grant, Charles John Cecil's mother, was heiress. The bulk of the Pitchford Mss were deposited in the National Library of Wales by Charles John Cecil Grant from 1932 onwards. In 1963, the residue of the family papers, still kept at the Hall, were listed for the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and, with the exception of the militarydocuments, which were placed in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives in 1980, transferred to the National Library of Wales in 1985.
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
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, with some correspondence in French.
Finding aids
This collection level description and detailed catalogue.
Related materials
Note
Compiled Oct 1998
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Colonial conflicts
- Colonial countries
- Diaries
- Diplomacy
- Documents
- Foreign relations
- Information sources
- International conflicts
- International instruments
- International law
- International relations
- Literary forms and genres
- Literature
- Military engineering
- Military missions
- Military operations
- Nonfiction
- Political systems
- Primary documents
- Prose
- Second Boer War, 1899-1902
- War
- Warfare
- World War One (1914-1918)
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Buller, Sir Henry Redvers, 1839-1908, Knight, General (Subject)
- Foch, Ferdinand, 1851-1929, French Field Marshal (Subject)
- Leese, Sir Oliver William Hargreaves, 1894-1978, 3rd Baronet, Lieutenant General (Subject)
- Primrose, Archibald Philip, 1847-1929, 5th Earl of Rosebery, statesman and author (Subject)
- Roberts, Frederick Sleigh, 1832-1914, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Pretoria and Waterford, Field Marshal (Subject)
- Weygand, Maxime, 1867-1965, French General (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.