Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1913-1966 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
0.035 cubic metres (3 boxes, 2 volumes)
Scope and content
Diaries, log books and other papers, 1913-1966, of Cdr Lawrence Antony Humphreys, comprising a photograph album including photographs of Dartmouth Royal Naval (RN) College, Devon, 1914-1916, and ships of the British and German fleets, 1917-1919, subsequently used as a scrapbook for newspaper and other cuttings to 1966; volume entitled 'Operations etc HMS TARANTULA', comprising log of messages received and sent, 11 Mar 1917-11 Mar 1918, while taking part in operations in Mesopotamia from the fall of Baghdad, later used as diary of voyage, Basra to Canton via Hong Kong, 29 Mar-3 Jul 1918, with reflections on anti British disturbances up to 2 Mar 1919; midshipman's journal, HMS BARHAM, 1 Jul 1919-14 May 1920, with latter part of volume used for documents relating to postings and promotions, 1917-1946; diaries (2 volumes), Mar-Jun 1922; syllabus and manuscript notes, Cambridge course for RN Officers, Michaelmas 1922-Lent 1923; volume containing souvenir programmes of the Special Service Sqn World cruise, 1923-1924 (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Vancouver, Canada, San Francisco, USA, Peru, Chile); diaries of the world cruise, 25 Nov 1923-30 Sep 1924; sketch book containing notes on seamanship, HMS INDOMITABLE [1917-1919]; volume of notes on gunnery, HMS INDOMITABLE, HMS VENDETTA, HMS BARHAM, HMS TARANTULA and HMS DRAGON, 1917-1925; gunnery notes, RN College, Greenwich [1926]; gunnery orders, HMS HOOD; drill instructions, HMS DANAE [1930-1933]; term lists, RN College, Osborne, Sep 1914-Jan 1916, and RN College, Dartmouth, May 1916-May 1917; 'Osborne', RN College magazines, Dec 1914-Dec 1916; 'The Britannia Magazine', RN College, Dartmouth, Easter 1916-Midsummer 1917; 'Regulations for German observation groups', a manual for the Artillery Survey Section, translated extracts, Dec 1917; Gunnery Drill Book (Book I) (Admiralty, London, 1913); Rifle and field exercises for His Majesty's Fleet (Admiralty, London, 1913); The danger angle and off shore distance tables by Capt Squire Thornton Stratford Lecky, RN (1916); two editions of Gunnery Drill Book (Book II) (1918) (one revised in 1927); Silhouettes of effective British warships by E L King (Low, London, 1919); Warships at a glance, silhouettes of the world's fighting ships by Frederick Thomas Jane, RN College Osborne (Low, London, 1914); Boats' signal book (1920); Royal Naval handbook of field training (1920); Drill for 4 inch QF Mark XII gun on SI mounting (Submarines) (1928); The Fleet annual and Naval year book (1917); 'The Castillian', Fleet magazine, Jan-May 1925; 'Royal Naval Staff College Magazine', issues 4-6 (undated); humorous pamphlet 'The cruises of HMS Zinnia' (undated); Our Navy, handbook of the British Navy (undated); Lord Fisher on the Navy, articles reprinted from The Times , Sep 1919; Future of navies, articles reprinted from The Times , Nov 1920-Feb 1921; 'Naval athletics', compiled by Maxwell Cunningham (undated); The Battle of the Atlantic, the official account of the fight against U boats, 1939-1945 (HMSO, London); How the war will be won by Capt Bernard Acworth (1940); The Battle of Britain, Aug-Oct 1940 (Air Ministry); Destruction of an Army, 1st Libyan Campaign, Sept 1940-Feb 1941 ; Parliamentary White Paper by Sir Neville Henderson on the circumstances leading to the termination of his mission to Berlin, Germany, 20 Sep 1939.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in 1901; commissioned into the Royal Navy, 1917; served in World War One, 1917-1918; HMS INDOMITABLE, Chatham, 1917-1919; HMS BARHAM, Flagship to V Adm Sir Arthur Cavanagh Leveson, commanding 2 Battle Sqn, Portsmouth, 1919-1920; HMS TARANTULA, Chatham, 1920-1923; Sub Lt, 1921; Lt, 1923; HMS DRAGON, 1 Cruiser Sqn, Mediterranean Fleet, 1923-1925; Promotion Course, RN College, Greenwich, 1926; Second Gunnery Officer, HMS HOOD, Flagship to R Adm Frederic Charles Dreyer, commanding Battle Cruiser Sqn, Atlantic Fleet, 1928-1930; Gunnery Officer, HMS DANAE, 1 Cruiser Sqn, Mediterranean Fleet, and 8 Cruiser Sqn, America and West Indies Station, 1930-1932; Lt Cdr, 1931; died in 1985.
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by Lawrence's family 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
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description.
Alternative identifier(s)
People and Organisations
- HMS Barham, Battleship, 1915 (Subject)
- HMS Danae (Subject)
- HMS Dragon, Cruiser (Subject)
- HMS Hood, Battle Cruiser, 1918 (Subject)
- HMS Indomitable, Battle Cruiser, 1907 (Subject)
- HMS Tarantula, Large China Gunboat, 1915 (Subject)
- HMS Vendetta, Destroyer, 1917 (Subject)
- RN, Royal Navy (Subject)
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
Compiled by Iain Mutch; revised by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.