Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1924-1953 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
1 file
Scope and content
Copies of detailed manuscript notes on Hunt's life and military career, 1924-1953, including sportingachievements and details of mountaineering expeditions, especially the British Everest Expedition, 1952-1953.
System of arrangement
1 file
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1910; educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military College Sandhurst; passed out first from Royal Military College Sandhurst and awarded King's Gold Medal and the Anson Memorial Sword, 1930; commissioned into 2 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1930; served in Tidworth, Wiltshire, 1930; posted to 1 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Lucknow, India, 1931; Lt,1933; seconded to Indian Police with local rank of Capt, Bengal, 1934-1935; service in Burma with 1 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1935-1938; qualified as Interpreter in French and German, 1936; Capt, 1938; seconded to Indian Police with local rank of Capt, Bengal, 1938-1940; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; awarded Indian Police Medal, 1940; Maj, 1940; Second in Command, 10 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps (2 Rangers), 1942-1943; Chief Instructor, Commando Mountain and Snow Warfare Training Camp, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, 1943; Commanding Officer, 11 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Italy and Palestine, 1944; Lt Col, 1944; awarded DSO, 1944; commanded 11 Indian Infantry Bde, Italy and Greece, 1944-1945; awarded CBE, 1945; Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1946; General Staff Officer 1, Joint Planning Staffs, Middle East Land Forces, 1946-1948; Joint Services Staff College, 1949; Western Europe's Commanders-in-Chief Committee, 1950-1951; Col, 1951; Allied Land Forces, Central Europe, 1951-1952; Col, General Staff, Headquarters 1 (British) Corps, 1952; Leader of British Everest Expedition, Tibet, 1952-1953; Knighted, 1953; Assistant Commandant, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1953-1955; awarded Founder's Medal, Royal Geographical Society, 1954; awarded Lawrence Memorial Medal, Royal Central Asian Society, 1954; President, National Association of Youth Clubs, 1954-1970; commanded 168 Infantry Bde, Territorial Army, 1955-1956; retired as Hon Brig, 1956; President, The Alpine Club, 1956-1958; Director, Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, 1956-1966; President, Britain and Nepal Society, 1960-1975; Rector, Aberdeen University, 1963-1966; President, Climbers' Club, 1963-1966; President, British Mountaineering Council, 1965-1968; Life Peer, 1966; Chairman, Parole Board for England and Wales, 1967-1974; Personal Adviser to Prime Minister Rt Hon (James) Harold Wilson during Nigerian Civil War, 1968-1970; President, The National Ski Federation, 1968-1972; President, Council for Volunteers Overseas, 1968-1974; Chairman, Advisory Committee on Police in Northern Ireland, 1969; President, Rainer Foundation, 1971-1985; Member, Royal Commission on the Press, 1974-1977; President, National Association of Probation Officers, 1974-1980; President, Royal Geographical Society, 1977-1980; created KG, 1979; Chairman, Intermediate Treatment Committee, 1980-1985; President, Council for National Parks, 1980-1986; joined Social Democratic Party, 1981; joined Social and Liberal Democrats, 1988; President, National Association for Outdoor Education, 1991-1993; awarded King Albert I Memorial Medal for Mountaineering, 1994; died 1998.
Publications: The ascent of Everest (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953); Sir John Hunt's diary (Everest 1953) [1953]; Our Everest adventure. The pictorial history from Kathmandu to the summit , with Christopher Brasher (Brockhampton Press, Leicester, 1954); translation with Wilfrid Noyce of Starlight and storm . The ascent of six great north faces of the Alps by Gaston Rébuffat (Dent,London, 1956); The red snows. An account of the British Caucasus Expedition , 1958, with Christopher Brasher (Hutchinson, London, 1960); Nigeria. The problem of relief in the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war. Report of Lord Hunt's mission. (HMSO, London, 1970); Hunt Report on Mountain Training, July 1975 (British Mountaineering Council, Manchester, 1975); Life is meeting (Hodder andStoughton, London, 1978); editor of My favourite mountaineering stories (Lutterworth Press, Guildford, Surrey, 1978); In search of adventure [1989].
Repository
Custodial history
Copies made by the Centre from originals loaned by the family in 1999.
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.
Related materials
Note
Compiled Aug 1999
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
People and Organisations
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.