Subseries LIDDELL HART 15/14 - Papers, 1918-1968, of Colonel Roderick ('Rory') Macleod (1891-1984), GSO1 to General Ironside, 1939-1940

Key Information

Reference code

LIDDELL HART 15/14

Title

Papers, 1918-1968, of Colonel Roderick ('Rory') Macleod (1891-1984), GSO1 to General Ironside, 1939-1940

Date(s)

  • 1918-1968 (Creation)

Level of description

Subseries

Extent

1 box

Scope and content

Papers relating to his life and career 1918-1968, and to the life and career of FM (William) Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and of Ironside, 1902-1959, principally comprising correspondence with Ironside, 1921-1959, including copies of reports on Ironside by senior officers, 1919-1934, and copies of reports on Macleod, 1918-1939; memoirs entitled 'An artillery officer in the First World War', including accounts of Curragh incident, Mar 1914, the retreat from Mons, Aug 1914, the Western Front, 1914-1917 and the Asiago Plateau, Italy, 1918, [1965]; an account by Macleod on Lt (William) Edmund Ironside's service in South Africa, German South West Africa and British Bechuanaland, 1902-1904, entitled 'A Secret Service agent in South West Africa', [1965]; typescript text of lecture on the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), dated 1968.

System of arrangement

The collection forms section 15/14 of the papers of Capt Sir Basil Liddell Hart.

General Information

Name of creator

(1891-1984)

Biographical history

Born in 1891; educated at Rugby and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery, 1911; posted to 80 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, Kildare, Ireland, 1911; participated in the Curragh incident, 1914; served World War One, Western Front and Italy, 1914-1918; served with the British Expeditionary Force in 80 Battery, 15 Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 5 Div, 1914; wounded at Battle of Le Cateau, 1914; Lt, 1914; served with V Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, 2 Indian Cavalry Div, at Neuve Chapelle, Festubert and Aubers Ridge, 1915; served with X Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, 1915-1916; appointed liaison officer between 4 Army, Royal Artillery and 4 Bde, Royal Flying Corps, 1916-1917; Capt, 1916; commanded A Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, 240 Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 1917; awarded MC, 1917; commanded C Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, 241 Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 48 (South Midland) Div, Territorial Force, at Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) and Vimy Ridge, 1917; served in Italy, 1917-1918; awarded DSO, 1919; posted to UK with 1 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, 1919-1921; Adjutant, 36 Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 1921-1922; Adjutant, 1924-1925; graduated from Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1927; commanded 27 Battery, Royal Artillery, Allahabad, India, 1928; General Staff Officer 3, Headquarters, Meerut District, India, 1929-1930; Maj, 1929; General Staff Officer 2, Headquarters, Meerut District, India, 1930-1933; commanded 60 Battery, Royal Artillery, 1933; General Staff Officer 2, 47 (2 London) Div, Territorial Army, 1934-1936; Brevet Lt Col, 1935; General Staff Officer 2, 48 (South Midland) Div, Territorial Army, 1936-1938; Substantive Lt Col, 1938; Col, 1938; commanded 6 Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, Muttra, India, 1938-1939; appointed acting Brig, Royal Artillery, Headquarters Eastern Command, Naini Tal, India, 1939; appointed General Staff Officer 1 and Military Assistant to Gen Sir (William) Edmund Ironside, Inspector General of Overseas Forces, 1939, and Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1939-1940; served World War Two, 1939-1945; commanded 4 Army, a fictitious unit employed in deceiving German forces on Allied strength and invasion targets, 1944; retired 1945; appointed literary executor to the estate of FM (William) Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and of Ironside, 1959; died 1984. Decorated: DSO, MC. Publication: The Ironside diaries, edited by Macleod, (Constable, London, 1962).

Custodial history

The collection forms section 15/14 of the papers of Capt Sir Basil Liddell Hart which were purchased by the Centre in 1973.

Language of material

Script of material

Related materials

The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives holds a separate collection of Macleod papers. The papers of Maj Gen Ridley Pakenham Pakenham-Walsh include correspondence from Capt George Alexander Eugene Douglas Haig, 2nd Earl Haig, and FM Ironside to Macleod, 1939-1945 (Ref: GB 99 KCLMA Pakenham-Walsh).

The National Army Museum holds correspondence and papers, 1908-1970 (Ref: 8502/32) and a typescript account of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), 1917 (Ref: 9405-4/275).

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