Key Information
Reference code
Title
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
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).
Repository
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.