Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1919-[1984] (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
1 box or 0.01 cubic metres
Scope and content
Papers relating to Macleod's career, [1965-1984] notably two copies of an unpublished memoir by Macleod, entitled 'An Artillery Officer in the First World War'; accounts by Macleod of the political and military background to the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres), 1917, and of his command during World War Two of a deception operation by the fictional 4 Army to distract attention from the Normandy landings of 1944, [1966-1984]. Papers relating to the life and career of FM Sir (William) Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside of Archangel and Ironside, notably the unpublished volumes 'A secret service agent in South West Africa', detailing his service as a British agent in German South-West Africa, 1902-1904, and 'Ironside's letters to Col R Macleod', 1931-1959, with enclosures, [1965]; an account by Macleod of significant episodes of Ironside's career, and a review of Laurence Thompson's 1940 - Year of Legend, Year of History (Collins, London, 1960).
System of arrangement
The papers have been divided by the archivist into two sections, namely papers relating to Macleod's career, and those relating to the life and career of FM Sir (William) Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron of Archangel and Ironside.
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
Presented to the Centre by Macleod in three accessions in 1964, 1965 and 1966.
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 and detailed catalogue.
Existence and location of originals
Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›
Related materials
Note
NOTE: See Macleod (2) for separate collection of material in Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archvies within the collection of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart, section 15/14.
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Armed forces
- Artillery
- Biographies
- International conflicts
- International relations
- Literary forms and genres
- Literature
- Military engineering
- Military equipment
- Military operations
- Military organizations
- Operation Overlord (1944)
- Organizations
- Prose
- State security
- War
- Weapons
- World War One (1914-1918)
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
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.