Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1919-1947 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
0.07 cubic metres (7 boxes)
Scope and content
Papers, 1919-1947, of Lt Col Geoffrey Wells Meates, comprising his diaries, 1919, 1921-1939, 1943-1947, containing detailed narrative entries daily, and correspondence with his parents, 1921-1935, 1939-1945. Meates' diaries and letters record his activities, experiences, surroundings and travels, including his service with the Royal Artillery in Rangoon, Burma, and Calcutta, India, in the 1920s, and with Anti-Aircraft Artillery units in France (British Expeditionary Force, 1939-1940), Malta (1940-1944) and England (1944-1945) during World War Two.
System of arrangement
Meates' diaries (Ref: I) are arranged chronologically by volume and then by loose leaves; correspondence with his parents (Ref: II) is arranged chronologically.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born, 1900; educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from 1919; commissioned into the Royal Artillery, 1921; service with Royal Artillery, Shoeburyness, Essex, 1921; served with 4 Bde, Royal Artillery, India, 1921-1924; Adjutant, Royal Artillery, India, 1924-1927; Adjutant, 3 (Rangoon) Bde, Royal Artillery (Auxiliary Force), Rangoon, Burma, May-Sep 1927; served at Spike Island, Queenstown, Cork, Ireland, 1929-1930; service as Instructor, Royal Artillery, Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth, Hampshire, 1931-1932; Capt, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1932-1936; retired, Dec 1936; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Instructor, Anti Aircraft militia (Royal Artillery), 1939; served as Capt, 15 Anti Aircraft Battery, 6 Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), France, 1939; served with 1 Light Anti Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery, BEF, France, Jan-May 1940; Maj, 2 Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1940; service with 27 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery, Malta, 1940-1942; Lt Col, 7 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Malta, 1942-1944, and in Workington, Cumberland, Orkney Islands, and Sandwich, Kent, 1944-1945; retired, 1945; excavated the Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent; died, 1985. Publications: Lullingstone Roman villa (William Heinemann, London, 1955); Lullingstone Roman villa, Kent (HMSO, London, 1963); The Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent. Vol 1. The site (Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone, Kent, 1979); The Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent. Vol 2. The wall paintings and finds (Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone, Kent, 1987).
Repository
Custodial history
Placed in the Centre by Meates' literary executor in 1986.
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
Script of material
Uploaded finding aid
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 ›
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
- Anti-aircraft defence
- Armed forces
- Artillery
- Defence
- Diaries
- Documents
- Information sources
- International conflicts
- Literary forms and genres
- Literature
- Military equipment
- Military organizations
- Nonfiction
- Organizations
- Primary documents
- Prose
- State security
- War
- Weapons
- World wars (events)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Wars (events)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Meates, Geoffrey Wells, 1900-1985, Lieutenant Colonel (Subject)
- British Army (Subject)
- Royal Artillery (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.