Papers of John Patrick Ryland, comprising papers relating to the Home Guard, 1940-1944 and collected material relating to World War One, 1916-1918, Home Guard papers, 1940-1944, comprise published material including Home Guard instructions on training 1940-1944; regulations, 1942, and training manuals, 1940-1944 and unpublished material including instructions for training exercises; notes from training courses and Home Guard examination papers; map of 'Hazebrouck 5a, Belgium', edition 2, scale 1:100,000, Geographical Section, General Staff, No. 2364, published by Ordnance Survey ,1916; map of the Somme, France entitled 'Special Sheet, edition 2 A' showing British and enemy trenches corrected from information received up to 24 Jun 1918, scale 1:20,000, published by the Field Survey Co. No. 3790; German map of France, Belgium and the Netherlands entitled 'Spezialkarte der Nördlichen Westfront' Flemmingskriegskarte No 23, scale 1:320,000, 1916 and 120 degree panoramic photograph Number 304 of the Somme from North North West to East created for the Fourth Army, 16 Nov 1916 and Daily Telegraph War Map of Europe, World War Two, specially prepared for The Daily Telegraph by the London Geographical Institute, displaying neutral and belligerent countries, scale 50 miles = 1 inch.

Papers principally relating to operations of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy, Greece, the Aegean and the Balkans, 1941-1945, including: SOE training manuals, and various SOE memoranda relating to the 'Rhine mine', poisons, inland waterways, and the 'New Zionists', 1941-1944; memoranda and directives on SOE infiltration of Italy and the recruitment of Italian agents, the production of propaganda for use in Italy, transcripts of subversive propaganda broadcasts to the Italian people via Radio Jerusalem, letters from Stefano Terra, regarding the activities of the anti-fascist group Giustizia e Libertà, 1940-1943; diary of Capt R Guy Turrall during his SOE sabotage mission to Crete, 1941-1942; papers concerning SOE Operations BASILIC and ERRATIC (infiltration of Scarpanto and Rhodes), 1943; papers concerning propaganda operations in conjunction with the Political Warfare Executive, particularly Operations KREIPE and KRIMSCHILD, May 1944, to demoralize German troops on Crete; reports, 1943-1945, relating to SOE activities on Crete, including reports on the kidnapping by SOE of German Maj Gen Heinrich Kreipe; appreciations of SOE activities in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, 1943; correspondence of Headquarters Force 133 (SOE Cairo, Egypt) in regard to promotion, welfare, training, transfers and postings of personnel, including confidential reports on individual staff, 1944-1945; diary of Maj John Mulgan, British Liaison Officer in Greece, 1944; correspondence relating to the winding up of SOE organisation in Greece, 1944-1945; various other papers, comprising correspondence with Anne René Pleven, 1939-1941, on the German bombing of London and the reaction of the French people to German occupation and the Vichy government; report on René Pleven, French Minister of Defence, concerning Pleven's attitude to the French political situation, policy towards Indo-China and the French High Command, 1949; papers relating to the reorganisation of Lyons Silks Ltd, French Silhouettes and Arnold Securities, 1949-1950; newspaper article on German penetration of the SOE network in the Netherlands, 1942-1944, dated 1953.

Copies of papers relating to his career and the strategic significance of seapower, 1915-1962, including official and personal correspondence, 1915-1936, including letters from Adm Sir Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, Commander-in-Chief, China Station, 1923, R Adm Montagu William Warcop Peter Consett, 1923, V Adm Sir Lewis Clinton-Baker, 1926, Lt Gen John Greer Dill, 1929-1936, Adm Sir Herbert William Richmond, 1929, Maj Gen William Henry Bartholomew, 1929, R Adm Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, Chief of Staff, Home Fleet, 1931, Cdre Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1932; manuscript narrative diary, HMS HAREBELL, Fishery Protection, 1925-1926; typescript copies of lectures given at the Imperial Defence College, 1927-1935; manuscript notes on the history of the Peninsular Campaigns, Napoleonic Wars, 1807-1814 [1928]; published articles by Dickens, letters to the press and book reviews, mainly relating to the Royal Navy and the projection of seapower, 1929-1962; manuscript narrative war diary, 1940-1945, with manuscript notes on the Korean War, 1950; official and personal correspondence, 1940-1945, including letters from Rt Hon Maurice Paschal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey of The Chart, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1940, letter from Capt Wilfrid Rupert Patterson, Captain of HMS KING GEORGE V, on the sinking of the German battleship BISMARCK, 1941, letters from Adm Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Bt, 1941-1944, letter from Augustus (Edwin) John, 1943, letter from R Adm John Anthony Vere Morse, 1943, letter from AF Sir John Cronyn Tovey, Commander-in-Chief, the Nore, 1945, also, typescript report by Dickens to the Admiralty on the German attack on the Netherlands, 22 May 1940 and copy of Adm Cunningham's official signal to the Admiralty on the surrender of the Italian Fleet, Malta, 10 Sep 1943; newspaper cuttings and correspondence relating to Bombing and strategy. The fallacy of total war (Sampson Low, Marston and Company, London, 1947), including letters of congratulation from Adm Cunningham, US Adm Richard L Conolly, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles Fuller, and Cdre Guy Willoughby, 1947; personal correspondence, 1947-1962, including letters from AF Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, 1947-1959, Adm Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, 1948, Adm Sir (Eric James) Patrick Brind, Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station, 1949, Rt Hon Maurice Paschal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey of The Chart, 1949, AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1954, AF Alfred Ernie Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield of Ditchling, 1959, R Adm George Pirie Thomson, 1959; manuscript notes and annotated typescript draft chapters for projected autobiography [1960].

Typescript papers relating to Territorial Army annual training exercises, UK, 1935-1937. Papers relating to Barber's time as a Japanese POW in Changi POW Camp, Singapore, 1942-1945, including detailed manuscript diary, 25 Aug 1942-4 Sep 1945, with notes on diet, casualties, disease and nominal rolls of prisoners; eight manuscript letters home from Barber, written after the liberation of Singapore, 1945; printed 'Memorandum for the information of prisoners of war of United Kingdom Forces detained in the Far East' [1945]; two 18 Division Association printed booklets, 1950 and 1993. Two portrait photographs of Barber [1939]. Papers relating to the campaign in France, 1940, including four printed maps of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, various scales, 1938-1939; typescript 'Orders for troops in transit at Cherbourg' and 'Orders for disembarkation' [1940]. Printed training manuals, 1925-1945, including Royal Army Service Corps training manual Mechanical transport. Maintenance, upkeep and operation (HMSO, London, 1925); Section leading (HMSO, London, 1928); Air Raid Precautions. Respirators (HMSO, London, 1939).