Papers relating to his life and career, 1915-1991, dated 1963, 1969 and [1991], principally comprising 'Nine lives, a soldier's story', a typescript memoir covering the period 1915-1991, including his service in North Africa and the Western Desert, 1939-1942 and 1943, the Middle East, 1942-1943 and 1954-1956, Normandy, 1944, and France, Belgium and Germany, 1945-1947, and hiswork as Director General of Fighting Vehicles, 1964-1966, and General Officer Commanding, Malta and Libya, 1967-1968, written in [1991].

Personal and military papers of Major General Sir Robert Edward Laycock, 1923-1968, chiefly relating to service with Special Service Brigade and as Chief of Combined Operations, 1940-1946. Includes papers on volunteering for Special Service Brigade, including completed application forms for volunteer Commando officers, 1940. Papers on Special Service Brigade training 1940-1941, including gas, bayonet and signalling training. Memoranda, reports, instructions and other papers, 1940-1942, relating to LAYFORCE (commanded by Laycock in the Middle East), including papers on the Folbot Section (later to become Special Boat Service). Papers on Special Service Brigade, [1941-1946], including memoranda, reports, minutes, papers on their reorganisation, disbandment and the future of Combined Operations, also including papers belonging to Lord George Jellicoe relating to Special Service Brigade in the Middle East; reports and other papers on Special Service Brigade operations, notably Operation TORCH, (the invasion of North West Africa, Nov 1942) and Operation HUSKY, (the invasion of Sicily, Jun 1943). Laycock's official and personal correspondence,1923-1968, chiefly relating to Special Service Brigade. Lectures and speeches to and on Special Service Brigade, chiefly by Laycock. Draft publications, scripts and press cuttings relating to Laycock and Special Service Brigade. Memoirs and accounts of Commando action, including parts of Robert Edward Laycock's memoirs and memoirs of members of 'G' Troop, 7 Commando. Papers on Laycock standing as Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bassetlaw in the 1945 general collection and on his refusal to stand for the 1947 bye-election. Papers relating to Laycock's time as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. Poems by Laycock.

Copies of papers relating to service in Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1902, principally comprising letters to his family describing his service with 10 Bn, Imperial Yeomanry, 1900-1901, notably action near Boshof, Orange Free State, in which Boer Gen Count de Villebois-Mareuil was killed, Apr 1900, and the failed attempt to rescue 13 Bn, Imperial Yeomanry at Lindley, OrangeFree State, Jun 1900.

Copies of papers relating to his service in the Indian Army, 1918-1947, dated [1957-1977], 1984, [1985], 1988, principally comprising typescript notes for a talk on the Pakistani-Afghan border, 1957; a typescript account of his service with the Gurkha Rifles, North West Frontier, India, 1921-1923, written in [1957-1977]; 'A Gurkha in Rajputana', a typescript account of his servicein the Indian Army, 1930-1935, written in [1977]; 'Last days of the Raj', a typescript account of his experiences in India in 1947, written in [1985]; 'Mutiny in the Himalaya', a typescript text concerning the attempted mutiny of the state army of Chamba, India in 1926, [1926].

Photocopy of typescript draft of 'Naval reminiscences, 1941-1944' covering his service in the Mediterranean, 1941 and 1943, notably the Battle of Crete, May 1941, and in the Arctic Ocean, 1942-1943, and his role in the construction of the Mulberry harbours, Normandy, 1944, written in [1978].

Manuscript letter written in Afrikaans by Boer soldier A J Tapper to the Boethma family, Groenfontein, 7 Nov 1899, detailing Boer attitudes and expectations during the Siege of Ladysmith, Second Boer War, South Africa, with English translation of letter supervised by Brig William Francis Kynaston Thompson, 1966, and correspondence between Thompson and former holder of the letter Mrs L K Dodderidge, widow of Sgt Dodderidge, 1966

3 copies, 1 original sepia and two modern, of photograph, probably taken by Maj Edward Warren Caufeild Sandes, of Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia, before the siege of the British garrison, 1916

Photocopies of papers relating to his internment as a POW in Thailand, 1942-1945, principally comprising diary of events in Tamnan Camp 25-27 Aug 1945; sketches of life in a Thai POW camp, 1942-1945; diary describing his evacuation from the camp and voyage back to the UK, 1945; newspaper cuttings relating to POWs in South East Asia, 1944-1945; map of the area betweenBangkok and Rangoon, 1945

Typescript official correspondence relating to Allied operations in Italy, 1944-1945, between Kirkman, General Officer Commanding 13 Corps, and Lt Gen Sir Oliver (William Hargreaves) Leese, 3rd Bt, General Officer Commanding 8 Army, Mar-Oct 1944, Lt Gen Sir John Harding, Chief of Staff, Allied Armies in Italy, Aug 1944-Jan 1945, and Lt Gen Sir Richard (Loudon) McCreery,General Officer Commanding 10 Corps, and subsequently General Officer Commanding 8 Army, Sep 1944-Jan 1945. Typescript 13 Corps operational instructions and orders, Apr 1944-Jan 1945, with typescript planning notes, dated Apr 1944, for Operation HONKER, the attack to secure the Liri valley for the advance on Rome, Italy, May 1944. Four volumes of narrative diaries, covering Kirkman's career in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, North West Europe and as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office, Apr 1943-Sep 1945. Printed booklet entitled 'Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Historical Society, 19 Apr 1968, 5 Nov 1968', containing information provided byKirkman on the planning of the Third and Fourth Battles of Cassino, Italy, 1944.

Papers, dated 1945-1963, relating to the attempt to remove Lt Gen Sir William Joseph Slim from command of 14 Army, Burma, May 1945, including typescript background notes; typescript copies of telegrams between Lt Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Bt, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces South East Asia, FM Sir Alan Francis Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and acting Adm Lord Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, May-Jun 1945; typescript extract of unpublished chapter of Defeat into victory (Cassell, London, 1956) by Slim; letters from Gen Sir (Alexander Frank) Philip Christison, 4th Bt, (former General Officer Commanding 15 Indian Corps, Burma), FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck (former Commander-in-Chief, India), ACM Sir (William) Alec Coryton (former Air Commander, 3 Tactical Air Force, Burma), Maj Gen George Peregrine Walsh (former Chief of Staff, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia), Lt Gen Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning (former Chief of Staff, South East Asia Command), Leese and Mountbatten, 1960-1963.

Papers relating to his service in 4/5 East Lancashire Regt, dated 1931, principally comprising battalion orders and instructions for training exercises.

Bound editions of the K-H News-Letter, 1936-1941, the National News-Letter, 1941-1957, and the King-Hall News-Letter, 1958-1959. Bound editions of Personal letters, 1946-1954. Editions of seven books and pamphlets by King-Hall, World history. An outline from the earliest times to the present day for the young of all ages (K-H Services, London, 1948), North Americandiary (K-H Services, London, 1949), Men of destiny or the moment of no return (K-H Services, London, 1960), Moment of no return (Ballantine Books, New York, 1961), Power politics in the nuclear age (Victor Gollancz, London, 1962), Common sense in defence (K-H Services, London, 1962) and Parliament viewing hall: a look-listen room. A scheme to enable more people to see and hear the proceedings of Parliament, with Gerald F Sheard (K-H Services, London, 1963). Editions of seven books and pamphlets published by King-Hall, United Europe. A short history of the idea by Sydney D Bailey (National News-Letter, London, 1948), The state of Britishindustry by S E Davson (National News-Letter, London, 1948), India, Pakistan in world politics by Jossleyn Hennessy (National News-Letter, London, 1949), What is Communism? by John Plamervatz (National News-Letter, London, 1949), Snorky, a stanley crane by Kay King-Hall (K-H Services, London, 1961), The peace race by Seymour Melman (Ballantine Books, New York, 1961) and National incomes policy, a democratic plan by Elliott Jaques (K-H Services, London, 1963).

Letters dated 1909-1914 from FM Earl Haig, Chief of General Staff in India and Commander-in-Chief at Aldershot, including potential candidates for appointments and Indian Army policy including reorganisation and recruitment; letters dated 1914-1918 from Haig, General Officer Commanding 1 Corps and Commander-in-Chief, British Armies, France, referring to operations including Dardanelles, Verdun; letters dated 1914-1918 from FM Sir Henry Wilson, British military representative at SupremeWar Council, Versailles, including French war effort; correspondence dated 1915-1921 with FM Sir William Robertson, General HQ British Armies in the Field including shortage of supplies and troops; Kiggell's demi-official correspondence when Chief of General Staff, 1916-1919, with various commanders on subjects including administration, planned operations, supply of guns and ammunition to Belgium, France and Russia and staff appointments; recollections dated 1919 of Chantilly conference, Nov 1916, to consider planned operations in 1917.

Scrapbook of his service in France and Belgium, 1914-1917 and Italy, 1917-1918, compiled in 1923 and 1927, including a detailed account of the period Oct 1914-May 1915, notably the first Battle of Ypres, Oct-Nov 1914, written up from letters to his wife, 1914-1915; typescript copies of notes on the operations of 7 Div, Oct-Nov 1914, compiled by the General Staff, 7 Div in [1917-1918]; typescript copies of orders of 231 Field Company, 1916, and 528 Field Company, 1917; account of his service in Italy, 1918, written in 1923; copies of divisional and brigade orders for attack at Ypres, Oct 1917; various maps, 1914-1918; reproductions of photographs, 1918; 'The crossing of the Piave in 1918', article by Kerrich cut from The Royal Engineers Journal , Dec 1927.

Three scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine cuttings, invitations, envelopes, menus, postcards, programmes, telegrams and correspondence, 1839-1906, notably including manuscript orders for Keppel, commanding Nile flotilla, from Lt Col Francis Reginald Wingate, ordering HM Gunboats SULTAN and ABU KLEA to Fashoda, Sudan, and for Keppel to communicatethe intentions of any Europeans found there to Maj Gen Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Sirdar of Egyptian Army, 18 Sep 1898; cuttings from The Illustrated London News, The Daily Graphic, The Navy and Army Illustrated, Black and White and The Penny Illustrated Paper, mostly relating to the Nile Expedition, 1885, the Sudan campaign, 1898, including the Fashoda incident, Sudan, Sep 1898;invitations and envelopes addressed to Keppel's father, Capt Hon Henry Keppel, RN, 1839-1856. Three photograph albums with 454 photographs relating to Keppel's career, 1888-1913, including service on HMS ALEXANDRA, Mediterranean, 1888-1889; the loss of HMS SULTAN, run aground, Comino Channel, Malta, 1889; RN Gunboats on the river Nile, 1897-1898; the launch of HMSDREADNOUGHT, Portsmouth, 1906; Keppel's service as Commodore of the Royal Yachts, 1905-1909; the funeral of HM King Edward VII, 1910; the coronation of HM King George V, 1911; Keppel's command of HMS MEDINA on voyage to India with HM King George V for the King Emperor's Durbar, Delhi, 1911; Royal visit to Berlin and Potsdam, Germany, 1913. Typescript volume entitled 'Reminiscences of Admiral Sir Colin Keppel GCVO KCIE CB DSO. Collected from his diary' by Rt Hon Sir Algernon Edward West [1947].

Papers relating to Kennedy's service as Capt of the battlecruiser HMS INDOMITABLE during World War One, including brief diary of the war training of the British Mediterranean Fleet, 1913-1914; narratives describing the shadowing, chase and escape of the German battlecruiser GOEBEN and its companion ship BRESLAU from the British Mediterranean Fleet, Aug 1914; apersonal description of the first bombardment of the Dardanelles, Nov 1914; intelligence reports of the positions of the warships of various nations, 1915; summary of information received from survivors of the German battlecruiser BLUCHER sunk during the Battle of Dogger Bank, Jan 1915; a brief personal memoir of the Battle of Jutland, May 1916.

Papers relating to his service in Hedjaz (Hejaz), 1916-1919, dated 1916-1919, 1936, 1963, 1939, 1941, 1963, 1965, principally comprising official correspondence relating to operations against the Turks in Hedjaz, 1916-1918, and supplies and stores for bases at Rabegh, Wedj, Yenbo, Akaba and Abu Lissal, 1916-1918, and including letters to and from Thomas Edward Lawrence (laterShaw), Col Cyril Edward Wilson, Gen Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton, and Lt Col Alan Geoffrey Charles; correspondence and notes concerning the meeting between Emir Feisal (later Feisal I, King of Iraq) and Dr Chaim Weizmann on 4 Jun 1918, dated [1918] and 1963;typescript text on the history and future of the Arab movement, [1919]; scripts concerning his service with Lawrence in Hedjaz, 1916-1918, written for television broadcasts in 1939 and 1941; official reports on bomb attacks on the Hedjaz railway by X Flight and No14 Sqn personnel, 1917-1918; official reports of reconnaissance flights by X Flight and No 14 Sqn, 1917-1918; diary by Capt H S Hornby describing raids on the Hedjaz railway, May 1917 and May 1918; account by Lt Col Frederick Gerard Peake of Turkish attack on Tafas,Sep 1918, dated 1965.

My long journey: a true story of World War II as seen through the eyes of a former commando soldier , typescript memoir by Colour Sergeant George 'The Joker' Jowett, including descriptions of training with King's Own Royal Border Regiment in Armagh, Northern Ireland and Liverpool, England; selection for Special Service as a Commando; training at the Commando Basic Training Centre, Achnacarry, 1942; D-Day preparations with 6 Commando, May 1944; D-Day landings and subsequent action, Normandy, June 1944; evacuation after being wounded and recovery in Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Gloret Auxiliary hospital, June-July 1944; return to service in Ostend, Jan 1945; serious injury while on patrol, Feb 14 1945; treatment and physical therapy in Lille, France; posting in Veroa, Greece, Famagusta, Cyprus and Tobruk with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment after the disbanding of the Commandos, 1946-1947; demobilisation, 1947. Also typescript memoir 'D Day: before and after', account of the Normandy landings June 1944 excerpted from 'My Long Journey'.

Dr Tim Jones' research notes, 2001-2006, for his books Postwar counterinsurgency and the SAS, 1945-52; SAS, the first secret wars and SAS: Zero Hour including notes from interviews.