Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1989 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
1 file
Scope and content
Typescript transcripts of interviews with high-ranking members of the Civil Service conducted by Dr W Scott Lucas of the University of Birmingham and Professor Anthony Gorst of the University of Westminster for an Institute of Contemporary British History oral history archive project, 1989. The purpose of the project was to trace the career development of key Civil Service officials and included questions relating to their childhood, education, involvement in World War Two, and most notably their positions during some of the most pivotal events of the Cold War. Topics covered include the post-war European Recovery Programme; the Berlin Airlift, 1948; British relations with the USSR, 1946-1982; the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1949; the Suez Crisis, 1956; and British arms procurement, 1945-1982. Interviewees include Ian Powell Bancroft, Baron Bancroft of Coatham, Head Home Civil Service and Permanent Secretary to Civil Service Department, 1978-1981; Sir Harold Beeley, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1955, Assistant Under Secretary, Foreign Office, 1956-1958, Deputy United Kingdom Representative, United Nations, 1958-1961; United Kingdom Representative, Disarmament Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, 1964-1967, Ambassador to the United Arab Republic, 1961-1964 and 1967-1969; Rt Hon Sir Frank Cooper, Ministry of Defence, 1964-1968, Deputy Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, 1968-1970, Deputy Secretary, Civil Service Department, 1970-1973, Permanent Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office, 1973-1976, Permanent Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, 1976-1982; Sir Frank (Kenyon) Roberts, Principal Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1947-1949, Deputy High Commissioner in India, 1949-1951, Deputy Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1951-1954, Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1954-1957, United Kingdom Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council, 1957-1960, Ambassador to the USSR, 1960-1962 and to the Federal Republic of Germany, 1963-68. Also includes typescript lecture by Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, relating to the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) decision, 1963- 1964, presented to the Institute of Contemporary British History, 25 Oct 1989.
System of arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre in 1999 by Harriet Jones, Institute of Contemporary British History, Senate House,
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.
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
Compiled Nov 1999
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
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.