Papers relating to his military career, 1937-1972, principally comprising recruitment poster for North Staffordshire Regt, 1937; unsigned account of operations of 2 Bn North Staffs Regt, France, 12 May-1 Jun 1940, written in [1940]; unsigned account of operations of 6 Bn North Staffordshire Regt, France, 1 Jul-31 Aug 1944, written in [1944]; The Battle of Flanders by Kenneth Adam (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1940); papers relating to his service with North Staffordshire Regt in Trieste, 1951-1953, principally comprising press cuttings concerning protests against the Allied Military Government in Trieste, 1953, and official photographs of visit by Adm Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, [1952-1953]; copies of letters written to his family during his service in Korea, 1953-1954; press cuttings relating to evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, 1940. Papers relating to Bird's grandfather Gen James Lewis Bird, 1857- 1938, notably including copy of a letter from Gen James Lewis Bird to his sister Pamela, 2 Jun 1857, describing the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny at Meerut, India, May-Jun 1857.

Papers and photographs of Lt Christopher Michael Cadogan from his service on the 'Hopkinson Mission', May-Jun 1940, principally comprising an album of photographs taken by John Gabriel of the Hopkinson Mission in Belgium and the Dunkirk evacuation, featuring photos from the Hopkinson Mission of refugees, military personnel and events taken at Valenciennes, Warve, Aalst, St Trond, Neelanden, Waterloo, near Terneuzen, Gennape, Enghien, Beuvry, Douai, near Orchies, Armentieres, Dunkirk, Ypres, Ostend and photographs from the Dunkirk evacuation including of SS AKUBIR and SS MARQUIS; Cadogan's typescript "War Diary" 10-29 May 1940 as composed Oct 1940 covering the period of the Hopkinson Mission's operations until evacuation from Ostend, with handwritten comments and annotations by 'JPG' [probably John Gabriel]; typescript edition of Cadogan's pre-war letters and his war diary of 1940, edited by his widow, Stella Zilliacus.