Collection POWNALL - POWNALL, Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds (1887-1961)

Key Information

Reference code

POWNALL

Title

POWNALL, Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds (1887-1961)

Date(s)

  • 1933-1945 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

2 boxes or 0.02 cubic metres

Scope and content

Twelve detailed, narrative, manuscript diaries, Jan 1933-Aug 1936 and Jan 1938-Dec 1944 (with postscripts added in Jan and Sep 1945), including Pownall's time as Military Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1933-1935, Commandant, School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 1936-1938, Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939-1940, Commander-in-Chief, British Forces in Northern Ireland, 1940-1941, and Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943-1944, with aerial photograph of Belfast, Aug 1940, and a group photograph of the officers of South East Asia Command [1945], typescript extracts from reports, letters and typescript extract from the diary of Maj Gen Edmund Archibald Osborne, on the campaign in France, 1940. Also, printed order of service in memory of FM John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, 10 Apr 1946, and related newspaper cuttings. The diaries were published as Chief of Staff. The diaries of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, edited by Brian James Bond (Leo Cooper, London, 1972).

System of arrangement

12 volumes

General Information

Name of creator

Pownall, Sir Henry Royds, 1887-1961, Lieutenant General
(1887-1961)

Biographical history

Born 1887; educated at Rugby School and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; served in Royal Field Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery in UK and India, 1906-1914; Lt, 1909; Capt, 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; acting Maj, 1916-1917; Bde Maj Royal Artillery, 17 Div, 1917-1919; Maj, 1917; awarded DSO, 1918; Bde Maj, School of Artillery, 1924-1925; General Staff Officer 2, Staff College, Camberley, 1926-1929; Brevet Lt Col, 1928; service on North West Frontier, India, 1930-1931; awarded Bar to DSO, 1931; Military Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1933-1935; Lt Col, 1935; Deputy Secretary, 1936; awarded CB, 1936; Brig, 1936; Commandant, School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 1936-1938; Maj Gen, 1938; Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, War Office, 1938-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939-1940; created KBE, 1940; Inspector General of the Local Defence Volunteer Force (later the Home Guard), 1940; Commander-in-Chief, British Forces in Northern Ireland, 1940-1941; Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office, 1941; Commander-in-Chief Far East, 1941-1942; Lt Gen, 1942; Chief of Staff, ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) Command, Far East, 1942; General Officer Commanding Ceylon, 1942-1943; Col Commandant Royal Artillery, 1942-1952; Commander-in-Chief Persia-Iraq, 1943; Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943-1944; retired 1945; created KCB, 1945; Chairman, Friary Meux Limited; Member of the Committee of Lloyds Bank; Chief Commissioner, St John Ambulance Bde, 1947-1949; military consultant to Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill on the History of the Second World War (Cassell, London, 1948-1954); Chancellor, Order of St John, 1951; died 1961.

Repository

Custodial history

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1980.

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.

  

Related materials

The papers of Gen Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay of Wormington, contain official correspondence with Pownall, 1944-1945 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Ismay). The papers of Lt Gen Noel Mackintosh Stuart Irwin, held by the Imperial War Museum, London, include a note on discussions with Pownall concerning training, administration, disease and strategy, 1943 (Ref: P139). The papers of FM Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, in The National Archives, Kew, include demi-official correspondence with Pownall, Mar-Aug 1943 (Ref: WO 216/131). Copies of Pownall's diaries are in Churchill College, Cambridge University.

Related descriptions

Publication note

Chief of Staff. The diaries of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, edited by Brian James Bond (Leo Cooper, London, 1972).

Note

Decorations: KCB, KBE, DSO, MC

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.

Script(s)

Accession area