Collection SWINTON - SWINTON, Maj Gen Sir Ernest (1868-1951)

Born 1868; educated at University College School, Rugby School, Cheltenham, Blackheath Proprietary School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers, 1888; served in India, 1889-1894; Lt, 1891; Assistant Instructor in Fortification, School of Military Engineering, Chatham, Kent, 1896-1899; Capt, 1899; served in Second Boer War, South Africa, as Adjutant and later, Commanding Officer, 1 Bn, Railway Pioneer Regt, 1899-1902; awarded DSO, 1900; Staff Capt, Army Headquarters, War Office, 1905-1907; Maj, 1906; Chief Instructor in Fortification and geometrical drawing, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1907-1910; Secretary, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, employed on the British Official History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1910-1913; awarded the Chesney Gold Medal, 1913; served in World War One, 1914-1918; Deputy Director of Railway Transport, 1914; Assistant Secretary (Military), Committee of Imperial Defence and War Cabinet, 1914-1917; Lt Col, 1915; originator of tanks, 1915-1916; temporary Col, 1915-1917; raised Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, 1916; Brevet Col, 1917; awarded CB, 1917; lecture tour of USA, 1918; retired 1919; Honorary Maj Gen, 1919; Controller of Information Department of Civil Aviation, Air Ministry, 1919-1921; Director, Citroen Company, 1922-1951; created KBE, 1923; Chichele Professor of Military History, Oxford University, 1925-1939; Col Commandant Royal Tank Corps, 1934-1938; died 1951.Publications: Under the pseudonym of Backsight Forethought, The defence of Duffer's Drift. A few experiences in field defence for detached posts which may prove useful in our next war (William Clowes and Sons, London, 1904); The truth about Port Arthur by E K Nozhin, edited by Swinton (John Murray, London, 1908); under the pseudonym of Ole Luk-Oie, The great tab dope (W Blackwood and Sons, London, 1915) and A year ago: eyewitness's narrative of the war from March 30th to July 18th, 1915, with Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland [1916]; The Russian Army and the Japanese War, being historical and critical comments on the military policy and power of Russia and on the campaign in the Far East by Aleksei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin, edited by Swinton (John Murray, London, 1909); The tanks (Gill and Son, London, 1917); The study of war (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1926); translation of Albert, King of the Belgians in the Great War by Émile Joseph Galet (Putnam, London, 1931); Eyewitness. Being personal reminiscences of certain phases of the Great War, including the genesis of the tank (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1932); translation of An Eastern odyssey. The third expedition of Haardt and Audouin-Dubreuil by Georges Lefèvre (Victor Gollancz, London, 1935); Twenty years after. The battlefields of 1914-18, then and now (George Newnes, London, 1936); War commentary. Broadcasts delivered between October, 1939 and March, 1940 (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1940); The green curve omnibus (Faber and Faber, London, 1942); Over my shoulder. The autobiography of Major General Sir Ernest D Swinton (George Ronald, Oxford, 1951)