Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1965-1995 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
2½ boxes or 0.025 cubic metres
Scope and content
Reports, correspondence, memoranda, maps, notes and press cuttings relating to the Dhofar War, Muscat and Oman, 1967-1971, including typescript 'Brief on Muscat and Oman', produced by Headquarters, Sultan's Armed Forces, Jun 1965; appointment diary, May-Dec 1968; correspondence, 1969-1972, mostly with Brig Corran William Brooke Purdon, Sultan's Armed Forces, Muscat, relating to operations in Dhofar, 1969-1970; typescript Muscat Regt contact reports relating to operations against People's Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG) guerillas, Muscat and Oman, 1969-1970, with typescript lists of Muscat Regt casualties, 1968-1969, and operations carried out, Apr-Dec 1969; typescript and manuscript notes relating to operations in Dhofar, 1970, with transcriptions of signals, 1970; six humourous cartoons by Jack Sullivan relating to operations in Muscat and Oman, Jan 1970; one colour photograph and seventeen captioned photographic slides relating to the Muscat Regt, Dhofar [1970]; bound volume of printed maps of Muscat and Oman [1970]; edition of The Guards Magazine. Journal of the Household Division, with article by Thwaites entitled 'Operation LANCE', Summer 1970; typescript text of lecture by Thwaites entitled 'Dhofar 1967-1970' [1972]; copy of article by Thwaites entitled 'The Dhofar campaign, 1967-1970' from the Sultan's Armed Forces Newsletter, 1989. Also, typescript volume entitled 'Britain and Oman: the Dhofar War and its significance. A dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy in the University of Cambridge' by Lt Col John McKeown, Royal Engineers, 1981, and manuscript of Thwaites' book on the Dhofar War entitled 'Arabian Command' [1991], later completed by Maj Simon Sloane as Muscat command (Leo Cooper, London, 1995). Edition of Muscat command by Thwaites, completed by Maj Simon Sloane (Leo Cooper, London, 1995).
System of arrangement
The arrangement of the collection is broadly chronological.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1926; educated at Rugby School; service in World War Two, 1939-1945; served in ranks, 1943-1944; commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, 1944; service with 1 Bn, 2 Bn and 4 Bn, Grenadier Guards in the UK, Germany, Egypt, British Cameroons and British Guiana, 1944-1962; War Substantive Lt, 1945; Lt, 1947; temporary Capt, 1949-1953; Capt, 1953; temporary Maj, 1954; member of Sir William Penney's Scientific Party to UK Atomic Trials, South Australia, 1956; published playwright, 1958-1984; Bde Maj, 2 Federation Infantry Bde, Malaya, 1959-1961; Maj, 1960; General Staff Officer 2, Army Department, Ministry of Defence, 1965-1967; service in Aden, 1967; Lt Col, 1967; commanded Muscat Regt, Sultan of Muscat's Armed Forces, Muscat and Oman, 1967-1970; service in conflict against People's Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG) rebel forces, Dhofar, 1967-1970; Assistant Quartermaster General, London District, 1970-1971; Col, 1971; Commander, British Army Staff, Singapore, and Governor, Singapore International School, 1971-1973; Senior Army Representative, UK National Cell, ANZUK (Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom) Joint Force, Far East Land Forces, 1972; Deputy Director, Defence Operational Plans (Army), 1973-1974; Brig, 1975; Head of Ministry of Defence Logistics Survey Team to Saudi Arabia, 1976; retired, 1977; Chairman, Joint Staff, Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces, Oman, 1977-1981; retired from Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces, 1981; Chairman, Individual School Direction Limited, 1981-1991; Chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association, Fulham, London, 1982-1991; died 1991.
Publications: Plays: (with Charles Ross), Love or money (1958); (with Charles Ross), Master of none (1960); Roger's last stand (1976); Caught in the act (1981); (with Charles Ross), Relative strangers (1984). Book: Muscat command (Leo Cooper, London, 1995), completed by Maj Simon Sloane (Adjutant of the Muscat Regt and commanded a Company, 1967-1970) in 1995.
Repository
Custodial history
Placed in the Centre by the family in 1996. An edition of Muscat command (Leo Cooper, London, 1995) was presented to the Centre by the family in 1996.
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
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description.
Note
Compiled Aug 1999; update 2017
Alternative identifier(s)
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.