8 Personal correspondence, letters of congratulation and appreciation and historical enquiries, 1927-1966

Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Copyright: The texts of the detailed catalogues are the copyright of King's College London and are made available for private research only.

ALANBROOKE: 8 Personal correspondence, letters of congratulation and appreciation and historical enquiries, 1927-1966

ALANBROOKE: 8/1-3 Personal correspondence, 1927-1966

ALANBROOKE: 8/1/1-4 1927-1966

Two letters, 1927-1928, from Brooke to Capt [Frederick William] Short, notably concerning the death of Brooke's first wife, Jane Mary Brooke, in a motoring accident, 1925, his future prospects in the Army and his service with 7 Battery, 1928. With letter, 31 Jan 1966, from Short to Brooke's second wife, Benita Blanche Brooke, sending her the above letters, and letter, 7 Aug 1963, from Short to Marian C Long, on his friendship with Brooke. 4 letters

ALANBROOKE: 8/2/1-27 1940-1965

Personal and family letters to Brooke and his wife Benita Blanche Brooke, notably including letters from his sister Hylda Wrench and her husband Sir (John) Evelyn (Leslie) Wrench, 1940-1946, notably describing Wrench's work as America Relations Officer to the Indian Government, 1943; personal letters from A Cameron, 29 Jan 1942, Clementine Ogilvy Spencer Churchill, wife of Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1943-1944, Gen Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, [27 Oct 1943], FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 24 Mar 1944, Alfred Ralph Wagg, 4 Aug 1944, Kathleen Hartington, Sep 1944, Gen Dwight David Eisenhower, 11 Sep 1951, Noel Coward, 30 Mar 1960, Henry D [Rolf], 16 Mar 1951, Hurlingham Club, 5 Dec 1952, Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, Apr 1962, William O Randall, 1962-1965, Hatchards Booksellers, 22 Jan 1963 and Cuthbert Holmes, 1965; correspondence, 1960-1963, concerning bust of Brooke by Donald Gilbert. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/3 1947 Jan 31

Letter to Brooke from Rt Hon Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles, Private Secretary to King George VI, concerning appointment of Governor General of Australia. 1 letter

ALANBROOKE: 8/4 Letters of congratulation and appreciation, 1939-1963

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/1-17 1939-1941

Letters of congratulation and appreciation sent to Brooke, mainly letters of appreciation from colleagues, 1940-1941, including Lt Gen Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, Maj Gen Bernard Law Montgomery and Col Ronald Stanyforth; letters from Gen Ronald Forbes Adam and FM William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and of Totnes, congratulating him on the award of his KCB, Jun 1940; letters congratulating him on his appointment as Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, Jul 1940; letters, Nov-Dec 1941, congratulating him on appointment as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, notably from Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Prime Minister, 18 Nov 1941. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/18-30 1942-1943

Letters of appreciation and congratulation sent to Brooke, including letters of appreciation from Maj Gen Sir Bernard Charles Tolver Paget and Lt Gen (Arthur) Edward Grasett, 1942; letter from US Adm Harold Raynsford Stark, Commander, US Naval Forces in Europe, 6 Nov 1942, congratulating him on success of operations in Egypt; letters of congratulation on award of GCB, Nov 1942; letter to Brooke from H E Burton, 20 Sep 1943, reminiscing about their service together in 50 Northumbrian Div, [1920-1923]. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/31 1944

Letters and telegrams to Brooke and his wife Benita Blanche Brooke, congratulating Brooke on his promotion to Field Marshal. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/32-45 1944-1945

Letters of appreciation and congratulation sent to Brooke, including letter from FM William (Riddell) Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and of Totnes, 18 Jun [1944], congratulating him on the success of the Normandy landings; letters to Brooke from Birdwood and Maj-Gen Ernest Ord Lewin, 4 Aug 1944, expressing pleasure at public praise of Brooke by Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Prime Minister; letters of congratulation on end of war in Europe, May 1945. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/46 1945

Letters and telegrams to Brooke congratulating him on his elevation to the peerage, Aug 1945, including letter from Adm Hon Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, 12 Aug 1945, enclosing 'Atomic reflections', typescript text by Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax on implications of development of atomic bombs. With letter to Brooke from Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Prime Minister, 8 Aug 1945, asking him whether he may recommend Brooke for elevation to the peerage in his resignation honours list. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/4/47-78 1945-1963

Letters of congratulation and appreciation sent to Brooke, including letters of congratulation on conferment of his Viscounty, OM, and KG, 1946, and his GCVO, 1953; letters and telegrams of appreciation on Brooke's retirement as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Jun 1946, notably from Rt Hon Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary; letters of appreciation from Maj Gen Sir Bernard Charles Tolver Paget, Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, and Gen Sir Alexander Wardrop, 1950-1959. With letter from Marian C Long, research assistant to Royal Regiment of Artillery and Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant, 19 Nov 1954, concerning her research work on Brooke's biography; photocopies of messages sent by British Chiefs of Staff to US Chiefs of Staff on their retirement, [Dec 1945]; letters to Brooke from readers of Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant's The Turn of the Tide (Collins, London, 1957) and Triumph in the West (Collins, London, 1959), objecting to comments about US commanders in Brooke's diaries, 1959. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/5 Historical enquiries, 1946-1963

ALANBROOKE: 8/5/1-2 1946-1947

Letters to Brooke from historians and writers, notably from Rt Hon Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 9 Sep 1946, asking for details of action fought near Ypres-Menin road during retreat to Dunkirk, May 1940, with typescript account by Brooke, [1940], of operations of 2 Corps during retreat from Louvain to Dunkirk, May 1940; from Dr Forrest Carlisle Pogue, 28 Jan 1947, concerning organisation, administration and operations of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, 1944-1945. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/5/3-9 1955-1959

Letters to Brooke from historians and writers, notably from from Ian Playfair, Cabinet Office Historical Section, 22 Oct 1957, and from John Connell (pseudonym for John Henry Robertson), Jul 1959, concerning Lt Gen Bernard Law Montgomery's appointment to 8 Army, Aug 1942; from Capt Stephen Wentworth Roskill, RN, Cabinet Office Official Naval Historian, and AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Mar 1959, concerning Mountbatten's appointment as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia, 1943; from Riley Sunderland, 30 Nov 1959, concerning US Gen George Catlett Marshall's attitude toward China during World War Two, 1941-1945. 1 file

ALANBROOKE: 8/5/10-14 1960-1962

Letters to Brooke from historians and writers, notably from John N Hart, Jan-Feb 1960, asking for information about US Gen Joseph Warren Stilwell's service in China, 1942-1944; letter from Charles Burton Burdick, Associate Professor of History at San Jose State College, California, 22 Aug 1960, requesting information about British High Command's attitudes to Malta, 1940-1941; typescript comments by Brooke on Grand strategy...June 1941-August 1942 by J M A Gwyer and Sir James Ramsay Montagu Butler (London, 1964), vol 3 of official history of World War Two, and related letters from Gwyer, Butler, and Michael Eliot Howard, 1961-1962.