INTRODUCTION

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1976.

The collection comprises papers relating to Allenby's life and career, 1881-1936, notably his service in South Africa, 1899-1902, and as Commander-in-Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, Palestine and Egypt, 1917-1919, and High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925. Allenby wrote extensively to his family, mainly to his wife and mother, and his letters home form one of the focal points of the collection. He wrote frequently to his wife and mother during the Boer War, 1899-1902, and these letters give detailed descriptions of operations in South Africa throughout this period (see sections 1/2 and 1/4). His letters to his family during his service in World War One, 1914-1918, and as High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925, are less frequent and often less detailed than his earlier letters, but still contain significant information about operations on the Western Front, 1914-1917, and in Palestine, 1917-1918, and about the political situation in Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925 (see sections 1/5-1/13). Additional papers relating to Egypt and Palestine include telegrams between Allenby and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff concerning operations during the Palestine campaign, 1917-1918, telegrams between Allenby and the Rt Hon (Joseph) Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, concerning Nevile Meyrick Henderson's appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary and Allenby's resignation as High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1924-1925, and a despatch from Allenby to George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, concerning his role in drafting British government policy on Egyptian independence, 2 Feb 1922 (see 2/3 and 2/5). Other material of note includes photographs relating to his life and career, 1881-1936 (5). The collection also includes papers relating to Allenby: a study in greatness (Harrap and Co, London, 1940) and Allenby in Egypt (Harrap and Co, London, 1943) by FM Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, mainly letters and notes about Allenby by his army colleagues, 1936-1943, and notes and letters to Wavell from Gerald C Delany, commenting on Allenby in Egypt from Gerald C Delany, [1940-1943] (see 6 and 7/1-3). There is also a small amount of material relating to Thomas Edward Lawrence (also known as Thomas Edward Shaw) (see 7/4).

The collection is made up of papers collected or created by Allenby during the period 1883-1936, along with papers relating to Allenby: a study in greatness (Harrap and Co, London, 1940) and Allenby in Egypt (Harrap and Co, London, 1943) by FM Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell. They were transferred to the Centre in 1976, and arranged and catalogued in 1977.

Allenby's own papers consist of family correspondence and personal papers, papers relating to his career in Egypt and Palestine, texts of his speeches and lectures, and collections of press cuttings and photographs. The papers were extensively used by researchers before they were transferred to the Centre in 1976, notably by Wavell for Allenby: a study in greatness and Allenby in Egypt, and by Brian Gardner for Allenby (Cassell, London, 1965). Wavell had Allenby's Boer War letters to his wife bound up into two volumes, but the order of much of the other material became confused as papers were removed from their original files and not replaced. Allenby's wife also notes in a letter to Wavell in [1939] that Allenby's diaries appeared to have been lost during her last change of address (see 7/2/3). When the collection was transferred to the Centre, the archivist returned displaced documents to their parent files and then arranged the files in sections according to record type, subject matter and chronology. Additional sections (1/14 and 2/5) were created to contain papers which could not be matched to existing files.

Wavell's papers consist mainly of material sent to or collected by Wavell during the writing of Allenby: a study in greatness and Allenby in Egypt. Wavell initially ordered and numbered these papers according to the period of Allenby's life to which they referred, but his system soon became confused by letters concerning more than one stage in Allenby's life, and it was further disturbed as material was used by later researchers. On transfer to the Centre, efforts were made to reconstruct Wavell's scheme, placing papers relating to Allenby: a study in greatness in sections according to the chapter of the book to which they mainly relate, and papers relating to Allenby in Egypt in sections according to subject matter and correspondent.

Access

Existence of copies

Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford holds copies of 2/5/6-2/5/8 and 7/4/1.

Related units of description

Papers of FM Sir William Robert Robertson, 1st Bt, include official and personal correspondence with Allenby concerning operations in Egypt, 1917-1918 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Robertson 1/14, 1/21, 1/32). Papers of Gen Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea include letters from Allenby concerning operations in Palestine, 1917-1918 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Shea 4/2).

Associated material

Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford: papers of Sir Milne Cheetham, Col C F Ryder, Gerald Delany, Sir William Goodenough Hayter, Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel and Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Bt, include correspondence relating to Allenby's service in the Middle East. Imperial War Museum: correspondence with Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1918-1921 (Ref: HHW), letters from Allenby to George Yardley, 1917-1922, and E S Jackson, 1934. Christ Church, Oxford: papers of Lt Gen Sir Herbert (Scott Gould) Miles include correspondence with Allenby, 1923-1924. Scottish Record Office: papers of Philip Kerr at the include correspondence, 1917- 1920. Department of Manuscripts, Cambridge University Library: letters from Gen Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1917-1919 (Ref: Hardinge). House of Lords Records Office: papers of Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, include correspondence with Allenby, 1918-1921.

Related publications

As well as being used by FM Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell for his biographies Allenby (Harrap and Co, London, 1940) and Allenby in Egypt (Harrap and Co, London, 1943), the collection has been substantially used by (Robert) Brian Gardner for his biography Allenby (Cassell, London, 1965), and by Thomas Pakenham for The Boer War (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1979).